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The Behringer EPX4000 amp

23K views 30 replies 20 participants last post by  jake515 
#1 ·
Hello guys,

in these days I bought a new Behringer EPX4000 amplifier, and I would like to share with You some details, photo and little measurements of it, starting from the learning I had with an EPQ2000, which I commented in another thread on this forum.


First of all a note on the way Behringer now uses on its many of its power amp specifications; whe You find something like "per channel, stereo" you should consider stereo mode but with 1 channel driver, and this has been confirmed to my by a behringer tech guys during some "hot" comments exchanged with the support.

The EPX4000 (which finally is an EPX3000) is delcared with that condition for 530W/8Ohm and I bought it thinking of having around 450W/8Ohm stereo.


When it arrived I was too coriuous and I immediately opened it to see its internals and took some photos


The first picture confirms that we are basically facing an EPX3000, with the EPX2000 marking confirming that the same motherboard is used for the two models.


The second picture show the details of the supply voltage, reported as 65 and 100; looking on the QSC website I found the CX-702 and the DCA2422 schematics reporting the supply voltage as 67 and 99. They are declared for 425W/8Ohm, so I expect this to be the right figure for the EPX4000.


The third picture is the detail of the capacitors on the mains: 4x2200uF, in series 2 by 2 like several QSCs, while the EPQ2000 has 2x1500uF.


The fourht is the detail of the supply reservoir capacitors bank: a total of 16x470uF, while in the DCA and CX we have a total of 20x470uF


Finally a detail of the cooling tunnel which is a little smaller in the front of the amplifier, reasonably in order to compensate the distance from the fan.


The amplifier seems well built, with a better assembly appearence than the EPQ2000 I have; behringer adopted another brand of capacitors, DECON (another china brand) instead of XUNDA ... but I will replace in the short term them with PANASONIC.


After this inspection I took the first measurement of the amplifier using my setup built on 8 ARCOL 50W resistors mounted on a heatsink; they are 2ohms each and I wired them in order to have 2x8Ohm loads. these resistor have a power admittance to be five times the specs with a duty cycle of 5s when mounted on a heatsink, so each channel can sustain 1000W.


I then injected a 100Hz sin wave with a duty cicle of 5s on and 10s off, with 5s being already enough for evaluating true RMS power; the EPX4000 started to show the first signs of clipping at 59.5V, which translates into 442W/8Ohm, and this is also the maximum voltage which the limiter allow to deliver on 8Ohm load.

I lately found that when I was measuring the amp, my wife was doing a bath with a 2000W heater on
, so this seems to have been like a real test.


Given this premises in my opinion this amp is already a good value for the money it costs (the were 325 at my preferred seller in Milan)


I will post additional tests during the next days.




 
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#2 ·
Hello guys,

today I tested the EPX4000 into 4Ohms and the first signs of clipping appeared at 54V RMS which tranlsates into 730W.


This seems to confirm the same specs as the QSC CX-702 and DCA 2422.


With 100ms burst @100Hz, which is already a very long burst, the clip led flashed at +0.15dB above the RMS into 8Ohm


In addition to this I found this amp to be heavily underbiased, as I already found in my EPQ2000.


I attached to images, taken at 2,8V RMS for a 15K sin wave: the first is for the EPX4000 and the second is for my EPQ2000 after having set the bias to few mA in order to eliminate crossover distortion.


In my opinion this is also the main reason why in the old test the EP1500 and the EP2500 had a very bad distortion figure at hihger frequency.

 
#6 ·
Cheers for doing this, I found it interesting and it added another datapoint to the total.


I hope the mods will include a link to this thread in the Amp Testing thread (in first post).
 
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#8 ·
Thanks for the test results.


I have a EPX4000 myself and are quite happy with it.


The noise is quite high though and I would like to put my Amp in another room.

I know I can replace the fans, but I would like it even more quiet.


Do you have a suggestion on how I could replicate the load/clip lights into my room? Fiberoptics or wiring+External LEDs?
 
#9 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Strike Ace /forum/post/21439202


Thanks for the test results.


I have a EPX4000 myself and are quite happy with it.


The noise is quite high though and I would like to put my Amp in another room.

I know I can replace the fans, but I would like it even more quiet.


Do you have a suggestion on how I could replicate the load/clip lights into my room? Fiberoptics or wiring+External LEDs?

Replace the fans, I did on mine. Go here on how to do it http://www.hometheatershack.com/foru...n-mod-etc.html
 
#10 ·
Hi,


I am about to buy a 110V EPX4000 amplifier.


I have noticed in your photo that there is a jumper inside the amplifier that may allow switching of power supply betweenn 220V and 110V.


I am planning to take them home and buy voltage converter since i can't find a 220V version of the amplifier here in US.


Can you please show me the jumper?


You think it is possible to modify that 110V amplifier since this is using switch-mode power supply? (I actually expect it to be auto voltage)



This will save me from buying additional voltage converter and it will also maintain efficiency of the system itself.


Thank you.
 
#11 ·
Hey, thanks for the most interesting testing you have done on this amplifier. I googled the amp after buying a B Stock one yesterday. I have an EP2500 which was second hand when I got it and at a DJ gig started smoking early part of the evening while playing background music.. - even though it was still working.. the fan had packed up and that dreaded electrical burning smell was coming from the front vents..


