expired Posted by Discombobulated | Staff • Sep 28, 2022
Sep 28, 2022 7:16 AM
expired Posted by Discombobulated | Staff • Sep 28, 2022
Sep 28, 2022 7:16 AM
Monoprice Monolight Multi-Channel Power Amplifier w/ XLR: M8250x 8x200W-Channel Home Theater $2149.99 or M8125x 8x100W-Channel Home Theater $1699 + Free Shipping via Monoprice
$1,700
$2,000
15% offMonoprice
Visit MonopriceGood Deal
Bad Deal
Save
Share
60 Comments
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Just wanting to learn how they use something like this.
You cannot adapt XLR to speaker outputs, could be adapted to receivers with RCA pre-outs, but you'll lose the inherent noise rejection of a balanced XLR circuit.
Most receivers have discrete amps just like this one. Why does it cost more to buy them inside of a dedicated package?
Most receivers have discrete amps just like this one. Why does it cost more to buy them inside of a dedicated package?
That's the purpose of an external amplifier. It's really not about max volume either, it's really about dynamic impulse response. A small power supply. It does not hove the reserves to quickly go from low to high. The receiver output now acts like a low pass filter and averages it. So you hear less detail.
An amp, on the other hand, is rated for each channel independently. So 8 channels times 100 means eight channels outputting 100 Watt simultaneously.
I'm not telling you to buy this product. Personally. I think it's overpriced. That is an electrical engineer's explanation for why someone would purchase a discrete amp.
But there are occasions that present the need for such an amp. I witnessed such an occasion at an Oktoberfest party that is held annually by a friend of my wife (well, her husband - I don't know any women this crazy).
Just a regular house in Metro Detroit. Less than an acre in a suburban neighborhood. The husband owns a successful microbrewery so his man-cave second garage at the back of the property is his beer brewing lab among the other man-cave necessities (very nice, eat off of the floor, stainless everything, etc).
I didn't know anything about audio back then other than a good system is to be appreciated. But there were two amplifier-only boxes that were each dedicated to a single speaker (brands all unknown) - only two channels but everything was beefy, including the arc-welder speaker cables. I knew enough then to understand that this probably cost a pretty penny just from my junior high perusing's of the Crutchfield catalog back when they sent catalogs in the mail. But I didn't understand why it had to be expensive until both blood-alcohol and volume levels went up later the Oktoberfest party.
It was the loudest residential system that I've ever heard - hearing damage loud. I've heard loud systems before but none of them were this accurate. Even at your large venue rock/pop concerts, there is some distortion that everyone seems to accept as requisite to play that loud. I didn't understand until I heard loud music played accurately at this party. It seemed impossible.
The system played for hours and never broke a sweat.
Was I impressed? Absolutely. Do I need one? No. Most people don't. Do I want an 8x100W Class D amp just in case I might need it in an emergency? Most definitely.
Even the best AV receivers are rated for home use cases - if you check the rated wattage, it will state "per channel into 8 ohms (20-20,000 Hz) at 0.05% THD with 2 channels driven". Onkyo rates at 0.08%. Yamaha at 0.06%.
You can get spendy on Arcam AVR which rate at 0.02% but I can't even hear the difference between the top mainstream brands at home-use volume levels.
TLDR: dedicated amps (especially class D) are great for filling a large area with sound for extended periods because they have a power supply which is built to support non-home use cases. They definitely have a market but it is very niche.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.