I am still searching for that "big amp" for the bass boxes, but the more I read, the more contradictory the information seems...
I currently run a number of older "conventional PSU" Labgruppen amps, but having one bridged amp per driver is HEAVY!
(Finding amps for listening tests is somewhat hard in Sweden, as many of the MI shops carry only entry level stuff, like Phonic, Alesis etc.)
Normally one can find some general trends in opininons/reviews of stuff, but amps seem different? Strange, since they should actually have the smallest impact on overall fidelity of the rig, from a distorsion point of view.
Some praise the QSC RMX 4050 and 5050 for subs, while some claim their upgrade from RMX to some "switched" Crown, Lab or similar made a world of difference. Listening test (shootout) says the differences are small, but that test only included few speakers, etc...
Considering our ear's limited sensitivity to detect distorsion in the bass range, what IS it that we hear?
A guy I talked to described the lightweight Lab amps as "punchy" in the bass, but are we talking about that amp adding something that was not originally there? Or are many other amps missing the "punch", whatever that would be?
Power is clearly important, but amps that run below their clipping point should not colour sound at all, at least not detectable...
/Alexander