Spkrplus,
Your friend heard that comparison in my showroom. It was shortly after RMAF 2006 and the rep for the Belles gear is located not too far from my showroom. They had paired up the Escalante Fremonts in the Belles room after hours at the show and there was good synergy so he wanted me to try them out. I had the new $12K 75 watt class A monoblocks they had debuted at the show and Dave's top of the line preamp coupled to the Escalante Fremonts.
While the sound was very good with the Belles amps and the mid-range was just a little more refined. The 50 watt S40 actually had more power, better soundstaging, depth, height, et cetera and by a noticable margin. Unfotunately the M100's I had where already out the door and on the way to a customers or I would have done that comparison as well.
That audition however was what prompted me to bring in the M200's next. At several thousand less than the $12K Belles amps and more than twice the power it was a no brainer. In addition, moving into the balanced units removed all comparisons between the two amps. The mid-range with the M200's was no longer and issue or a contest. The Belles gear is good but its just not in the same class as the Clayton Audio amps at the same or slightly lower price points.
The Powers Module gear is great equipment and David Belles is as nice as they come. I just couldn't bring on the line knowing what happened when we put the S40 in the mix. As you know based on what you've been told. This wasn't only my opinion. You heard this from the person that came up and listened to the same comparison and made their own decision about how things sounded. Interesting that it's coming out almost a year later. I almost forgot about that listening session.
