SS Amp for natural vocals

Dartzeel gets my vote.These have 99% of the midrange magic that my Tenors olt's have without the heat. I finally put my Tenors up for sale. Also I recently moved and lost a rubber foot for the amp, Herve sent extra feet to me in 3 days at no charge. I believe this qualifies for good service.

03-30-08: Stehno
I'd put the Nuforce SE-V2 Class D amps right at the top of any list.

While quite good, the NuForce Ref9SE V2 didn't measure up to my Belles 150A Reference monoblocks, which were bested by a Pass Labs XA-30.5 Class A amp. The NuForce amps lacked punch and drive in the mids compared to the Belles and Pass Labs (on Silverline Sonata III). The highs were very nice, and the image was large. Bass was about equal to the Belles, and lacked the last bit of control of the Pass Labs.

Aren't you a dealer for NuForce, Stehno?

Tvad, How did your Belles compare to the Pass amps? How did the midrange including vocals compare? I would like to own a Pass XA.5 but the Belles would fit my budget a lot better.

Yes, I am Tvad. Thanks for blowing my cover. :)

In fact, I only became a dealer as a result of auditioning the original Nuforce Ref 9s several years ago when within the first 80 hours they met or exceeded the musicality, refinement, and bass control of my old McCormack DNA 2 Revision A amp.

Considering the DNA 2 Rev. A was rated 600 wpc into 4ohm loads and my speakers at that time were rated at 86db @4ohms, I found the original Ref9 quite impressive. It might be worth mentioning that the Nuforce amps aren't even fully burned in until about 140 hours.

The SE-V2 versions are only about 40% better than the original Ref 9s and have tremendous bass authority.

-IMO

04-01-08: Tomcy6
Tvad, How did your Belles compare to the Pass amps? How did the midrange including vocals compare?

No one would believe me if I said the Belles and the Pass were close, but they are...particularly when the Belles are used as monoblocks. It's a matter of degree. Overall, the Pass sounds more natural and refined, but then they are Class A and they cost $10k for a 60wpc pair, versus $6k for 500wpc pair.

The differences between them are more pronounced when comparing them as stereo amplifiers. IMO, running the Belles as monoblocks is the best way to go, and reviews support this conclusion.

Alana Yun, builder of Silverline Audio loudspeakers recommended both Belles and Pass Labs to me, and I have to say he was absolutely correct on both counts.