CLASSE - Great amps or highly flawed?


Some love them. Others criticize:

Highly colored.

Midrange nice, but euphonic & not accurate.

Highs rolled off, and given an electronic sheen.

Overall dark sound.

Imaging only so-so.

Lack transparency.

Textured sounding.

Bass somewhat lacking definition & loose.

What's your opinion??
kevziek

Showing 2 responses by mgottlieb

I have used a pair of Classe CAM 350 monoblocks for about a year. They are as good as any amps I have ever used, provide an enormous amount of power at a very reasonable price, can be lifted by one person, and outperform some highly respected amps that cost twice as much and weigh twice as much. But that may not be enough for some people. Oh well....
I think there is an idea circulating that everything with a particular manufacturer's name on it sounds the same within a certain range as to price and size. It simply is not true. There are not only breakthroughs, but changes in direction, new designers going to work for established companies, etc. It is clear to me from recent listening that every post-Omega Classe sounds different from what went before, just as 1995 Levinsons and Krells sound different from what they are producing now. Anyone who writes off an entire line on the basis of out of date information is wasting his or her time as well as everyone else's.