What amplifier you reccomend for my MTX TP 1200

Need a budget and what you are going to use it for. Like mobile and tough or home use?
 
Hello thanks for replying. Well I really need something that will last long. I'm so bad at protecting my speakers (they always blow :( ) that I need to take seriously my decision before making any investment. A range between up to $200.00
 
Depends. What is the source of the sound? pc soundcard?

Partsexpress has two Sherwood receivers that would work just fine depending on the rest of the setup. Or you could get a smaller desktop amp like the Topping amps they sell there. Bigger speakers do not need more power. Usually, they can get plenty loud on much less power than you would think.
 
spaceman said:
Bigger speakers do not need more power. Usually, they can get plenty loud on much less power than you would think.
Click to expand...

Especially PA speakers.

You could do something like a Behringer iNuke1000 if you were hosting a house party. I doubt you'd need that much power, but hey...
 
Impedance: 4 ohms

They are not easy to drive. I don't know if there is any 4ohms receivers for under $200. Maybe look into ebays or craigslist for a used one.
 
@ Space Man: Hello, Thanks for the suggestions. I did some research and found that the Pyler Amp are good and durable. I have noticed that the MTX speaker have poor bass, which is what I like best. Hope to find an amplifier that provide enough bass. Thank you again.

@LENINGHOLA: Thanks for the suggestion.This amp have 1000 watts, isn't that too much for my speaker?

@Calvieee : You absolutely right. I'm still doing my search whether is good to buy speaker with amp or go with a speaker system. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
The Behringer isn't actually rated at 1000 watts @ 4Ohm. You'll probably get something like 240 watts per channel, assuming 2 channels driven. More power than you'd likely need, but you can find those amps for $150-200.
 
Yeah der. I just got that. 4 ohm = lots and lots of good strong power or you will fry the amp. under $200? good luck. Maybe some older tanks like a hafler amp but I would consider selling the speakers and getting something more reasonable to drive. Pyle Pro PTA1400 is not horrible and it is a $120 amp you can get that will work but if it is defective, you are done son. Looks like their customer service SUCKS.

My current system is an old pair of EPI speakers (built in 1980) that have 12" drivers, 5 1/4 mids and horn tweeters that I got for free with an old onkyo stereo 100x2 receiver and a nice little sub. Louder than I can stand at -10 on the dial and I can go to +10 and it still doesn't distort. Craigslist can have some real gems if you are patient. I paid $200 for the sub and $40 in parts to fix and rewire the speakers and to clean up the receiver contacts and internals. Sound quality is great. Wall of sound comes to mind.
 
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@ LeninGhola: Will I be able to use two speakers with this amp? So if I use an amplifier with more power than my speakers is less likely to blow them? That's my biggest concern.

@ Spaceman: I was also considering sell this speakers. But I will like to first now if is recommendable to make the investment? If I buy an expensive amplifier and look myself blowing the speakers again, I will hate music for the rest of my life.

Thank you all.
 
luisannalui said:
@ LeninGhola: Will I be able to use two speakers with this amp? So if I use an amplifier with more power than my speakers is less likely to blow them? That's my biggest concern.

@ Spaceman: I was also considering sell this speakers. But I will like to first now if is recommendable to make the investment? If I buy an expensive amplifier and look myself blowing the speakers again, I will hate music for the rest of my life.

Thank you all.
Click to expand...

The Behringer will run 2 speakers. I know for a fact that it will not output 1000 watts, nor will it output 300wpc at 4Ohms. You're not likely to blow your speakers at reasonable levels, but it is quite a bit more than you would need. It is more likely you'll blow something with too much power than with too little.

The Emotiva I've linked above would be a much better solution.
 
Hello Leni: I think that is best to buy a good amplifier to protect my speaker. So what you guys are saying that I need to invest more money, I will have to agree :( ... I read that if I buy an amplifier that resist 600 watts and under 8 ohms I'm at more chance to last my speakers.

Will I need a 2.0 amp if I get two speakers? I promise is the last question. Thanks for the help.
 
