odraude

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $400.00 from eBay

Summary:
Purchased the amp used and after testing I immediately have the 20,000uF Caps replaced with 2-23,000uF 100V Sprague. Replaced the fuse holder, upgraded with Hexford bridge, gold phono jacks, 4-100uf/100V blackgates, 2-2uF Solens caps, and new upgrade power cord. $267 later (includes labor cost), the results are:
- 294 watts per channel at 6ohms
- Distortion at 10watts =
-- .009% left channel
-- .007% right channel
Results:
- more quiet with the new 23,000uf Sprague caps. etc...
- sonically sounds a lot better good enough to compete with some tubes
- woke up my SDA-SRS Studio 1C like a giant that had been in a long sleep
- non-fatigue listening, I could listen to this upgraded amp for hours without
getting tired for unlimited hours.

After breaking it in with my upgraded Apt Holman preamp (see my Apt Holman review here), this Apt Holman preamp and DH-500 power amp will stay with me and will never be re-sold. IT is highly suggested that if you have vintage equipment like this, you should replace the capacitors with new and sonically better capacitors. The only reason Sprague was used for the capacitors is because during that time, my tech cannot find a matching Blackgate, V-caps, and AudioNote that I preferred. Vishay/Sprague is an excellent product because it is the choice made by the highly praised by the expert and pioneer Professional Systems Engineering "PSE" (way ahead of their time - not in production anymore). If you happen to have one of these PSEs open it up and you will see Spragues all over inside the cabinet.
I have seen a lot of vintage equipment but all they use is cheap generic capacitors (including my Acurus RL-11 which I had it upgraded with Blackgates also).

Finally, my newly upgraded DH-500 had been done with "breaking-in" (2 hours at a time, rest and another 2 hours, until it reaches at least 50 hours to hear the improvement) --and this amp will give me another 20 years of listening pleasure and until it will be upgraded again sometime in the future.

Strengths:
Quiet, Non-fatigue listening, solid bass, outstanding highs, super sweet even in low volumes even driving hard to drive speakers.

Weaknesses:
none after the upgrade

Similar Products Used:
Acurus, Onkyo, Bryston, Adcom, Outlaw, Yamaha MX-1 and CX-2, Numerous Haflers, PSE, Aragon, Nakamichi, Phase Linear, Apt Holman, Polk SDAs and LSi Series

Hal2000

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $300.00 from Ebay

Summary:
I was driving Huge ESS AMT3 Rock Monitors With an old Marantz 2270 receiver and thought i had great sound. When a good party took out the Marantz, I went to get the Hafler 500 unheard, on reputation alone. Well, my old speakers have opened up like never before. Bass is tight and controlled at any volume. No music i can throw at it can faze this amp. not Loud Rap or my best classical SACDs at full volume. My wife almost divorced me while testing. Shows the limits of your speakers, and thankfully, mine are very high. Feeding it SACDs and Mp3s through a Lexicon preamp now. Have experimented with output fuses, and am protected to 6 amperes now. It can put out 30 amps per channel! This is loud, clear, unrestrained, and built like a tank.. the power supply is the size of a large grapefruit. Best piece of equipment I've ever bought. This piece stays. I would love to put this old relic up against any pricey boutique amp and a/b them with revealing speakers. Instant high end for me at pauper prices. Wish I had three more for my home theater.

Strengths:
Clean power and reliability.
Used Price
Quiet fan

Weaknesses:
Heavy
Ugly
Fan (gets dust inside)

userme

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $300.00 from eBay

Summary:
i recently purchased a rotel rb-985 (100x5) based on positive reviews and personal experience with a rotel rb-980bx (120wx2). i was hoping to downsize my system which had consisted of 2 hafler dh-500s and a yet to be deteremined center channel amp. i hooked up the rb-985 and it sounded thin, tinny. i thought maybe my system settings had gotten messed up. maybe the dvd and/or preamp were set for small front speakers and/or applying a cutoff.

i checked settings and they were correct. listened to the rotel some more and then hooked up a one of the dh-500s. it was immediately apparent that i needed to box up the rb-985 and a rotel av receiver rsx-972 (75x5) that i had auditioned. put them on ebay and take my second dh-500, which i had listed on ebay, off. go find a center channel amp and a rack to hold my two dh-500s!!!!!!!

