Hi, I'm big into car audio, but I don't know much about home audio. I need a cheap reliable 1 channel amp, that puts out between 400 - 500 wrms at 8 ohms. I have no idea what brands to look at for a home audio amp.... my budget is the cheapest I can buy while staying away from junk.
what is the amp for? a sub, individual speaker? dont know if a mono amp is going to be that cheap unless you get a stereo amp that is bridgeable. that range of wattage for a regular mono amp would easily go over $500 in my opinion, i wouldnt know since my budget doesnt allow for looking at mono amps let alone in that wattage range. if you are looking for a home sub amp look at partsexpress.com and you can find several sub amps. more info would be nice.
In addition to everything Chris said, your wattage demand is probably way over blown. 400-500 home audio watts aren't like 400-500 car audio watts. If you buy from a reliable company, you generally don't need that kind of power. Anything that claims that type of wattage for home use will either be complete garbage or insanely expensive. Their isn't going to be any in between.
To make any recommendations or to help steer you in any direction we need to know what your application for it is and how much you plan on spending. You could be going about what you're trying to do the completely wrong way.
Other than driving a passive subwoofer, I can't imagine there are more than 5-10 speakers out of the thousands made that would benefit from having a 500 watt amp. There are far more that could potentially be damaged by a 500 watt amp by accidentally leaving your volume control a little high and frying your tweeter (or other drivers) in a hurry.
Partsexpress.com sells amps of this type of power and more, but they are generally used in PA systems. You might try e-mailing them and telling them what you want to do with this amp and they might be able to hook you up with a powerful inexpensive amp that is appropriate.