I have tested several amps, one of them being Bryston 7B3 monoblocks. They are very nice amps, but they are definitely faster and brighter/thinner then some other amps. They are also just about as close to "Class B" amps as you can get. The Bryston amps are very efficient and do not really get hot at all.
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The fast amps vs. warm/slow amps really has to do with how the input stage and output power stage are biased. Some are biased heavily into Class A and these will generally be warmer sounding and fuller sounding. They will also get hot in temperature more so than the more efficient Class AB amps.
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older B&W speakers are described as very bright sounding because they had two issues: 1. metal dome tweeter that caused resonance/breakup and , 2. woven kevlar midrange that had breakup as well. These "breakup" modes caused the sound to be on the bright/harsh side. The later diamond tweeters are not bright at all, and the newest D3 series resolved the issue with kevlar breakup modes.
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I do not have any experience with the Aracam processor. It may be a good choice, but I tend to lean towards processors that have a fully discrete analog section. These include the Marantz AV880x processors, the Bryston SP3, Krell S1200U. I have even tested Theta Casablanca, but I did not feel that it sounded that good. The Bryston SP3 was very warm and laid back sound, but it had just about the best and strongest bass I have heard out of a processor. I think the "laid back" sound would mate well with the fast responding Bryston amps.
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The McIntosh amplifiers and electronics can sometimes be too laid back and soft. They often come across as boring and dull to my ears. Sometimes they are okay, but leave me wanting more. I heard a McIntosh integrated paired with the new Sonus Faber bookshelf speakers and the sound was very excellent. But it just did not have that excitement that I was looking for.
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The fast amps vs. warm/slow amps really has to do with how the input stage and output power stage are biased. Some are biased heavily into Class A and these will generally be warmer sounding and fuller sounding. They will also get hot in temperature more so than the more efficient Class AB amps.
----
older B&W speakers are described as very bright sounding because they had two issues: 1. metal dome tweeter that caused resonance/breakup and , 2. woven kevlar midrange that had breakup as well. These "breakup" modes caused the sound to be on the bright/harsh side. The later diamond tweeters are not bright at all, and the newest D3 series resolved the issue with kevlar breakup modes.
---
I do not have any experience with the Aracam processor. It may be a good choice, but I tend to lean towards processors that have a fully discrete analog section. These include the Marantz AV880x processors, the Bryston SP3, Krell S1200U. I have even tested Theta Casablanca, but I did not feel that it sounded that good. The Bryston SP3 was very warm and laid back sound, but it had just about the best and strongest bass I have heard out of a processor. I think the "laid back" sound would mate well with the fast responding Bryston amps.
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The McIntosh amplifiers and electronics can sometimes be too laid back and soft. They often come across as boring and dull to my ears. Sometimes they are okay, but leave me wanting more. I heard a McIntosh integrated paired with the new Sonus Faber bookshelf speakers and the sound was very excellent. But it just did not have that excitement that I was looking for.