MTX TP1200 ThunderPro2 12" 2-Way PA Loudspeaker

Specifications: • Power handling: 150 watts RMS/300 watts peak • Impedance: 4 ohms • Frequency response: 39 Hz - 20 kHz • Crossover frequency: 2.5 kHz • Sensitivity: 91.4 dB 1W/1m • Dimensions: 24-3/4" H x 15-1/4" W x 12-3/4" D.
 
The Behringer iNuke1000 is 1000 W @ 4 Ohm bridged. E.g. the amplifier is a two channel amplifier, but you can "bridge" the two amplifier sections and use one amplifier per speaker. When driving two channels, it looks like the Behringer is rated 2x 300 W @ 4 Ohms.

A 300 W amplifier will not damage your speakers. Speakers draw power dynamically (impedance and thus current draw vary with the frequency being produced), and most manufacturers state their recommended wattage as an average. In fact and generally, most of the time a speaker will be using less than 10 W. It does not matter if the speaker is rated at 100 W or 1000 W RMS, most of the sounds (frequencies) a speaker will produce take very little power.

But every so often the speaker will need to produce a sound, a frequency, which will require an order of magnitude more power to produce. So while the speaker will normally draw under 10 W, every so often, for a split second at a time, the speaker may draw 100 W or even 200 W or more. This is why there are big, powerful amplifiers: to handle these spikes.

Furthermore, speakers are generally robust to these split second order of magnitude draws. E.g. a speaker rated at 100 W RMS/300 W Peak will generally not be damaged by an instantaneous power draw of 500 W. Instead, if will be damaged if run continuously over it's intended power handling. E.g. if you use a small bookshelf speaker in a concert hall and expect it to play at concert levels you can expect the bookshelf to live a short and not-so-sweet life.

In fact, unless you are using speakers which are inappropriate for the size space you are in, your ears will almost always suffer before the speaker does.

In terms of the speakers you have, those are PA speakers. They are built to be quite robust, and even though they require very little power to fill a room, even a large one, they are still perfectly capable of working with a 300 W+ Behringer amplifier, etc.. In fact, they would probably prefer it.

While it may seem counterintuitive, it is actually easier to damage a speaker by using an amplifier with too little power rather than too much power. Again, speakers are dynamic. When a speaker has power to draw from during those select "order of magnitude" frequencies, they draw it and are perfectly happy doing so, as discussed. So what happens when the amplifier does not have power to spare when an "order of magnitude" frequency is requested? Well, it clips, and this is the most common cause of speaker failure.

Speakers, you see, prefer curvy power, and as long as the speaker has a gradual change in power handling, even if that gradual change is over a very short period of time, it will be happy. When your amplifier clips, however, you will generally see a very square, or harsh transition in power handling. The reason for this is due to how speakers operate. They produce sound by moving air, and they move air by moving a cone back and forth. When the power is curvy, the cone moves back and forth gracefully, but when the power handling becomes harsh, the cone's motion will be as well. This harsh movement of the cone is what most commonly damages speakers.

So... I went on a bit of a tangent there, but I hope it helps your understanding somewhat. As for recommendations, you have PA speakers, and as such, you will likely be served best by professional stage amps. Amplifiers such as the Emotiva should drive your speakers quite well in contained spaces, and I really do love Emotiva's amplifiers! Thing is, such amplifiers are meant to be refined, and honestly PA speakers are generally anything but. (PA speakers are designed to play very loudly with few resources at the cost of refinement.)

If you plan to change your speakers over to something non-PA, then Emotive amplifier may be your best bet. If you plan to have your speakers setup outdoors at a pool party, however, stick to pro amps. You'll get more for your money and you won't benefit much from the extra refinements offered in the Emotiva amplifier.

Edit: I guess it all depends on what you plan to use these for. I may have missed it, but it is not clear to me if you specifically sought out PA speakers or if you were just budget shopping. Either is fine, but it will affect any recommendations made.
 
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LeninGHOLA said:
The Behringer will run 2 speakers. I know for a fact that it will not output 1000 watts, nor will it output 300wpc at 4Ohms. You're not likely to blow your speakers at reasonable levels, but it is quite a bit more than you would need. It is more likely you'll blow something with too much power than with too little.

The Emotiva I've linked above would be a much better solution.
Click to expand...

It's actually usually the other way round. Too small amp will begin to distort and distorted sound is what kills the tweeters.

