Hi,
I've managed to get a few Martin Audio speakers for an absolute steal and am looking at getting some amp(s) for a few of them.
I'm looking at powering x2 EM76 and a EM251 sub.
The EM76 have a recommended amp of 400-550W into 4 ohms and the EM251 a recommended amp of 550-800W into 4 ohms.
Would it be best to get 2 amps and power the sub separately from the tops? As I can't seem to find a 4 channel amp with a decent price that can power the sub in bridge mode sufficiently as the ohms load would be too much.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
I would get 2 amps of the same size and just bridge the amp for the sub. So a pair of PLX1604's would do you just fine and be cheap since they're old. They are however lightweight and very robust. The reason I would choose this setup is that 4 channels of amp in an SKB case is one of the handiest things you can have as a small sound company. It can be 4 monitor channels, 4 speaker on a stick channels, a 2.1 setup, 2 mains and 2 monitors, 2 bridged subs, or 1 main and 3 monitor.
If you can put a dsp in the rack with 2 small amps you are even better off. Or go with amps with built-in DSP. For very simple setups the Crown XLS amps are STUPID light and work OK. They have a very simple DSP system which would do a 2.1 rig, but no fancy slopes or EQ tweaking is available.