cheap and reasonable nice sound: TASCAM PA150 and ALESIS RA150
:)

for a home recording setup, the P3000 is more than enuff....Im sure you wont be blasting the nearfields that often :)

but if you are concerned about the $500, look into this
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=030623115226068106160089250086/g=live/search/d=tp?q=TA1600

While not available anymore, I am partial to my H&H V800 MOS FETS. I think MOS FETS just sound better in a studio. Very fast rise time and slew rates.

The Alesis sounds pretty darn good, and less than Hafler. QSC is not an amp I would use for the studio...Live performance is another story.

Thanks guys. You're reminding me not to go overboard. I just got into the mindset to get something decent as far as monitoring because what's the point of getting decent anything else if you can't hear it?

I suppose the Alesis might be good to pair with my Monitor Ones but I see myself getting the Yorkville YSM1p eventually. And I'm trying to cut down on Alesis since I have way too much already (Alesis Microverb4, Wedge x3 (for live experimental stuff)).

Ebaying the Hafler P3000 is probably the way I'm going to go. Didn't consider it before but I see some on there now that will probably go for a bit over $300. Though the other cheaper amps are nice they're half the power of the 3000. If I'm going to get self-amped monitors then I'll probably send this amp to sub duty and I'll definitely need the power then.

Can someone give a quick explanation of what a MOSFET amp is? I'm doing a Google search but I'm not having much luck. The only other amp types I'm familiar with are tube and the super fast switching suckers. BTW, found a cool little site for kit builders:
http://www.qkits.com/

Would the Yorkville YSM1p be enough of an improvement over the Monitor Ones to justify getting them considering I already have the Monitor Ones? Thanks.

I use the alesis ra-100 with monitor ones for near feild. Clean, accurate, translates well, economical. :tu: :tu:

Steve, I prefer the TASCAM PA150. It has rca and xlr balanced connectors. I previously owned the RA100. I have not tested the RA150, which i imagine is a much more modern project.
:)

invisiblemute wrote: Would the Yorkville YSM1p be enough of an improvement over the Monitor Ones to justify getting them considering I already have the Monitor Ones? Thanks.

the yorks YSM1s' are also the ART SLM-1s'
...may save some money? supposedly very,very good 6.5"
nearfileds.

The Crown CE 1000, would be an amp to look at. I've seen it at $500 or less - and at least in the past, the power specs have been accurate, even conservative. Crown has been sort've "the" reference amp. Quality has been among the best, though I've not used this model. Worth a listen-hear...

Teddy G.

Used Bryston. You can probably get a 2B or 3B with some warranty left on it for less than $500.

I'm with Massive on this one; Bryston.

Even any of the older hi-current, lo-watt amps. Maybe an old Luxman, NAD, Naim amp if you really want to save $$.

I use a Bryston 4B for my mid fields (vintage JBL 4311b). I also use one for my home speakers which are very inefficient (KEF 104ab). Those things are beasts!

You cannot go wrong with a good Crown, DC-300, DC300A, also in the series, D-150's [older] , D- 45's, D- 60's, D-75's.

Tom Durso
First Bass Audio

L:shock: :shock:K at all those recommendations!

If I were to say, "If you were put all those amps behind a curtain, and played each one at the same volume(spl), could you tell them apart?"
-------------------
Imagine there are two different amps sitting on a showroom floor that I was concidering to purchase :

#1 had an enclosure made of plywood and was painted with pink house paint.

#2 had massive heatsink/fins flanking a highly polished gold plated metal body.....oh yeah, and one cool blue LED.

.....and I got to listen to them.

Well, YEAH....."the Gold one please, it must be heavy, I'm gonna need help getting it into my trunk, do you guys deliver?"

(There is some chuckling) and the salesman informs me they're the same amp on the inside.
---------------
Not likely to happen, but you get my exageration?

No, I don't think all amps sound the same. Although it's fair to say that they sound much, much more alike, than they do sound different. But the fact is true that any amp will sound shitty when overdriven into clipping.

So what is my recommendation? Get more power than you will need--leave some headroom. Also your speakers should be able to play louder than you need......just don't use that extra power, avoiding any distortion. That extra headroom allows the speaker/amp to recover faster durring heavy transients, resulting in a cleaner more detailed sound.
Get one that has a reputation for durrability and has some extra guts.
So basicly, I've come full circle, and any of the above amps will be fine----though on paper, my vote goes to a used Bryston--it's got it all, a real workhorse in and out of the studio.

=M=

Let's all go back and dig up some nearly two-year old threads and give the original poster our advice on what he should buy.

There's nothing like good, timely advice! :?