With too big of an amp the damage will be burned crossovers and damaged bass voice coils resulting from playing too loud - but this is much harder to achieve than burning the tweeters.

The main principle should however be that if your speakers suck no amp is going to save the day. Switch the speakers, not the amp if you are not happy to the sound.

If you try to boost the bass on a crappy set of speakers you actually create just the conditions required to damage your speakers.

And to those who worry about the easy 4 ohm load: I have a set of ESLs that have 1,5 ohms impedance @20khz ;)
 
TESLA said:
The Behringer iNuke1000 is 1000 W @ 4 Ohm bridged. E.g. the amplifier is a two channel amplifier, but you can "bridge" the two amplifier sections and use one amplifier per speaker. When driving two channels, it looks like the Behringer is rated 2x 300 W @ 4 Ohms.

A 300 W amplifier will not damage your speakers. Speakers draw power dynamically (impedance and thus current draw vary with the frequency being produced), and most manufacturers state their recommended wattage as an average. In fact and generally, most of the time a speaker will be using less than 10 W. It does not matter if the speaker is rated at 100 W or 1000 W RMS, most of the sounds (frequencies) a speaker will produce take very little power.

But every so often the speaker will need to produce a sound, a frequency, which will require an order of magnitude more power to produce. So while the speaker will normally draw under 10 W, every so often, for a split second at a time, the speaker may draw 100 W or even 200 W or more. This is why there are big, powerful amplifiers: to handle these spikes.

Furthermore, speakers are generally robust to these split second order of magnitude draws. E.g. a speaker rated at 100 W RMS/300 W Peak will generally not be damaged by an instantaneous power draw of 500 W. Instead, if will be damaged if run continuously over it's intended power handling. E.g. if you use a small bookshelf speaker in a concert hall and expect it to play at concert levels you can expect the bookshelf to live a short and not-so-sweet life.

In fact, unless you are using speakers which are inappropriate for the size space you are in, your ears will almost always suffer before the speaker does.

In terms of the speakers you have, those are PA speakers. They are built to be quite robust, and even though they require very little power to fill a room, even a large one, they are still perfectly capable of working with a 300 W+ Behringer amplifier, etc.. In fact, they would probably prefer it.

While it may seem counterintuitive, it is actually easier to damage a speaker by using an amplifier with too little power rather than too much power. Again, speakers are dynamic. When a speaker has power to draw from during those select "order of magnitude" frequencies, they draw it and are perfectly happy doing so, as discussed. So what happens when the amplifier does not have power to spare when an "order of magnitude" frequency is requested? Well, it clips, and this is the most common cause of speaker failure.

Speakers, you see, prefer curvy power, and as long as the speaker has a gradual change in power handling, even if that gradual change is over a very short period of time, it will be happy. When your amplifier clips, however, you will generally see a very square, or harsh transition in power handling. The reason for this is due to how speakers operate. They produce sound by moving air, and they move air by moving a cone back and forth. When the power is curvy, the cone moves back and forth gracefully, but when the power handling becomes harsh, the cone's motion will be as well. This harsh movement of the cone is what most commonly damages speakers.

So... I went on a bit of a tangent there, but I hope it helps your understanding somewhat. As for recommendations, you have PA speakers, and as such, you will likely be served best by professional stage amps. Amplifiers such as the Emotiva should drive your speakers quite well in contained spaces, and I really do love Emotiva's amplifiers! Thing is, such amplifiers are meant to be refined, and honestly PA speakers are generally anything but. (PA speakers are designed to play very loudly with few resources at the cost of refinement.)

If you plan to change your speakers over to something non-PA, then Emotive amplifier may be your best bet. If you plan to have your speakers setup outdoors at a pool party, however, stick to pro amps. You'll get more for your money and you won't benefit much from the extra refinements offered in the Emotiva amplifier.

