Which 1U Studio Amp?

[BoogieBear]

Hi there boys & girls

 

Well you know how it goes, you power up your racks and something doesn't sound quite right then comes the acrid smell and finally the wisp of blue smoke followed by the 'dull phut' as the fuse lets go...........

 

Yep, my faithful old Rauch DVT25S that powered my NS10s has finally gone to that great studio in the sky!

 

I suppose twenty two years without a single glitch is no cause for complaint but now I need a replacement

 

Budget is really tight so I was wondering if any one here has any experience of the Samson Servo 120A or the ART SLA1

 

I only have the space for a 1U amp in that rack and don't really want to change stuff around so it limits my choice a little perhaps

 

Any experience of members using either of these two or suggestions for another would be very welcome as would any comments or further suggestions

 

Cheers

Anton

[duncanborrowman]

I don't know either but looking at them the one thing that would concern me in a tight rack is cooling. The first one is convection cooled with the cooling vents in the top - would they be clear? The other is fan cooled, but I can't see where the vents are. In a tight rack I would go for something with either fan vents on the back or heatsinks on back or front.

 

A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on.

 

I am not being paid by Canford, honest. But for the second time today I am suggesting one of their products on the forum. Their utility 1U rack mount fits the bill. Search 20-302 on www.canford.co.uk

[dan slv-tech]

Personally

 

I have a C audio RA501 little 1U jobby, convection cooled, nice and solid, nice warm output, never ever let me down, been used to drive LS3, Ls1, and Circle 5s effortlessly- not made anymore, but still some around in the used market.

 

dan

 

 

I don't know either but looking at them the one thing that would concern me in a tight rack is cooling. The first one is convection cooled with the cooling vents in the top - would they be clear? The other is fan cooled, but I can't see where the vents are. In a tight rack I would go for something with either fan vents on the back or heatsinks on back or front.

 

A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on.

 

I am not being paid by Canford, honest. But for the second time today I am suggesting one of their products on the forum. Their utility 1U rack mount fits the bill. Search 20-302 on www.canford.co.uk

[jamesperrett]

I'm not sure that you are going to be happy with a cheap amp after being used to the Rauch. I'd look into fixing the Rauch before replacing it.

 

If that isn't an option then it might be worth looking for an Omniphonics Footprint amp.

 

Cheers

 

James.

[matt_h]

I purchased one of the Art SLA1's last year to drive the some of the ceiling speakers in our shop. In this situation it has proved to be fairly spurious noise free, certainly an improvement on the Alesis that it replaced, and so far reliable. In response to an earlier post about cooling, the amp itself its a bit narrower than the 19" rack and has heatsinks down the sideof the case, in addition to rear vented fans.

 

Sorry, I don't have enough studio experience/we only play mp3's as background music through it, to give you a good reasoned commentary on whether its suitable for what you want to do. That said I would probably echo James comment about investigating getting the existing amp repaired first.

 

Kind Regards

 

Matt Hulme

[lightsource]

Budget is really tight so I was wondering if any one here has any experience of the Samson Servo 120A

 

Have a Samson Servo 550, bloody aweful, when compared upagainst my QSC PLX's. Lack of bass response, and an overall 'muddy'sound compared to the PLX. Serious lack of clarity, which (if you're using NS10's I assume it's a Studio envioronment) is not good.

[BoogieBear]

Hi

 

The Canford Audio unit looks like it would 'fit the bill' nicely but is a bit pricey in terms of budget!

 

Cooling in the rack should be OK as there is only a very shallow passive item above it (sparsley populated patch bay) and the Rauch was top vented and worked without any problems till now - good point raised though thanks

 

James, you've worried me with the quality aspect of this now - I always thought the Rauch sounded really sweet and I didn't really stop to consider the sound aspect - how stupid of me! The most important thing nearly got overlooked because of physical and financial constraints foremost in my mind :unsure:

 

I'm sure the Canford one would be the better choice in that respect - anyone using it or the ART?

 

Cheers

Anton

[duncanborrowman]

If you search www.ebay.co.uk for Amcron D75 there is one of these long standing standards expiring tomorrow going cheap

[Jivemaster]

I used a 1U Chevin Research A300 with great pleasure for some years til it grew legs.

[Andrew C]

I too thought that one of the Chevin offerings might do the trick. I use one for a small PA, and am quite happy in that application, although that said, I've not tried critical listening using it.

[BoogieBear]

I think I'll 'take a flier' and try the Canford Audio item

 

Thanks for all the suggestions :(

 

Cheers

Anton

[duncanborrowman]

We are main dealers for Canford comms stuff - Tecpro etc.

Amps aren't really our field but if you want the Canford Amp drop me a line and I will see if I can get you a few quid off list. Next in the office Wednesday.

[duncanborrowman]

Got Bruce to check. There is not much margin on the amp so not sure we could do a better deal than the list price. BUT BE WARNED MOST CANFORD PRICES ARE GOING UP THIS WEEK. Get in there fast if you don't want to pay more.