are C Audio all that great?
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Forum Name: General Forum
Forum Description: Open Discussion / Questions
URL: https://forum.speakerplans.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=46682
Printed Date: 19 April 2024 at 9:46pm
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Topic: are C Audio all that great?
Posted By: SYG Media
Subject: are C Audio all that great?
Date Posted: 26 December 2010 at 9:38am
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Hi, heard some praise on C Audio amps and wondered if this was supported by fellow engineers and rig owners on here? Seem to be reasonably priced 2nd hand and their output isn't all that shabby compared to similar priced contenders. Cheers for the help.
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Replies:
Posted By: luke_0301
Date Posted: 26 December 2010 at 10:18am
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..........search......... ------------- more bass please |
Posted By: tweeter box
Date Posted: 26 December 2010 at 10:28am
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i use a 2650 on kicks, wicked IMO ------------- PRECISION SOUND SYSTEM. Feeding the peoples needs for Roots Music. Strictly premium grade reggae and dub steppers from the early 70's to present day. |
Posted By: OllieMan
Date Posted: 26 December 2010 at 10:53am
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I've used The RA series for about 15 years now, with a service every year they run perfectly on my monitor rig. I prefer the sound of them to Lab gruppen on monitors. I've compared a Lab fp2600 to a C-audio RA3001 and the latter wipes the floor with it! They are very heavy amps though, and you can cook and egg on them when running at full tilt! so make sure you give them adequate air flow. Hope this helps. ------------- DOJO MEDIA. PA HIRE/ RECORDING STUDIOS/ BACKLINE HIRE. |
Posted By: Nachural
Date Posted: 26 December 2010 at 11:11am
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Old and weighty but well built and sound solid. If they come at the right price and the weight isn't an issue you won't go far wrong with them. ------------- it's all just cardboard and magnets really |
Posted By: studio45
Date Posted: 26 December 2010 at 11:23am
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I very much like C Audio amps, they are beautifully put together and sound great, definitely very heavy but I like that in an amp. Unless of course you get the Pulse series which have all the great sound quality but weigh just 12kg. The caveat is that they contain a relatively early design of switch mode power supply , which is notorious for not running well on generators or other non ideal mains supplies, and depending on the history of the unit you have, may be in need of some modifications to be as reliable as it should be. A C Audio service engineer will be able to tell you more. If you buy an SR606, bear in mind that it is very easy to upgrade it to the specs of the SR707 (a small job of rewiring the power transformer, I believe) - indeed a lot of 606's have already had this done. I think my least favourite of the lot are the RA series, though they sound great I don't like amps that run so hot, we had a rack of them back at Uni and the bass amps were forever overheating unless we resorted to comedy arrangements of portable air conditioners and industrial fans! ------------- Studio45 - Repairs & Building Commotion Soundsystem -Mobile PA |
Posted By: jbl_man
Date Posted: 26 December 2010 at 11:30am
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The old SR series are great....only critisism is the insane weight (although no worse than an equivilant high-power amp of the same era) and the paint finish wasnt very good on the cases on the early ones,so they tend to go rusty easily. ------------- Be seeing you. |
Posted By: csg
Date Posted: 26 December 2010 at 11:38am
but that could be a C-mark amp would it not? very very different to C Audio which was a quality british make
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tweeter box wrote:Posted By: studio45
Date Posted: 26 December 2010 at 11:43am
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CMark are Chinese ripoffs of something or other and look a bit like the power amps Mackie used to make. I do see a lot of them for sale secondhand which I suppose means they are reliable (survive long enough to be sold on fully functional) but perhaps don't sound so great (because everyone seems to upgrade in the end!) ------------- Studio45 - Repairs & Building Commotion Soundsystem -Mobile PA |
Posted By: service dept Steve
Date Posted: 26 December 2010 at 12:00pm
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As well as modern equipment I also do a lot of vintage repairs, some of it 40 or 50 years old. Like or dislike C-Audio, one thing is for sure: someone, one day WILL be servicing 50 year old C-Audio amps, there are an awful lot of today's amplifiers that will only be spoken about in the past tense.