Edit: I guess it all depends on what you plan to use these for. I may have missed it, but it is not clear to me if you specifically sought out PA speakers or if you were just budget shopping. Either is fine, but it will affect any recommendations made.
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Tesla thank you so much for for the well detailed explanation. I'm now more aware of what I should be looking for when spending my money on speakers. We generally make the mistake to buy speakers based on the reviews without taking into account what we really looking for. Because of this common mistake I have waste lot of money buying crap computer speakers just because I found them easy to setup and of course cheap. I'm planning to stay with the MTX & buy another speaker to combine the sounds. This speakers are good & loud but does not provide enough bass, which is the reason why I'm having my doubt. Again, thank you for taking your time to provide such great information. :)
 
dashpuppy said:
MTX TP1200 ThunderPro2 12" 2-Way PA Loudspeaker

Specifications: • Power handling: 150 watts RMS/300 watts peak • Impedance: 4 ohms • Frequency response: 39 Hz - 20 kHz • Crossover frequency: 2.5 kHz • Sensitivity: 91.4 dB 1W/1m • Dimensions: 24-3/4" H x 15-1/4" W x 12-3/4" D.
Click to expand...

LeninGHOLA said:
I know I already put this link up, but....
http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/amplifiers/products/a100

80wpc in 4Ohms, perfect for driving a pair of your speakers.
Click to expand...

Hello, Thank you for the link. This amplifier is 100WATS, would it be best to get an amplifier that have between 500-800 watts? I see amplifier that have 3000 watts and are less than $200.00 , hows that possible? again, now that I have learn the benefit of spending more money, I'm willing to do the investment.

Snufykat said:
Your link specifies an impedance of 4 ohm. Are those the speakers you are trying to drive or is it a different speaker?
Click to expand...

I went to pages that give different description (For example best buy say "8 Impedance") Finally I was able to find the manual and yes is 4ohm, thank you.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/MTX+-+1...CLHvuM7tk7QCFek7Ogodpy4ATQ#tab=specifications

dashpuppy said:
Pyle = pile of crap..
Click to expand...

Lolz- I did some research and yes you are right, I have learned that the customer reviews sometimes are not what the product really offers. Thank you.
 
B00nie said:
It's actually usually the other way round. Too small amp will begin to distort and distorted sound is what kills the tweeters.

With too big of an amp the damage will be burned crossovers and damaged bass voice coils resulting from playing too loud - but this is much harder to achieve than burning the tweeters.

The main principle should however be that if your speakers suck no amp is going to save the day. Switch the speakers, not the amp if you are not happy to the sound.

If you try to boost the bass on a crappy set of speakers you actually create just the conditions required to damage your speakers.

And to those who worry about the easy 4 ohm load: I have a set of ESLs that have 1,5 ohms impedance @20khz ;)
Click to expand...

So what you recommend is to get an amplifier that is close to the speaker omh? Thank you.
 
TESLA said:
The Behringer iNuke1000 is 1000 W @ 4 Ohm bridged. E.g. the amplifier is a two channel amplifier, but you can "bridge" the two amplifier sections and use one amplifier per speaker. When driving two channels, it looks like the Behringer is rated 2x 300 W @ 4 Ohms.

A 300 W amplifier will not damage your speakers. Speakers draw power dynamically (impedance and thus current draw vary with the frequency being produced), and most manufacturers state their recommended wattage as an average. In fact and generally, most of the time a speaker will be using less than 10 W. It does not matter if the speaker is rated at 100 W or 1000 W RMS, most of the sounds (frequencies) a speaker will produce take very little power.

But every so often the speaker will need to produce a sound, a frequency, which will require an order of magnitude more power to produce. So while the speaker will normally draw under 10 W, every so often, for a split second at a time, the speaker may draw 100 W or even 200 W or more. This is why there are big, powerful amplifiers: to handle these spikes.

Furthermore, speakers are generally robust to these split second order of magnitude draws. E.g. a speaker rated at 100 W RMS/300 W Peak will generally not be damaged by an instantaneous power draw of 500 W. Instead, if will be damaged if run continuously over it's intended power handling. E.g. if you use a small bookshelf speaker in a concert hall and expect it to play at concert levels you can expect the bookshelf to live a short and not-so-sweet life.

In fact, unless you are using speakers which are inappropriate for the size space you are in, your ears will almost always suffer before the speaker does.

In terms of the speakers you have, those are PA speakers. They are built to be quite robust, and even though they require very little power to fill a room, even a large one, they are still perfectly capable of working with a 300 W+ Behringer amplifier, etc.. In fact, they would probably prefer it.

