I say back to because I was using a QSC USA 900 amp to power my Adire Kit281s for several years and I was very happy with the results, during that time I tried a few home amps and receivers and the QSC/Adire sound always came out on top. Man did I catch some flack for using that amp too!

Anway I upgraded to seperates recently and now I only have the amp that I was using to run my mains..a Parasound HCA-1500A ...I am still 3 channels short.

I paid $200 for my QSC USA 900 and got tons of use out of it, that thing was rated at 450x2 @ 4 ohms and it very much sounded like it, it drove those speakers to very high SPLs cleanly.

I could pick up 3 used QSC USA 900s for about what I paid for my HCA-1500A .

QSC says that on paper the new RMX line is identical to the USA series but I am not sure I believe that or not. If it is true then I could pick up 3 RMX 1450s and have tons of power on tap.

What are some of the better sounding budget amps out now? Have any of you guys experimented?

I do have an RMX 1850HD for subwoofer duty right now so I plan on wiring it up to my Stage 4 Pi speakers and A/Bing it against my Parasound HCA-1500A.

Can't beat the proce $/watt. Also heard good things about the Nady amps.

All of the lower cost pro amps are being built in China. I have a Crest and a Crown of Asian origin.

(got a BGW 500 on the stereo right now...)

Larry Acklin

I'd at least prefer to stick with brand names like QSC , Crown and Crest if nothing else for their better resale value.

I really loved my QSC USA 900 , I just know it would make these Stage 4 Pis sing! Not that they dont already sing nicely with my Parasound HCA-1500A, its just that I know they want more power! 200 watts is just a snack for these guys!

My USA 900 put out 270 @ 8ohms and 450 @ 4ohms so quite a difference..although I suppose 8ohms is alot less taxing and will
probably result in better SQ with cheaper amps.

RMX are Asian also. Michael (Bink) Knowles, a mixer FOH dude out on the Left Coast, has given the Behringer a thumbs up. I'm just saying that the line between MI grade amps and "PRO" amps is blurring. I personally have a Crest Pro 3001, an AB international Precedent 900, a Crest CPX 2600 (asian) a Crown XLS402 (asian), two Crown powertech 2, BGW, Peavey, the list goes on. I use the Crest CPX on subs, the Crown xls on monitors, and they work well. Frankly I think that even if you bought the Nady or Behringer, for the home rig you'd be hard pressed to even warm them up. Now if I was a provider on a tour, or had lots of national acts to set up my rig for, I'd have nothing but QSC PLX, Crest Pro, or Crown (Macs or Itecs).

Funny how snotty musicians and their "band engineer/sound guy" can get about equipment. My "proprietary" dual 15" folded horn subs wouldn't pass muster with a snob, but the locals love 'em.

Try www.musicgoround.com and search in pro audio. Lots of good deals out there.

Larry Acklin

He must have honestly meant it - he didn't carry them in the store.

Regardless though fans are something Id rather not have.

Which makes me wonder about Crown's top-of-the-line Studio Reference - they have fans. Maybe for that kind of money, from somebody like Crown, they can actually be made really quiet.