Strengths:
power.
headroom.
dead quiet.
very musical, live-sounding. hard to explain.....it has character, evokes emotion, gives you goosebumps, makes your hair stand on end. IMO rotel sounds sterile in comparison, no emotion.
low end that punches you in the chest even when pre/pro bass is set to FLAT!!!
warm sound that is all there even at low volume levels.
no listeners fatigue at any volume!

Weaknesses:
challenge of finding room for 2 dh-500s and a third center channel amp for home theatre setup.
it sounds soooooo good that you're at insane volumes without even realizing it.

Similar Products Used:
rotel

BoogWar

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I was once a P.A. system owner/operator in Kingston, Jamaica. We do P.A. a little differently down here. Systems (we call them "machines" or "sounds") with 100 KW capability are not unheard of, with driver elements numbering in the 100's. I ran my DH-500 on six bass bins loaded with (if I remember correctly) 15" 2245 JBL Woofers. The power of this amp left nothing to the imagination. Superb. Rocked my clients for three years without a hiccup. Supremely musical, transparent amp. There is a sound locally called "Crystal" that uses nothing but these amps. I think he has about 20 of them. Real class act, this amp.

Strengths:
Transparent, excellent sound staging, REALLY POWERFUL, good dampening factor, truly a classic amp.

Weaknesses:
Weight

Similar Products Used:
BGW 500 Classic, Crown Microtech, Sansui BA 5000

Price Paid:  $450.00 from ebay

Summary:
I previously owned a Hafler DH200 in stock form. I wanted a more powerful amp and the DH500 was a logical choice for several reasons. It's sound qualities and reliability in original form are well noted. It also makes a great foundation for modification as was my intent. I chose Musical Concepts to tweak this amp.The original circuit boards were replaced with their PA3B design and the original power supply caps were upgraded. I went on faith that these mods would perform as advertised. Simply put, this amplifier will hold its own with many of todays well respected high end 2 channel amps costing 3000.00 dollars and more, much more. In a listening comparison at a local hifi shop my modified old Hafler exibited performance characteristics that outshined in every way two new high end pieces priced at 3500.00 and 5000.00 respectively. I had great respect for my Musical Concepts modified Hafler from that day forward. I have since upgraded the power cord, installed Cardas copper binding posts and BlackGate caps on the circuit boards. Including purchase price I have about 1200.00 invested in the amp. Why by old and upgrade? Value and performance with unmatched bang for the buck. If your a hobbyist and audio enthusiast like me its always gratifying to hear your personal achievments after the soldering iron cools off. I built a tube preamp kit for this reason. There are many ways to describe the sound of this amplifier. Really though there is no specific "sound" because it is so very transparent. I hear the music and nothing but the music with no added artifacts, ie brightness, harshness, muddiness etc. The soundstage is dead silent with instrument details and subtilties clearly and effortlessly placed before me.Cymbals are crisp with resonance in the air around them. Vocals are lifelike with breathing and 3 dimensional presence that captivates. Bass is solid, tight , thick front to back.You hear and feel individual notes. When I'm in my listening room the electronics and the speakers disappear. I feel as though the live performance is right before me with each musician placed in perfect position on stage. I love listening to music and with the careful selection of quality components(without spending a fortune) it becomes absolutely pleasurable to sit down and listen to those favorite recordings over and over and over again. I urge you if considering picking up one of these or modifying the one you have to chek out www.musicalconcepts.com . Everything I hoped their modifications would do for my amp delivered. Excellent products and great service...The old fashioned kind, unlike what you get from the mass merchandisers. My system consists of: Transcendent Sound tube preamp. NAD C541i hdcd cd player Hafler 500 Musical Concepts modified Amp. THIEL 2.4 speakers(AMAZING) Straightwire interconnects Tara Labs speaker cables

Strengths:
Excellent power.Rugged MOSFET output stage. Extremely high quality sound rivaling the best available today. Affordable and available in the used marketplace.Can be modified to perform at levels competing with the best amps on the market today.

Weaknesses:
Its dated looks may not suit those with the highest tastes concerned with outward appearance.(But then those types aren't really concerned with the way things sound and thats what matters.)

Similar Products Used:
NAD,Mcintosh,Marantz,Classe