When it comes to power amps, the pro audio industry has the “Big Three” of Crest, Crown, and QSC. They manufacture products for various market segments that include professional touring companies, musicians, and sound contractors, with each product line using different distribution methods. If one meets the minimum order requirements, they can qualify to buy factory direct. Others can purchase through a distributor, or as they like to be called, a “manufacturer’s representative”.

Every day common scum like you & me can truck on down to our friendly music store. A relatively new method of distribution is the on-line merchant. These can be either a dedicated cyber-store, or the websites that are tied into a brick-and-mortar operation.

A stack of E&W PS-2000’s

This brings us to the E&W PS-2000. E&W is manufactured in South Korea, and distributed in the US by EWIUSA, a division of A.P. Distributing. A.P. Distributing, based in the Pacific Northwest, is a company that seeks out lesser-known brands and does extensive testing through a regional sound company, Concert Productions Services. Products that pass muster are offered for sale to you and me.

Product Description

The E&W PS2000 is 2 rack spaces high and weighs 13.5 Kg. (about 30 lbs.) The switching mode power supply amp has an output rating of 600 watts per channel into 8 ohms. It provides 1000 watts per channel into either a 4 or 2 ohm load.

Both touch-proof binding posts and Speakon output connectors are provided. The dedicated bridge-mode speakon output is a nice touch. Inputs are combo-jacks that accept either XLR or 1/4” connectors. There are also parallel male XLR line outputs on each channel for daisy chaining to other amplifiers.

All the connectors and mode switches are mounted between the two cooling fans that are mounted on the back panel, one on each side of the chassis. These fans move air along a long heatsink “tunnel” that runs the entire depth of the unit.

MSRP is $1124.00. The distributor-direct selling price as of this writing is $650.00. At this time they are only available in the US directly from A.P. Dist. via the EWIUSA website. A dealership program is being implemented and soon they will be available through many retailers.

Real World Use

The first place I used the amp was at a club that specializes in neo-hippie jam bands. I hooked it up to a pair of Community CSX-60 4x15 subwoofers, in place of the usual Crest Vs-1500. The Crest Vs seems to be a logical place to start my comparison, being a lower priced line of an industry heavy hitter.

E&W PS-2000, rear view

The E&W amp performed admirably, providing lots of thump to the subs.

My next test was on stage monitors at my regular house gig. The wedges at this club are a proprietary design with dual 12” woofers and a 1” horn. I hooked up one wedge per side, each on a separate mix. I have two more mixes using the same wedges. These are driven with a Crown MA-1200. Yes, I have the PS 2000 going head-to-head with a Crown Macro Tech that costs at least twice as much. If your gonna test something, test it good, I always say!

The E&W amp performed very well here too. I keep the amp on monitors at the club for a couple months. It gets over 50 gigs worth of use, seeing a variety of acts, house guys, and guest engineers. There are never any issues regarding the amp. It performs flawlessly, and nobody can tell which mixes are Crown MA powered, and which are powered by the E&W.

Customer service and support

W. Mark Hellinger at the bench

How well a product works is always an important consideration when making a gear purchase. Just as important is what happens when the product stops working. It’s a big issue with me, so I asked about it. I received the following response from the W. Mark Hellinger, president of A.P. Distributing via email:

“Failures are nearly nonexistent. I am set up to do lightweight repair work here. The contingency plan for repairs as of today, is if I can't fix it chop-chop, and it needs to go back to Korea, I'll send a new one out of inventory, and then B stock demo the repaired one when I get it back.”

The final word

A good product at a good price, with good support to go along with it. If you’re looking at lower-priced amps like the QSC RMX or Crest Vx, you should consider the E&W. It’s a cut above the Musical Instrument store products, and can hold it’s own against what the big boys have to offer. It’s quite possibly one of the best-kept secrets in pro audio.

Now the word is out!