crown vs lab gruppen

i did not read through all the replies but;
had a few labs,had a lot of vz5ks (still have 3 and half )
i made the switch a while back from vz5ks to a more lighter amplifier.
tried the labs first(that's why i had a few of them) they did notperform in demanding situations,(bass heavy, high tempo,high paced all day, all night hostile environment like the vz5ks. a few failed miserably.
(btw i have used vz5ks since they came out and never had one fail totally on both channels! i had one where someone threw beer in the back of one side that was on fire, then turned it up on the same side that was burning to prevent the beer that was still inside from running down to the good side, and the party continued!

the lab is a little cleaner but the crown, except for the weight is a much better all a round sub duty amplifier.

i do look at specs, but experience has taught me that performance in the field is the best way to do a comparison. that is the reason why i have no labs, a few vz5ks a shit load of crest 9200s and qsc 9.0s!

you would need to define "outperforms" ... but I suspect yes.

Weight: big tick there, any one with a set of scales can check that.

Sound quality: massive tick. The PKN are a decent sounding amp, although in my opinion there are still some better sounding ones for mid-tops, but .. the MA5002 is as rough as a badgers arse IMHO, they sound loud and "growly" on bass, but thats mainly because of the distortion.

Power output:  despite being rough as f*ck the 5002 does deliver the goods, but the PKN does too from what I hear, as do a many other lightweights.

Put simply: the MA5002VZ is a solid lump, that does at least deliver what it is supposed to, however it is as a heavy as a dead donkey, and about as rough as they come. If you don't mind the weight, and are playing the sort of music that benefits from a little distortion,  they can be a good choice if you can get them cheap enough.  If you want clarity, lightweight and efficiency there are many other good modern examples, the PKN stuff being just one.

Peter Moller wrote: OK.. I have worked quite a lot with both of these amps as well as quite a few other products in the same power range..   For general purpose use, the Lab wins - its light, compact and fairly powerful.   For bass heavy electronic music or reggae*, I'd definately go for the Ma5000.. It doesnt sound as nice as the Lab, its big and heavy, but its got a real powersupply** wich makes it able to deliver high power for extended periods.. * Tracks like these will make the FP6400 run out of steam pretty fast if you are running it at close to full power.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvlZknvDQv4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI4f6kRnEH8   ** A lot of the lightweight amps on the market today tends to have some issues with the size of their PSU - they simply cant deliver full power constantly..   The powersupply issue can be described using the plumbers example:   you need a 10 litre burst of water in 1 second to flush the toilet.. there are 2 ways to solve this: A: Install a HUGE waterpipe ( the conventional, heavy amps like the 5000VZ ) B: Install a reservoir and connect it to the regular 1/2" pipe in the building.. Dump the contents of the reservoir when you need to flush.   Solution B is by far the most cost effective method, and it will work perfectly under normal conditions, but when you invite your friends over for pints, the toilet will see a larger demand for the reservoir - infact the toilet will be flushing so often that the reservoir wont have time to refill completely..   I had a cheapish lightweight amp on the bench for some time ago.. Specs claimed it to do 2K into a 4 ohm load.. It did, but only for less than 0.5 seconds wereafter it dec  ided to use the limiter to keep the amp in the PSU safe mode..   /peter

So...who has experience with a lightweight amplifier that can compete, or better, surpass, the sheer muscle of a Crown MA5002VZ? And if so, can you state what it is, so others can give reviews too?

toastyghost wrote: sirck50 wrote: So...who has experience with a lightweight amplifier that can compete, or better, surpass, the sheer muscle of a Crown MA5002VZ? And if so, can you state what it is, so others can give reviews too? Powersoft K10

SBC wrote: toastyghost wrote: sirck50 wrote: So...who has experience with a lightweight amplifier that can compete, or better, surpass, the sheer muscle of a Crown MA5002VZ? And if so, can you state what it is, so others can give reviews too? Powersoft K10 +1