Driving a 70-volt system with a Behringer amp (PMP1680S)

[glowplug]

Hi,

I'm working on a 70-volt system for a restaurant/bar setting. Speakers are Rockville WET-6W. I know that there are dedicated 70-volt amps (i.e. from Rockville) but they tend to be simplistic and have limited inputs and mixing capabilities.

I believe that a Behringer PMP1680S should be able to directly drive the 70-volt system. I've done the math and the 10 speakers in parallel on the 70-volt line will present an impedance of 50 ohms. At 800 watts for one channel the PMP1680S should have plenty of juice to drive the 70-volt line to at least 50-60 volts. (More if I bridge to mono). What I gather from reading about 70-volt systems is that some amps do not take kindly to driving an inductive load (which the transformer is.)

So my question is pretty simple, has anyone ever tried driving a 70-volt system from (any) Behringer amp?

thanks!

[pvannatto]

Hi @glowplug, welcome to the forum. The only experience I've had interfacing a standard mixer with a 70V speaker system is with using a 8 ohm to 70V transformer in between the mixer output and the 70V speakers.

[glowplug]

Thanks @pvannatto

Driving the line with a transformer at the amp is also what I am used to, but I've read on various forums about people about driving the 70-volt line directly with a sufficiently large enough amp. I'm going to give it a try with this PMP1680S.

[MJKlein]

As you know, the whole point of the 70 volt system is to reduce the current in the wiring in the walls. Its better to use the transformer to reduce liability.