PA-8400 Power Amplifier, 4200 Watts

No matter the style of music or the size of the venue, wherever amplified music happens, speakers and power amplifiers do the heavy lifting, converting electronic signals back into sound waves. And it’s the power amp that has the toughest job: it has to take the low-level output of instruments, mics and other sources and up the voltage significantly to drive PA speakers and stage monitors. When it comes to gear like active (powered) PA speakers and monitors as well as guitar combo amps, the speaker(s) and power amp are all housed in one unit. Those integrated designs are certainly a convenient option. But in PA systems, one or more standalone power amps used to drive passive (unpowered) speakers and monitors make sense if you want to grow your sound system over time. Also, if either the speaker or onboard power amp in a powered speaker system goes bad, you have to replace the entire unit—a costly proposition. Using an amp with some extra “headroom” will help assure that only clean, undistorted power gets to your speakers. Headroom is the difference between the normal operating level of an amplifier, and the maximum level that the amp can pass without distorting. Music has wide variations in dynamic range; without enough headroom, you’ll find your gear clipping (distorting) far too frequently!