Amp headroom is a very underappreaciated audio concept. Just about every speaker or sub I have ever owned has performed better with more powerful and clean amplification. The sound of clipping amps annoy me too much. Most people underestimate just how much power is required to reproduce transients cleanly and accurately. Orchestral crescendos, sudden loud kick drums or dramatic bass riffs need huge instantaneous increases in power supplied to the speakers. Alan wrote this great article on just how much extra power is required as SPL increases. Doubling loudness or increasing SPL by 3db requires twice the power. Its a logarithmic function.
http://www.axiomaudio.com/power.htmlThe amp in the EP subs is one of the finest amplifiers to be found in any subwoofer, far better that the Indigo plate amps favoured by other sub manufactuerers. While there is more to a sub than the amp, most people focus on the driver and neglect just how important the amp is to quality sound reproduction. All the subs I had with conventional plate amps were sold long ago.
Cheap and expensive are relative terms. What's expensive to somebody may not be so to someone else depending on their objectives and requirments. I've always used Bryston amps: 7bsst monos, 14bsst, 9bsst and lately a pair of 4bssts bridged mono to provide 1000w per side. If the specs on the A 1400-8 or its 2 channel version are as good as has been suggested then the price is cheap indeed compared to the price of comparable amplifiers. I'm looking forward to comparing specs and A/Bing an eight or two channel version with my Brystons. If they sound and perform the same, the used Brystons go up for sale and I'll be saving a pile of $$s.
If anyone needs a toaster I have an old Sony amp that can be useful at breakfast time.
