Anyone here with Magico A3 driven by Bel Canto Ref600's?

Mark- 
indeed you are correct. The truth falls on deaf ears

Socially tone deaf?

Marklarsen and Tugen5 please have your class D, rules party.

One thing was fascinating that in the very review we found prasing the amps the reviewer also found a whole bunch of areas where a conventional amplifier was far better sounding that was in terms of bass slam and punch.

Again, unless you need the size and light weight, and low heat generation of these types of amplifiers or great amounts of power per dollar, why wouldn’t you just use the tired and true amplifier design of a conventional class A/B amplifier which to most people still sounds the most musical?

It is not that the Ref 600 are so much less expensive they are still $5k a pair and that puts you close to some of the best sounding conventional Class A/B amplifers out there.

For edification we have tested Auralic Hypex amplifiers, Merrill Veritas, Nad M10, Devialet, Nuforce and Nuprime amplifiers, Mytek and a few others.

The only truly magical sounding Class D was the original Nuforce Ref 9 Se V3, the new Nuprime ST 10 is very nice but still sounds too much like an amplifier, the very inexpensive STA 9 from Nuprime sounds great for a $700 amplifer but we are willing to forgive what that amplifier doesn’t do because we are expecting different things from a $700 amplifier vs a much more expensive one.

We haven’t tested the lastest Nuprime reference amplifier but the word on the stree is that one does sound very good.

Most Class D lacks the magic in the midrange whcih draws you in to the performance, what you get is clean, clear power and generally  good bass and dynamics.

The Pascal amp modules do tend to sound warm but still lack the articulation and  presense of a good conventional Class A/B amplifier.

Go listen to a Coda, a Krell, a Naim, a Pass,  and go see if you are still in the class D camp.

Here is the real question if it wasn’t for the light weight, compact size and low heat, and high power for low cost, would most of the guys who switch to Class D still be using them?

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Again ....still spewing your crap about class D. Let me make it as clear as possible. This ain't about class D or you opinions. It's your need to continue an argument that has long since been over. It's your need to take a simple question and turn it into "I've got a better solution for you" I told you in unequivocal terms that I don't care. I love the amps. 

I've got a friend that recently put an ad on audigon selling his Calypso preamp. He received a call from a guy in New Jersey identifying himself as a dealer. He just called to tell my buddy that his opinion was that he should be selling his Plinius amp rather than the Calypso. I would bet money it was you. 

My friend was taken back by the whole thing. "Who would have the audacity to do such a thing?" He said.

And this is my point. Don't enter conversations just to just to sell your agenda or show how intelligent you are. I find your posts belittling.

This really is the last post I will make on the subject. Feel free, however, to waste more time trying to sell me an amp.

Tigen, Sorry to disappoint, you but we are not trying to sell you anything!


First you state that you have your own opinions and then you throw out to the floor as it will with your questions to see what other people think of the pairing of the Magico A3 with the Bel Cantos.

Either you have your opinions and convictions, or you don’t.

To which we replied the only way you will know if the combo would sound good would be for YOU to try it for yourself, which is pretty sound advice.

Come on man if you owned a store for 15 years you would automatically know that the only way to reliablly predict the outcome of a pairing of a set of speakers and an amplifier is to try that combination and also know that once you have paired amp with speakers you might also need to change cables, or source components or both to create the sound you are looking for.

We told you that unless the other person has the exact same pairing of components and your taste the reply other than "sure it sounds good" is meaningless.

Also as noted the rave review on these amplifier basically stated that a pair of other amplifiers and an older Pass Labs amplifier outperformed this amplifier in certain areas we would guess than that bass control, and dynamics mean much less to you as the reviewer certainly prefered his other amplifiers in these areas.

Then we mentioned a few examples of non Class D amplifers that would give someone fantastic results that were not gigantic space heater amplifiers. 

The T+A 2500R is a very compact 140 watt integrated and it runs cool and sound amazing. The Coda .8 runs warm and sounds amazing, even the Anthem STR runs pretty cool and sounds really good, no the Krell 175XD doesn't run that cool but does sound really, really good. 

We then said unless it is size, power for dollar or lack of heat why would anyone choose such an amplifier?

As per your friend guess what is wasn’t us, we have not talked with anyone with a Calypso preamp nor do we generally call random audiogon people.

We might ask someone why thy were sellng a product if it is something we think is really good to understand their reasoning and experience considering we no longer sell Plinus and we don’t sell the Calypso preamp therefore why would we call this person?

Also we have had a tremendous amount of experience with Ncore, Hypex, Ice, and other Class D amplifiers.

Good luck Tigen and let us know just how magical the A3 sound with a set of Class D amplifiers.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