my phase 700 II blew a channel, i have 4 ess amt 1b's can i use a guitar amp to drive these

[chaso]

it was like a death i'm 53 had these since 70's pre amp autocoorelator, amp technics turntable and my ess. I never actually hooked all 4 up at once. I got bass speakers redone and a month later 1 side of amp blew. i cant afford an amp that compares so i got to wondering about using a behringer guitar amp or similar to power these speakers. they were rated at 375 per channel 8 ohms. my old phase put out 350 per side and i would turn it up all the way to max without clipping and those speakers rocked. my friend who plays bass didnt see why a guitar amp wouldn't work but that I would need way less power because amps for bands are not rated like my phase, anyway with further boring you all PLEASE HELP , ITS LIKE ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY STEREO BACK UP THANKS , oh my email is chasorellee@aol.com , but I will keep checking here too, thanks again

[dtel]

I am not sure but I think guitar amps have much more distortion, I think I remember reading they are designed to even add distortion sometimes called tone for the guitar. I could be wrong, but for some reason I remember that , is that all guitar amps, I don't know .

[Mallette]

I'm not sure if I am following this, but if you are talking about only bass here you can get 350wpc pretty cheap from Parts Express in a sub amp.

While it's obvious that it brought you pleasure, the PL 700 is hardly a favorite for very many in the community...to say the least.

Dave

[biglaz]

To the best of my knowledge a guitar amp has a limited badwith depending on type of sound wanted, also higher distortion ratings are allowed. Your ESS speakers are power hungry. If you played them with the Phase full out, WOW. There are a lot of stereo amps available these days priced from $200.00 up that will power those speakers. Some newer Crowns, Behringer, Samson for just a few Don't rule out lower powered stereo amps that can be switched to mono giving you the power you want. It might cost just as much to have the Phase fixed. Off hand I do not have info but, on E-Bay there are advertisments for repairing the older Phase Linear amps. If I come across the info I will post again. Just my opinion.

Hoping you get up and running soon,

Robert

[biglaz]

For repair service from qualified people try:

www.carveraudio.com

www.ritasvintageaudio.net

[LarryC]

Thinking back too many years ago, it seems to me these were very exciting, dynamic-sounding amps. I even had a pair of PL 400's on K-horns back then. Two problems, though -- too much gain = too much preamp noise transmitted; and a bright, somewhat irritating sound. They might have been a great match to other, less dynamic and less open speakers, but not to high-efficiency Klipsch.

They did sound very clean, though, superficially at least, so other amps might be disappointing if these have been a good match with your ESS's.

I wonder if you're trying to match speaker and amp wattage matchups a little too closely. Good sound is good sound whether speaker power and amp ratings match up or not. Me, I don't pay much attention to those nos. Better to match quality with quality IMO.

I hope you can find out what went amiss in your connections and setup.

EDIT: I wanted to say that PL's seem to have been an example of amps with high distortion at very low wattage output that goes down as power output rises. That would sound very irritating on Klipsch but better on lower efficiency speaks.

[dtel]

Was that the amps they use to call Flame Linear ? If so your lucky you never fried a speaker when it died.

[russ69]

The time has passed on for the Phase Linear amps although I'm sure they worked well with the AMT1s. That was a pretty common combo back in the day. As others have said they could sound a bit etched but that was a common sound back in the 70s. It's going to be a hard amp to replace without spending a few dollars, in it's day the Phase Linear was not a cheap product but it was a good buy for the power it had. For those on an extreme budget, I would recommend an Emotiva XPA-2. I should sound very similar to the Phase Linear and it's got good power. Thanx, Russ

[Mallette]

Was that the amps they use to call Flame Linear ? If so your lucky you never fried a speaker when it died.

The year they introduced them they used them to light up 400 watt floodlamps at the show. Some reviewers said they never heard them perform better.

Dave

[jwilson55]

Hi-Tech Audio Ltd. He is an autorized Carver repair center.

I had him rebuild a PL 700 Series II, A PL Pre Amp, and a Carver TFM-55 amp. I have been very pleased with his work. You can find him here: http://www.carveraudio.com/index2.htm