Customer Reviews

Behringer EP2500 2 Channel Rackmount DJ Power Amp

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought the Behringer EP2500 for it's ability to push out 2400 watts @ 2 ohms (stable). I intend to add another 2 of these to my rack. I've driven these things day & night at parties and you can literally feel the heat on you but it keeps on pushing right through. Great amp, good bang for your buck.

this amplifier is everything i was looking for. it has plenty of power for you mobile dj's!. or if you just want to make a killler sound system. although if you are wanting this for a studio beware that it has a pretty loud fan.if you are looking for an awesome amp. buy this amp!

DJ Savage
E.P.E.
Electric Power Entertainment

I have 3 of these beasts in my FOH rack. One is for the top passive cabinets into a bridged 4 ohm load, and the other two each run a dual 18" 4 ohm cab. I have run them until I can barely touch the chassis it is so hot! Power draw is reasonable too, at the most I have had them all running off a 20A circuit. Never a problem with performance. The fans give out more noise than a QSC or a Mackie but in any situation where you are actually using them to push some serious SPLs the fan noise would be the absolute least of your concerns. Don't get me wrong, they do need air flow and adaquate AC supply; just as any high power amp would. I have had these for about 3 years and I don't think I could justify buying a Q or Mac because these perform so well, especially for the cost!

For the price you cant beat it and the fans are not all that noisy. Behringer has a bad rap on a lot of products and rightly so... they are known to be the cheap knock-off/Made in China brand. So while some of there product is horrible there are a few gems to be had and this is one of them.

REVIEW FOR Home Theater and Home Music use.

If you're the type of person who doesn't get pitched easy based off of "name" or cost of product and you're wanting SERIOUS power for around 250 shipped and ep1500's or a ep2500's will blow away McIntosh or Rotels or Carvers (just POWER AMPS) on the price per watt IMHO. Just think 1 Rotel 6 channel = over 2500 brand new or 3 ep2500's = 750 (3 x 2). I don't get into "purity" of sound or some other erotic descriptions on the power amp level due to parametric EQ's being relatively cheap and available so I'll skip that part and get into the practicals for HT and home Music. Basically with a 2ohm stability PER CHANNEL you have plenty of options for speaker wiring with these things ESPECIALLY if you're driving multiple subs or mains. The BUILT IN 30hz and 50 hz (two frequencies for each channel, not bad) high pass filters help get even more power to the speakers by taking out infrasonic which rob amps IMHO but needed on about 4 movies, War Of The Worlds being one of them, and 3 rap songs. I believe the lowest continuous bass frequency in a song is Akon And Young Jeezy Soul Survivor and it went only 33 hz.

Overall the amp is one of the best deals on the market dollar to watts wise with 2ohm stability. Again, look at the Rotels and the Macs and Carvers to get the power price and a good portion of them wont go 2ohm a channel! I know some purist will lambaste for throwing in Carvers but they're over a grand brand new for the same out put to 2 ohms (2400 watts). Behringer has a decent warranty with these but since they're a PA amp being used for HT you'll probably do OK on reliability cause these things are built like tanks and weigh just as much as one too. They have clip limiters also which which will help protect the amp and your speakers. Just don't do something crazy like giving it a 2ohm load bridged for 20 minutes ...it wont like that.

Negative: ONLY FOR HOME USE:

1. If you're going to drive this amp to their max you WILL need a 20 amp breaker in your home. It's power ratings are true for 120 vac 20 amps IMHO, check HT forums and you'll see test with loads that OVER 8 and 4 ohms bridge getting 1300 and 2000 watts 20hz to 20khz 2 ohm. For reference some the best AMC theaters in KC run around 10,000 watts THX iirc.

2. Signal LED instead of analog needles...k, this is my preference because Macs charge STUPID money (2 - 10,000 dollars) for their amps I want something that at least had the needles that somewhat looked like a Mac amp. Behringer is missing out on marketing in Home Theater because of the utility look of the AMP but it was made for bands etc so o well...

This is the best amp you can buy in this price class. It has plenty of power...I am waiting on my speakers as I write his review but right now I cant turn this amp up more then 1/4 of the way without blowing my speakers...The clip light doesnt come on but I know my speakers im using right now are very cheap and not rated for that wattage. Anyway, the amp is VERY heavy, about 50 lbs. The fan isnt as loud as I expected from reading other reviews...It is about the sound of the xbox 360's fans if you had to compare it to something, but once the music is going you cant hear it at all. I dont know why some reviews say you need a 20A circuit breaker for home use...If you look at the built in breaker on the amp it is only a 15A...Other then that, this is a great amp for the money and would recomend it to anyone who was looking for this amount of power for a reasonable amount of money.

