ART Power Amplifier (4334197756)

Purchased this to run the front three channels of my HT with 4ohm speakers. All but the most expensive receivers cant handle low impedance loads, so this makes a great low cost upgrade option to the amplifier section of a HT. An RCA-1/4" cable is all you need (and a receiver with pre-outs), but it would have been nice to have RCA inputs. Fan noise isn't really an issue, but it is there. The sound quality was noticeably improved over my Yamaha A800 receiver. Look at the cost of dedicated 3 channel HT amps, and then compare to this, it's a no brainier. This amp is tiny for its capability, 1u rack space. It is hefty, with solid build quality.

I've had my SLA-4 for about a year now and there are some pretty great things about it, and some not so great things about it:The Good:1) It's got plenty of power for most applications, and the the rated powers seem to be correct.2) It's flexible; the ability to bridge some of the channels and not others means you can use it to power two satellite speakers and a power hungry sub, or for two low sensitivity speakers, etc. I appreciate that flexibility in a home theater context because my setup changes and I can use the amp in different ways over time.3) It's been reliable; no weird power transients, no on/off thumps, and it seems to do a great job of managing it's heat even though it's sitting inside an entertainment center.4) Small footprint- It's very compact for such a powerful amp.The Bad:1) It's pretty noisy, in both the mechanical and electrical senses:a) electrical noise- The specs claim a better than 100dB signal to noise ratio, but they don't specify a reference level ("below clipping" which could mean anything). I can assure you it's not 100 dB below any normal listening volume. With my regular speakers, which have a sensitivity of 93 dB, the hum and hiss are audible from about a foot away when nothing's playing, which is livable, but not great. However, I have a pair of compression drivers that have a 113 dB sensitivity, and the hissing, crackling, and hum from the SLA are loudly audible anywhere in the room even with the inputs muted (so I know it was the amp making the noise). I originally picked up the amp to use in a bi-amped speaker set up and it was completely unusable in that application, so I wound up bridging it and using it only for the less sensitive lower speakers (where the hum is liveably quiet).b) mechanical noise- If that weren't enough, the fan (at least in my unit) is not quiet, and the whole unit emits a loud high-pitched hum from the moment it turns on. If I put it in the entertainment center and close the doors, it's still faintly audible from across the room, and clearly audible from some sitting positions. Not great, but power amps are typically a little noisy, and if I cared I could probably solve it with a little soundproofing (or replacing the fan).2) As you might expect given the disappointing noise performance the sound quality is good, not great. It's definitely better than many amps I've heard, but worse than others. I'd say that the sound quality is solid, but not necessarily as good as some other amps at a similar price, like the QSCs (although those amps may lack certain features this amp has)Bottom line: This is a great amp for some uses, and a terrible amp for other uses. If you need 4 channels, a lot of power, or a lot of flexibility and you plan to use speakers with sensitivities in the high 80's or low 90's this could be a great solution for you, especially if you have space limitations or are filling a rack. If you plan to use this for super hi-fidelity audio or with sensitive speakers, I recommend you look at other similarly priced amps (like the QSCs or some of the cheaper Crown amps).

It fits our needs

Does everything I expect of it. Using it to power 4 bass shakers on an auto racing sim motion rig. The heat sinks run pretty warm with the pots at 3/4 but I haven't had any problems with overheating.

Great amplifier! Good clean sound. I'm getting ready to buy another one.

This is a well made, heavy, powerful amp. I've used it for a bi-amping project and it sounds phenomenal. There a a few caveats, though. The fan is a bit loud and the LEDs are blindingly bright. You will need some adapters to convert the TRS to RCA. Not a big deal.