Hello all,
What are your thoughts/feelings toward using pro audio stuff for home? Such as amps with 1400 watts of power, electronic xovers and the like?
In general, pro gear is well made, I'd say a notch above the home audio overall (hats off to exceptions to this rule), but much more to the point, it is made in a more sane manner than competing home gear. By that, I mean the money has not gone into bells and whistles, but where it really counts.
How it sounds is a different story. I don't see why you would ever need 1,400 watts of power unless you are into sound reinforcement. For home use, including home cinema, you are not likely to actually need something between 100 and 200 watts per channel at most, and that's assuming you have fairly inefficient speakers.
Most pro gear uses balanced (XLR) lines, wbich is not the usual home thing, but can be accommodated for by using adapters (not recommended unless you know what you are doing) or buying home gear with balanced line, not necessarily implying exorbitantly priced stuff.
Electronic crossovers are probably the best kind of crossovers there are. The reason is simple - they work with small signals, low voltages and even lower currents, and thus do not require dicey components like big inductors (they simulate inductors using op amps, but then these have feedbacks, so they come out much cleaner than classic industors). On the down side, electronic XOs require multiple amplifiers to make sense, and corresponding speakers must not have additional crossovers.
There are practical aspects to think about as well. One is, as John pointed out, the fan noise from high power amps; you do not need to have this, but then you are talking about VERY heavy, VERY EXPENSIVE power amps with much passive heatsinking. True, there are noisy and silent fans, but they are still fans. Then, pro audio gear is free of gimmicks like one inch thick front plates, etc, they concentrate on the function not form, and can be aesthetically less than pleasing.
All that notwithstanding, there's pro audio and pro audio, some is better than others, and in the end, you still have to audition it to know how it sounds. As in all audio.
Cheers,
DVV