While it may seem counterintuitive, it is actually easier to damage a speaker by using an amplifier with too little power rather than too much power. Again, speakers are dynamic. When a speaker has power to draw from during those select "order of magnitude" frequencies, they draw it and are perfectly happy doing so, as discussed. So what happens when the amplifier does not have power to spare when an "order of magnitude" frequency is requested? Well, it clips, and this is the most common cause of speaker failure.

Speakers, you see, prefer curvy power, and as long as the speaker has a gradual change in power handling, even if that gradual change is over a very short period of time, it will be happy. When your amplifier clips, however, you will generally see a very square, or harsh transition in power handling. The reason for this is due to how speakers operate. They produce sound by moving air, and they move air by moving a cone back and forth. When the power is curvy, the cone moves back and forth gracefully, but when the power handling becomes harsh, the cone's motion will be as well. This harsh movement of the cone is what most commonly damages speakers.

So... I went on a bit of a tangent there, but I hope it helps your understanding somewhat. As for recommendations, you have PA speakers, and as such, you will likely be served best by professional stage amps. Amplifiers such as the Emotiva should drive your speakers quite well in contained spaces, and I really do love Emotiva's amplifiers! Thing is, such amplifiers are meant to be refined, and honestly PA speakers are generally anything but. (PA speakers are designed to play very loudly with few resources at the cost of refinement.)

If you plan to change your speakers over to something non-PA, then Emotive amplifier may be your best bet. If you plan to have your speakers setup outdoors at a pool party, however, stick to pro amps. You'll get more for your money and you won't benefit much from the extra refinements offered in the Emotiva amplifier.

Edit: I guess it all depends on what you plan to use these for. I may have missed it, but it is not clear to me if you specifically sought out PA speakers or if you were just budget shopping. Either is fine, but it will affect any recommendations made.
Click to expand...

Good write up,

This is why I only run 10 watt class a amps. and 96db effeciant speakers :) I only actually need 1.5-2watts BUT HEY! that's clean sound, I use a passive pre between my cd player and class a amps.

Simple in, simple out.
 
I have been poor for too long. Forgot about emotiva. There really isn't a better bang for the buck for new audio imo. Especially if you shop their clearance gear.
 
spaceman said:
I have been poor for too long. Forgot about emotiva. There really isn't a better bang for the buck for new audio imo. Especially if you shop their clearance gear.
Click to expand...

IMO it just looks like cheap Chinese crap.
 
dashpuppy said:
"MAYBE" their higher up gear but this one you have quoted is just a cheap piece of junk.

No thought process i building it and all cheap junk parts.
Click to expand...

sLo6l.jpg


Looks fine to me.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
sLo6l.jpg


Looks fine to me.
Click to expand...

until you know that they use all junk parts. and the layout is horrible, who the hell puts a volume pot beside a ( un-shielded toroidial transformer )

Why would they use a 2nd transformer for low voltage stuff when they could have bought a transformer with second set of low voltage winding's.

Trust me it's low grade junk parts in a fancy smancy case to make it look good.
 
luisannalui said:
So what you recommend is to get an amplifier that is close to the speaker omh? Thank you.
Click to expand...

There is no amplifier that 'is closer to the speaker ohm'. Any amplifier will drive various loads. The success depends on the quality of the power supply and protection circuits usually.

You should concentrate on speaker quality as the main thing, then worry about amplifiers. If you have crappy speakers your sound will always be crappy no matter what you do.

When you buy hardware you should invest 2:3 to speakers and 1:3 to the rest of the stuff (players, amps etc).
 
@dashpuppy - Going to play devil's advocate with your above post regarding the Emotiva amplifier.

The second transformer is likely powering the relay directly above it, allowing for a push-button ON/OFF. In such a case you would need a second transformer as the relay would be responsible for cutting power to the primary transformer.

Also the transformer does not appear to be next to a pot. Instead, it is probably a volume controller feeding a stepped resistor ladder located towards the rear of the enclosure. The signal path travels through the resistor ladder, but it does not go through the controller mounted to the front panel.