I had a QSC RMX 2450 a while back and it ran ok but it cost me almost $600 and this amp was closer to $300. I have to say it is way more durable and consistent in sound. The only complaint which is so small it's almost not important is that the cooling fan is noisy.

This is the best piece of audio gear I've ever bought and has single handedly made the biggest difference in sound quality in my experimental Home Theater more than any piece of hardware I've ever bought. The sound quality after hours of listening and simple calibration with the assistance of my Onyko TX-SR804's auto equalizer function and Soundblaster X-FI Extremegamer's calibration tools in my PC is astounding. In all I have purchased 8 Behringer EP2500s and right now I am using 5 of them in my Home Theater in 7.1 plus 2 18" Pyle DJ subs. The interesting thing is that I'm using entry level speakers from Sony for most of the setup. I have 6 Sony SSF-5000P 8" 3 way speakers and since I have the ability to go parallel mono I have two Sony SS-CN550H dual 5 1/4" center channel speakers parked on top of my Hitachi 65" CRT Rear Projection HDTV. In addition I also have 2 dual 10" 200 watt RMS Sony active subwoofers for even more added punch where the Pyles fail to deliver. If you are counting watts then for your amusement the minimum RMS ratings from 20hz to 20000hz on paper add up to 4900 watts. Why did I choose the speakers I did and frankly the Behringer EP2500? I wanted to show that with solid processing, quality sources, and clean high powered amplification you could turn a seemingly mundane/innocent group of speakers into an amazing emotional audio experience at a reasonable price. I think I have succeeded in a big way.

Here are some things to consider when going for DJ amplification in a home environment. They are extremely durable and are made for outdoor use so you will be able to work them very hard and not worry. (They have active cooling fans but even with all five on at the same time it is not even as loud as your average air conditioner) The EP2500s have enormous dynamic range. There will be times when you will be shocked at how realistic an explosion might sound in a movie. It is near dead silent and then BOOOMMM!!! You can listen to music at any volume and get the full frequency range. It is near impossible to listen to soft music and still hear the lowest frequencies with on board amps in receivers or other lower power separates. More than likely if you decide to purchase an EP2500 for home use you will have to compensate for a few electrical issues. Ground loops are common and you will want to purchase a coax ground loop isolator for your cable box to get rid of hum and also RCA ground loop isolators for each of the pre-outs on your receiver if you go that route. Power consumption is high so make sure you have the proper current available. The rated consumption is 9.8 amps. The EP2500s only have 1/4" balanced inputs so you will need to get RCA to 1/4" adapters to use them with any RCA source as I did using the 7.1 pre outs from my receiver.

With the Behringer EP2500 everything just sounds more real. Music is awesome. I especially love the sounds of piano and acoustic guitar. They sound like they are in the room. It is incredibly clear with features of my Soundblaster X-Fi enabled like CMSS 7.1 matrix processing and the "24 bit "Crystalizer". Boston, Van Halen, and AC/DC especially the remastered versions are out of this world. Softer music like the likes of John Denver is a surreal experience and if you close your eyes in the dark you will swear he yet still lives. If you purchase the EP2500 your passion for music will also live forever.

Just bought an EP2500 - already have a Crown MA 2400. Let's compare. The Crown had to be serviced a couple years after original purchase with very, very light use. To Crown's credit, it was taken care of under warranty - but still - one channel failed and the unit had been used very infrequently - babied as a matter of fact! As for sound, I can't tell any appreciable difference other than the fact that the Behringer's fan is much quieter. I've found the only noise coming through this amp thus far is coming from poorly isolated inputs or the original signal itself. If you turn your mixer board's gain all the way down and turn the amp's gain all the way up - any noise you heard previously coming from the speakers when no signal was applied suddenly disappears. I don't push equipment, but my suggestion would be if this amp's 450 watts/ch isn't enough - buy another one! Let's do the math, shall we? One 520W/ch Macro Tech Ma2400 - around $2500. Nine Behringer EP 2500's putting out, oh, let's see - 4000 WATTS PER CHANNEL - $2340. Hmmmm....520 watts or 4000 watts at the same distortion level......Problem solved - if you find your EP2500 is feeling some strain and distorting more than you'd like under the load - buy another one and brigde 'em! Thanks Behringer for pummeling your arrogant competitors into the ground - it's been a long time coming and they definitely deserve it!