Alesis new RA Series Amplifiers - a sleeper?

Most people with any sort of good taste agree that the Alesis RA-100 power amplifier was pretty rocky. But I was visiting with a friend who has a really nice commercial studio and noticed a couple of RA-300s in his rack where there used to be Haflers. He's using them for headphone amplifiers (his monitors are powered Genelec 1031s) but he said that they sound better than the Haflers and the underground rumor is that this is a quite a good amplifier, not just "good for the price" (under $250).

Has anyone "upgraded" to an RA-300 and liked it? Or tested or otherwise evaluated it? Maybe it's better than I expect based on past history.

I'm not really in the market for a new power amplifier, but it's always good to know when there's an unexpected pleasant surprise.

whats wrong with the ra-100?

i have one, and it has an issue, actually two issues.

I like the RA-100 much better than the RA-150/300 series. I wouldn

I'm not going to attempt to reconstruct details of the popular opinion of the RA-100 from at least half a dozen years back, but in general it just didn't sound very good - kind of muddy and smeary. I never owned one.

But then we had different listeners and listening and comparison standards back them. It surely didn't get any better. I'm not looking for a comparison between Alesis' new and old models, but a comparison between Alesis' new model and other "standard" amplifiers from the past few years that nobody said sucked. (and I can assure you that half a dozen years ago, plenty of people thought the RA-100 sucked)

I guess maybe it's not such a big deal.

you mentioned "new" -- did they change the design?

I remember people thinking that the 100 sucked. Not sure why. It was a fairly common thing to hear, though.

I'm a bit confused

has the design changed (is there still an RA-100, with an updated design with the 300 being a feature/power upgrade)

or

is the RA-100 gone with the RA-300 being a direct replacement?

The RA-100 is fine in any non-critical application.

I've had one for years. I wouldn't use it for control room monitors, or more accurately I only use it for my "B" control room monitors which are a huge pair of Sunn 15s with compression drivers. I use that on the rare occasions I get a bassist who wants to "feel the thump" while recording in the control room.

Terry D.

There's a whole new (and I'm not sure how new "new" is - I only paid attention when a trusted engineer friend picked up a couple because he thought they sounded good enough to use) series, the RA150, 300, and 500. You can read the marketing load here but it, like most power amplifier specs and description, won't tell you much other than that Alesis thinks a lot of them.

Since you have a strong opinion of the RA-100 I thought my comparison of it with the RA-300 would be helpful. I tried the RA-300 and didn

Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe I do however have an old RA-100 that has worked reliably for me for many years now. I wouldn't want it on my nearfields (but with the ADAM's, I don't need it there anyway ), as I feel it is a bit underpowered for that, and I'd rather have more headroom in reserve. And compared to Haflers, I don't think it sounds as good or as well defined - slew rate issues? The attack isn't quite as "clean"...

I suspect that slew rate might have been at the root of the sonic complaints, but it's been so long that I really don't remember. I've not heard reports of them blowing up (sometimes Alesis gear is just too reliable and doesn't die when it deserves to )

So maybe there's something to this new RA, or maybe there isn't. Given the time span between the RA-100 and the new ones, I'm sure that it's quite a different design, some things to make it cheaper, some to make use of modern components and assembly methods, and in the process, it's bound to sound different. Maybe they just hit on a particularly good combination - or not. I dunno.

I have an Alesis RA-100 Amp. Although I can't remember why I bought it, I used it along with some speakers I ripped out from behind the seat of my truck and used that set up to mix a blues album. That album won me a WC Handy award in May 2000 for, "Best Traditional Blues Album of the Year." I still have that amp and a couple Mackie 1604's just for that reason, but they're just to look at now. So I guess I Love my RA-100.

Russ

Nashville