------------- We are not "They", We are "The others" http://www.servicedept.co.uk" rel="nofollow - http://www.servicedept.co.uk - |
Posted By: Davwal
Date Posted: 26 December 2010 at 1:31pm
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Agreed, C-audio were the dogs danglees for ages. Regarding the upgrading of a 606 to a 707, you need to be sure you have the right transformer first as not all of them were the same, no point otherwise. The RA series are good, but do get hot. And when the clip led comes on it means it is clipping unlike other amps that give you some space in that respect. Very serviceable amps, good metalwork. And ye gotta love the SR 808 ;)
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Posted By: djeddie
Date Posted: 26 December 2010 at 4:10pm
+1 As for me I've still got my 606 (upgraded to 707), it weighs a ton but it performs... every time. I've had RA3001s but mainly used them for cooking burgers at the end of the gig! ------------- Chas n Dave : it's like Drum and Bass but with beards. E=mc² ±3dB |
Posted By: Djdarch
Date Posted: 26 December 2010 at 4:29pm
| Is C Audio the same company as Cambridge Audio, the hifi amp manufacturer , i seem to think it is although i'm probably mistaken...... |
Posted By: TRE4U2NV
Date Posted: 27 December 2010 at 1:15am
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sr xr ra all good amps they wernt good genorator amps due to soft start but on regular power amazing rock solid bit of a lift but all good amps are / were easy and cheap fix if they ever went down all range could be changed to 230/240 volts down from 250v if i remember rightly ------------- IM SO SECRETIVE BUT I CANT TELL YOU WHY |
Posted By: mattd
Date Posted: 28 December 2010 at 11:46am
| I have quite a few c-audio SR seies. They are great amps much better than anything else you can buy for the money now- id much prefer to buy a c-audio 707 than cheapo a t-amp or whatever. i have one 404 that i bought 6 years ago looking like it came straight off a battlefield (it had been passed about quite a few free party rigs) it has been used and abused endlessly since and still going strong with no service. cant speak for the RA or the pulse as ive not used them but heard good things about the pulse range ! |
Posted By: snowflake
Date Posted: 20 May 2023 at 5:03pm
| my friend has a c audio sr-202. one channel working, the other channel the soft start relay doesn't switch on power up. might just be relay or might be further issues. worth resurrecting or sell for parts? |
Posted By: APC321
Date Posted: 20 May 2023 at 5:51pm
| I might be wrong, but I thought that on C-Audio amps the soft-start relay was common to both channels. |
Posted By: snowflake
Date Posted: 20 May 2023 at 7:26pm
looks like identical relay on each side. one switches on, the other doesn't. |
Posted By: simonp1100
Date Posted: 20 May 2023 at 7:34pm
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On most of the C-Audio series of amplifiers the protection & soft start relays are wired in series & are controlled by one circuit for thermal overload & DC offset on each channel, once activated BOTH channels will cut out until fault / thermal issue has been resolved. The very early models of the SR series did have protection relays on each channel driver board, but this was later changed and they were then fitted on the soft-start PCB board & controlled by one of the protection circuits on one of the driver boards only.
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Posted By: knet94
Date Posted: 21 May 2023 at 1:35pm
C-Audio did a Pulse 2 650. Pretty sure Tweeter wouldn't confuse a C-Mark for a C-Audio.
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Posted By: luton_soundman
Date Posted: 21 May 2023 at 1:52pm
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Think he has as he was using the cmark 2650 on kicks ------------- Sound Hire/Sales new/used equipment. |
Posted By: knet94
Date Posted: 21 May 2023 at 2:37pm
Shocked.
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Posted By: RoadRunnersDust
Date Posted: 22 May 2023 at 2:07am
I was lead to believe Mackie rebranded the C-Mark amps (as have a number of other companies over the years). They really lend themselves to it due to their enclosed modular design which makes dealing with parts and warranty repair an absolute breeze. Definitely not of C-Audio calibre though ------------- www.guildfordcablecompany.co.uk" rel="nofollow - www.guildfordcablecompany.co.uk |