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behringer reference?

This thing looks like a beast at 500 watts into 8 ohms. Aesthetically it is horible, but maybe all the enginneering went into the electronics. I am just wondering I guess if this behringer reference a500 amp would sound good in a 2 channel set up. I am kind of on a budget, and dont care about looks, so I wonder if this amp at less than 200 would be a good bet. It definetly would open up my options for speakers. I am thinking if this amp works I can than spend a lot more on speakers where I may see the true gain in quality. What do you think?
bigmoneyv4
cwlondon
1,198 posts
 
Grege,

Before the naysayers jump in and assure you that your Behringer amp will break, destroy all your associated components and/or burn down your house, I would like to say that I have three of them, and they have been on 24/7 for my PC, HDTV and desktop listening for about 3 years now while still going strong without any problems.

To be fair, the faceplate is bit plasticky, one of the volume controls has gotten a bit noisy, and they are not as powerful as their rating suggest.

But generally I would agree that these amps make a mockery of many high priced audiophile offerings.

Cheers,
cwlondon
1,198 posts
 
Oops, I now see I already participated in this thread and said almost exactly the same thing 2 years ago.

Sorry for repeating myself, but it is the truth.
grege
47 posts
 
Thanks Cwlondon. I know this doesn't pump out its claimed 230 W at four ohms but it is more than enough power for my speakers and room (180W or so). It is pretty funny to AB this amp with ones costing over 10X as much and the Behringer sounds as good as any of them.

FWIW, I found this review to be incredibly accurate and honest. Of course the Behinger bashers will have none of this!

http://theaudiocritic.com/plog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=22&blogId=1
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