Sim Audio Moon W5 vs Electrocompaniet Amp


Hi, its coming together for me. My two front runners are the Moon W5 and the Electrocompiet AW180 which I am interested in based on reviews but haven't heard yet. I want this amp to pair with my Levinson 380S and drive a pair of Proac D15's (replacement for the 1.5) which I plan to get in a couple of months.

Does anyone have any experience with either these two amps and in particularly any impressions on this Electrocompiet gear? As always, thanks for your input.
128x128hifimatt
Please insert "sweet" instead of warm. I stand by my previous statements even with the word substitution. I hope Peter Moncrief will forgive me.

Please Audiogon ))!!!!!!!!!END THIS THREAD!!!!!!!!(( There are alot more things to do in this world then fight about gear opinions. Electrocompaniet may not be for you but that is no reason to bash it. I think it is wonderful gear that deserves to be heard and SIM gear is quite good and deserves an audition too. They present music in two very different windows.
Different strokes for different folks.
I really did not want to stir up an argument so sorry about that. I am sure these both are good amps when in the right system. There are many people that like the Electro gear which is what caught my attention, but it is very difficult when you cannot audtion that gear and determine what gives you the most bang for the buck. The Moon is at least a known entity to me so that is probably my front runner at this point, however I suppose that could change again before I finally shell out the money. Thanks for your opinions.
MAtt
I really did not want to stir up an argument so sorry about that. I am sure these both are good amps when in the right system. There are many people that like the Electro gear which is what caught my attention, but it is very difficult when you cannot audtion that gear and determine what gives you the most bang for the buck. The Moon is at least a known entity to me so that is probably my front runner at this point, however I suppose that could change again before I finally shell out the money. Thanks for your opinions.
MAtt
hi matt,

dunno what to make of the above thread, oh well... all i know is that i used to have a pair of older ec amps, an aw75 & an aw100, running in a horizontally bi-amped set-up driving my speakers. now, i have a pair of the more recent aw60ftt's running in a vertically bi-amped configuration.

all i can say is the ec amps are extremely detailed & accurate, w/a great soundstage presence, w/o a trace of hardness, or any other typical *solid-state* attributes that get talked about in your tube-vs-solid-state debates.

no, i have not heard the sim gear, but i *do* know that i won't be getting any new amps, until the time comes that i can afford the care & feeding of some monster tube amps that will offer perhaps a smidgeon more soundstage depth w/o sacrificing anything that good solid-state amps do...

doug s.
Mr. Stehno has a right to state his full and honest opinion, as does Mr. Celery. But if you listen carefully AND read between the lines seems Stehno's has some bias and distortion, 2 qualities nobody likes in their systems. Electrocompaniet makes one of the best CDP and all the reviews are GUT-SOUL-PRAISES (audioreview.com 33 reviews). They have been making power amps for 30 years and are very well known for their SUPERIOR craftmanship. Never heard the Sim. I had one dealer trying to sell me a product "Doesn't that sound great!!" I thought maybe he's losing his hearing due to age or something, for it sounded horrible. Just a point. Has nothing to do with Sim. I'm sure they make fine products. But i have some reservations about Mr. Stehno's comments. One other thing the Electro's are less expensive. Any Electro owners out there that'll say just how are the highs mids and especially the low frequencies of their amps. As always, Friends