posted 06-03-2010 11:06 PM                    

quote: Demetris Thoupis

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I believe this perception of QSC DCA amps as the best is just something that has been planted in our brains throughout the years. I do not say that QSC are not great. They are excellent and I used RMX series in a multiplex in 2001 and DCA in a multiplex in 2007 and so far not a single failure in either of these locations. I find though the overlove on the QSC to be something which cannot be explained. What really makes them the best? I can name a few other companies with better feature amplifiers like for example the Crown DSi Series. Not only they are excellent amps, budget friendly but they also incorporate very nice features like built in crossover network and some parametric eq minimizing the need for an external crossover network. I have not used these amps but I find this feature very interesting. Also the Crown XLS series are the most budget conservative amps. Still I am not saying that QSC are not excellent but I don't like the idea of everyone considering them the BEST because there are other excellent brands as well.
Demetris

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LOL Demetris, now who's taking the piss out of someone like you said to me in another thread? (I'm just havin fun with you, please don't get mad.)

To answer your question, the points I summarized above the quote are what makes QSC the best, so far. No one else has come close to matching them in all the categories I mentioned.

That is generally the criteria for determining the best in a given situation.

posted 06-04-2010 12:44 PM                    

quote: Jeremy Weigel

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I've only had 2 of them die. Both were MXa2000's and they died violently. Sparks and smoke shot out the front. Luckily they didn't damage the speakers. I still have one of them and have been debating whether it is worth trying to fix it.

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Jeremy, there was a bad run of MXa's that had a problem with the power switch and associated wiring. When it let go the forced air from the fan in concert with the natural dust build-up made for quite a show.

Contact QSC's service department with the amp's serial number, it is quite possible they will fix it at no charge if it was one of the affected lot. Even if not a warranty issue, their repair rates are very reasonable and I doubt the repair cost would exceed $300. A great deal for a fresh amp. (They check EVERYTHING when doing a repair and reset bias, etc. and replace any questionable parts.)

Stephen, I listed some points about Crown in my previous post and Steve and Sam pretty well recapped it. Crown, in terms of reliability and speaker protection when failing, sucks.

Scott, I would feel that 20-25 years is a good benchmark for amplifier life, but there are plenty of amps out there that are 30-40 years old and still running.

Main failure modes for older amps are the electrolytic caps which can dry out and fail after many years, sometimes bridge rectifiers go bad, level pots are the most common failure (and cheap to fix) but a bigger issue with really old amps is non-availability of semiconductors.

Never saw any Crest amps in cinemas, had one screening room with them, but they've been replaced with QSC's.