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Author Topic: Face Audio amplifiers for cinema? Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-09-2009 08:25 AM                        Aren't some of the newer QSCs made in China as well? And is twelve years really "old" for an amplifier? At what point do the capacitors start to fail? The theatre where I worked when I was in college was using crappy McMartin paging amplifiers (really!) from about 1981 until the late 1990s when they started to fail and we replaced them with QSCs. I can only hope that a quality modern unit would outlast those pieces of junk. Another theatre that I know was using an original Western Electric system from the 1930s until the 1980s, when it was replaced due to lack of spare parts availability.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 05-09-2009 08:47 AM                     Scott...the ISA line, for cinema and the RMX line for pro are not made in USA and are price sensitive. QSC does not want to loose sales because some will by the lowest cost thing that they can find. The DCAs made here.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-09-2009 09:21 AM                     Its a little different when you have a company like QSC doing the Quality Control on the products. I've used a few of their Chineese made amps but only a few. They are basically the old USA series in a different box and all of you know how reliable they are. The build quality is almost as good as the US built stuff although IMHO the insides don't quite have the fit and finish that the US built amps have. You'll find the less expensive QSC amps at places like Guitar Center and a few unscruplous cinema dealers and the like. Mark  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 05-09-2009 09:30 AM                     The RMX and ISA amps have higher distortion and more noise than their DCA/Powerlite/PLX counterparts too. The are value engineered and heavy. Honestly...I had quite a few USA amps have problems and a few series 1s too. There was a reason that they went from a USA850 to a USA900 and likewise on the USA 1300 to the USA 1310. About the only problem I've had with the DCA line was early on...the bad ribbon cables...to which QSC paid us to change them all out! I've always said that you can use a problem as an opportunity to make enimies or friends. Steve  |  IP: Logged John Walsh Film God Posts: 2490 From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way Registered: Oct 1999 posted 05-09-2009 11:37 AM                     Off topic, but why in the world did QSC phase-reverse the inputs from the USA 1300 to the USA 1310? This has always bugged me.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-11-2009 09:52 PM                     John, I have a USA-1300 on the bench to rebuild tommrrow so I will compare the circuitry but it may have one less stage in the chain and that wold cause it to be phase reversed fomr the other amps. After I remove and clean the three inches of dust built up on these boards I'll look at it. We don't see many 1300's or 1700's fail ever! Interestingly, the boards in this model 1300 amp have a QSC Model 1700 label on them... Mark  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 05-12-2009 07:50 AM                     The USA and series 1 amps were virtually identical. The biggest distinction was the input module...the USA amps did not have the octal sockets and assoicated circuitry. However, the metal work was the same on the rear so pushing in on the label where the octals should be will reveal the holes. All of QSC's series 1, 2, 3, MX and EX amps had the phase reversal (only on the TRS plugs). They had some goofy reason that escapes me at the moment. When QSC went to "combo" jacks (XLR and TRS in one jack)...that was the end of the phase reversal on the TRS. QSC still puts a pad on the dataport jack on most of their amps (now some of the higher power amps no longer have it, but all of the cinema amps do). The reasoning behind that too is faulty. Steve  |  IP: Logged

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