Here is an example from the DIY world (although the Emotiva ladder is probably on a chip and not discrete as with this example):
http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/control/jt.aspx

The layout in general is quite common, especially for that style of enclosure. By placing all power circuitry towards the front, you can shorten the signal paths to the rear panel. All you need to do is protect the amplifier section from the mains IEC inlet. There is no need to protect the front of the enclosure unless you are using an analog signal-bearing pot or a front mounted stepped attenuator.

Now, would a stepped attenuator or a discrete ladder and a discrete output stage lead to a better quality product? Arguably yes, but I doubt you will find any such (comparable) product at this price point. Even for DIY sub-$200 would prove to be difficult, although not impossible depending on the enclosure, etc..

As for my opinion on the unit itself, I have heard the unit in person, and I found it to perform quite well for it's price target, but your mileage may vary, etc..
 
TESLA said:
@dashpuppy - Going to play devil's advocate with your above post regarding the Emotiva amplifier.

The second transformer is likely powering the relay directly above it, allowing for a push-button ON/OFF. In such a case you would need a second transformer as the relay would be responsible for cutting power to the primary transformer.

Also the transformer does not appear to be next to a pot. Instead, it is probably a volume controller feeding a stepped resistor ladder located towards the rear of the enclosure. The signal path travels through the resistor ladder, but it does not go through the controller mounted to the front panel.

Here is an example from the DIY world (although the Emotiva ladder is probably on a chip and not discrete as with this example):
http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/control/jt.aspx

The layout in general is quite common, especially for that style of enclosure. By placing all power circuitry towards the front, you can shorten the signal paths to the rear panel. All you need to do is protect the amplifier section from the mains IEC inlet. There is no need to protect the front of the enclosure unless you are using an analog signal-bearing pot or a front mounted stepped attenuator.

Now, would a stepped attenuator or a discrete ladder and a discrete output stage lead to a better quality product? Arguably yes, but I doubt you will find any such (comparable) product at this price point. Even for DIY sub-$200 would prove to be difficult, although not impossible depending on the enclosure, etc..

As for my opinion on the unit itself, I have heard the unit in person, and I found it to perform quite well for it's price target, but your mileage may vary, etc..
Click to expand...

nope that's a volume pot, you can see it from pictures on google. I looked last night, and you can see it, there isn't enough room to do a resistor ladder volume pot on the back of that small pcb where the rca's are.

I know both guys at twisted pear audio, bought lots of kits from them for friends that i did.

Not really a good idea to make it this way, you take your audio path bring it from front then through pot then back to the pcb. Why not just put the pot at the rear of the chassis and keep the signal as close together as possible..

Trust me it's just a cheap unit probably only worth 90$ IF that,
 
I was curious and delved deeper last night; they mention an analog pot in the manual, so in all likelihood they do route the signal path to the front panel. That is disappointing. I thought they would handle volume control as they do in their XDA-2 (which seems to use a very compact resistor ladder).

So while I still contend that their is space for it in the form of an IC or even a compact analog resistor ladder (again, their own XDA-2 features one), occam's razor does make for a pretty convincing argument after all.

That said, their is no way that they could have moved the pot to the rear panel and still marketed it as they do now. The amplifier is meant to be a zone amplifier within an audio rack (among other uses). Having a volume pot in the rear would go against that use.

Anyway, we went a fair bit off topic here.

Bottom line: I do concede that their may be cost-cutting points made within the unit, or at least concessions made towards the form factor. I do wish they would have used a controller up front instead of routing signals, but having heard the unit in person it works for its intended use. I was pleased with it for the price. Again, YMMV.
 
B00nie said:
There is no amplifier that 'is closer to the speaker ohm'. Any amplifier will drive various loads. The success depends on the quality of the power supply and protection circuits usually.

You should concentrate on speaker quality as the main thing, then worry about amplifiers. If you have crappy speakers your sound will always be crappy no matter what you do.

When you buy hardware you should invest 2:3 to speakers and 1:3 to the rest of the stuff (players, amps etc).
Click to expand...

Hello Boonie,

You are right. I may decide to buy powered speaker and forget about buying an amplifier. I'm still doing my search since I'm afraid to blow my speakers again. Thank you for the suggestion.
 
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