Thanks everyone for all of the imput about BEL and thanks especially to Mikej for answering all of my questions offline.
It is interesting how many different opinions there are about these amps. I think I may try an and older version in stereo first to see if I like the sound.
I'm really looking for a great amp at a somewhat reasonable price (up to $4000 used), but I'm probably kidding myself as my amps sound pretty darn good. If anyone can think of a must hear amp in the under $4000.00 used price range please let me know.
Cytocycle:
I'm going to take your advise and listen to a BEL if at all possible before buying.
I also agree that the preamp is very important. I have a really good one. It's a Symphonic line tube pre. I've compared it to several other well regarded preamps and I like the Symphonic Line much better.
A couple of people mentioned cables and I used to think that as long as they were decent, it didn't matter much which brand you choose. Now that my system is good I hear differences in all of the different cables. I'm currently using NBS monitor 4 interconnects and Audience Au24 speaker cables.
Enough rambleing from me.
Thanks again for all of the input and if anyone knows of a great, relatively reasonable amp to try in my system please let me know.
It is interesting how many different opinions there are about these amps. I think I may try an and older version in stereo first to see if I like the sound.
I'm really looking for a great amp at a somewhat reasonable price (up to $4000 used), but I'm probably kidding myself as my amps sound pretty darn good. If anyone can think of a must hear amp in the under $4000.00 used price range please let me know.
Cytocycle:
I'm going to take your advise and listen to a BEL if at all possible before buying.
I also agree that the preamp is very important. I have a really good one. It's a Symphonic line tube pre. I've compared it to several other well regarded preamps and I like the Symphonic Line much better.
A couple of people mentioned cables and I used to think that as long as they were decent, it didn't matter much which brand you choose. Now that my system is good I hear differences in all of the different cables. I'm currently using NBS monitor 4 interconnects and Audience Au24 speaker cables.
Enough rambleing from me.
Thanks again for all of the input and if anyone knows of a great, relatively reasonable amp to try in my system please let me know.