Hi,
I'm a lazy composer with no grand ideas of music superstardom. I merely enjoy the process of putting songs together. I've recently put a bit of time into reorganising my 'studio' (it's just a desk with an imac and a keyboard on it and a microphone/guitar next to it), but have become stuck with the monitoring. I do most of the work on some decent cans, but on the odd occasion that a friend comes to record some maracas or yelping or something, it's nice to listen to the results over some speakers. I have a cheap pair of bookshelf speakers which are completely fine, but my amp is a piece of crap - it crackles on every knob and takes up about half the space where my feet go. I'd like a small amp(this is most important) for under £150 that only has one input. Any suggestions for makes/models?
Or could I get a pair of small powered monitors for that sort of price and save even more precious foot room?
Thanks in advance for your sagely wisdom.

Why don't you try these and let me know what you think of them!

http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=995462&page=0&v iew=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1#995462

MJG

Thanks for the link - the reviews on Studiospares certainly look very positive. I'm still exploring the mini power amp option at the moment but I will keep these in mind as an option.

I was looking for a budget power amp for a particular project and found the Thomann T.Amp S150 which seems to have had some good reviews. I haven't gone ahead with that particular project so I've no personal experience with it but I suspect that it may be better than the typical Alesis or Samson amps that are usually suggested in that price range.

If the T.Amp is physically too large it might be worth considering something like an old Quad 405 or 306 which are smaller than the typical studio amp.

James.

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JRP Music - Audio Mastering and Restoration.
http://www.jrpmusic.net

The Samson Servo 260 seems to be the most common of the bunch and do crop up regularly on eBay. It should be noted they often have a problem with output relays which, although perfectly fixable with a drill and a few squirts of something expensive, might sway your buying decisions.

Nice amp though. Sink cooled so no noisy fan and rack mountable.

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Ohm's Law states, "Your PA isn't as powerful as you think it is".

I have mixed a lot of Radio through Alesis RA series. Longevity is where the economy is at in
cheap amps normally. I had 7 installed here and there and 2 went bad within 6 months, once replaced all still run without issue for the next 3 years.(probably beyond)

I had a 1u T-Rack amp as James mentioned once which I sold on to a radio producer, seemed fine, I believe there was a very low level hum coming from it at any pot position. Would not hinder any normal edit/mix work but I want to hear nothing less than deathly silence for mastering work at any volume. It weighed a tonne for only being 1u, it had a very substantial toroidal transformer in it.

FWIW this thing was not happy with M Box-II's unless you flicked the audio earthing arrangement switch on the rear of the unit. Although MBox2's had problems with a lot of amps as I recall.

Cheers

SafeandSound Mastering
Online Mastering