I see that you mention distortion on these amps in your wave graphs, I was warned off Behringer amps because of this, they kill speakers a sound engineer told me after I melted two pairs of my pride and joy 8 ohm Electrovoice SX200 speakers using the EP2500 some time ago.


But looking at the price of EV/Crown/Crest etc amplifiers, and the amount of times that I use the bigger amps - with subs, the EPX4000 would seem a reasonable purchase.


I will be using the EPX4000 on New Years Eve in conjunction with 2 x EV SX200s (with 250w 12" Woofers inside), for tops and 2 x 600w each Bass bins. Do you think I should use the 'Stereo' option you suggested as - tops on 1 channel stereo and Bass bins on channel 2 please?


As you know what you're talking about, your comments are most appreciated.


Thanx again


Keefymartin
 
#13 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by A9X-308  /t/1384374/the-behringer-epx4000-amp#post_21438451


Cheers for doing this, I found it interesting and it added another datapoint to the total.



I hope the mods will include a link to this thread in the Amp Testing thread (in first post).

I would second this for sure. Please add mods!!!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Strike Ace  /t/1384374/the-behringer-epx4000-amp#post_21439202


Thanks for the test results.



I have a EPX4000 myself and are quite happy with it.



The noise is quite high though and I would like to put my Amp in another room.


I know I can replace the fans, but I would like it even more quiet.



Do you have a suggestion on how I could replicate the load/clip lights into my room? Fiberoptics or wiring+External LEDs?

That link posted to do the fan mod is a MUST!!!! I did it, and even though I have never messed with electronic boards of ANY sort, it still only took me about 10 minutes. Now the epx is dead silent. Not quiet, silent.
 
#15 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by beastaudio  /t/1384374/the-behringer-epx4000-amp/0_100#post_22540975


I would second this for sure. Please add mods!!!!

That link posted to do the fan mod is a MUST!!!! I did it, and even though I have never messed with electronic boards of ANY sort, it still only took me about 10 minutes. Now the epx is dead silent. Not quiet, silent.

+1


My EPX4000 was louder than my gf's blowdryer. After I replaced the stock fans I am no longer able to hear the fans even with the case cover off and my ear about foot from the fans.
 
#17 ·
front loaded horns have large regions in the frequency response where the impedance is near the driver's resistance. those 8 ohm cabs have drivers that are probably 5 ohm resistance, so two in parallel is around 2.5 ohms. 2.5 ohms bridged on that amp at full power is proabably pulling too much current and sending amp into protect mode. if that is the case, there isn't anything that i can think of as a remedy other than turning it down.
 
#18 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by LTD02  /t/1384374/the-behringer-epx4000-amp#post_22919083


front loaded horns have large regions in the frequency response where the impedance is near the driver's resistance. those 8 ohm cabs have drivers that are probably 5 ohm resistance, so two in parallel is around 2.5 ohms. 2.5 ohms bridged on that amp at full power is proabably pulling too much current and sending amp into protect mode. if that is the case, there isn't anything that i can think of as a remedy other than turning it down.

Thanks for your advice but i have the gain at half and it was still cutting out. Do you have any advice on a specific amp that you think would be a great fit and not too expensive?

Thanks again for your input it's greatly apreciated thank you
 
#19 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by johnnyk882  /t/1384374/the-behringer-epx4000-amp/0_80#post_22925833


Thanks for your advice but i have the gain at half and it was still cutting out. Do you have any advice on a specific amp that you think would be a great fit and not too expensive?

Thanks again for your input it's greatly apreciated thank you

The gain position doesn't really matter, it's just an attenuator so to speak.
 
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#20 ·
My new Behringer Europower EPX4000 Power Amplifier suddenly died just now. I have no idea what happened. I attempted to turn it on and all that occurs is that the light around the power button occasionally flickers (and faintly at that). The amplifier does not power on at all.


I’m at a loss as to what might have happened as I’ve made no changes to the way the amplifier is connected or configured. It simply stopped working as I turned it on just now. Since it's only three months old (I ordered it on May 5, 2013), I wrote Amazon in hopes that they replace it.
 
#21 ·
Okay, I am at a loss and I really need some expert help.


The EPX4000 that I had sent for repair just faulted. I recently had this amplifier returned to me from Behringer's repair specialists, Diversified Audio, and the amp just faulted some moments ago. It switches on and off, the bottom two signal lights (-20) flash in tandem with the light surrounding the power button. The amp simply stays like that. I wasn't even playing anything on it as I just turned it on a few moments ago. In days prior, the amp worked fine and I've been using it in exact the same way as when I got it. Right now, there was no signal being fed to the amp and there have been no power fluctuations so I do not understand what might have happened.


I have a brand new Behringer Europower EPX4000 Power Amplifier that I haven't used and am afraid to connect it for fear of it too faulting.


I recently tested the two subwoofers I was running with this amp and even opted to run it in stereo mode because each Epik Legend was registering at 3.5 ohms on a multimeter. So I figured discretion was the better part of valor in this particular case. The subwoofers also tested fine with no faults so I doubt they are to blame.


Could the problem have been that I had the amplifier connected to a UPS and it perhaps was not getting enough power? Would plugging the remaining amp directly the wall solve my woes?
 
#23 ·
"Hi guys i need some help please i have a pair of cv LR36 and i was trying to use the Behringer EPX4000 on them and the amp started going out and it was in bridge mode with only the 2 cv cabinets any thoughts would be greatly aprieciated. Thanks in advance"


you had them in parallel to the bridged connection? that may have cooked some components.
 
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