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"Blown away by KEF/Hegel combo!!!!"

The other day, I visited my local Magnolia Home Theater at Best Buy.  At the far  end of a large room, was a very simplified audio system, which consisted of only one component and a pair of speakers.  The speakers were KEF Blade One Meta, and the lone component was the newer Hegel H600 integrated amp.  I have owned a Hegel H590 integrated for several years now (I us an outboard DAC with it), which drives an incredible pair of Revel Salon 2 speakers, with phenomenal effect, so I was fully aware of how wonderful Hegel products are capable of sounding.  But now, I got the chance to hear the H600 (as an all-in-one using it’s internal DAC) with a pair of the world-class, IMHO, KEF Blade One Meta speakers, and I was extremely excited about it.  The source was Roon/Tidal.  As I sat there and the music of  my choosing began to play, all I can tell you is that this was one of the most incredible sounding audio systems I’ve ever heard, and I've heard quite a few in my day!!!!  The sound was super dynamic, wonderfully detailed and transparent, the bass was phenomenal, the soundstage was tall and wide with much depth and separation and coherency, beautifully natural, smooth, lush and full sounding, and it was also easy on the ears, and not in any way bright sounding.  For me, it was pure heaven!!!  I could’ve sat there all day long and listened to that incredible system.  I was absolutely blown away by that simple (but expensive) audio system!!!!  Happy listening.                    

kennymacc
rjduncan
62 posts
 

Hegel produces super integrated amps!  Glad you found that combo. Especially at a Magnolia. I love my 390!

kennymacc OP
723 posts
 

@rjduncan 

Yeah, apparently Magnolia has discontinued McIntosh sales in their stores.  Magnolia replaced McIntosh with Hegel products, and I must say, over the past several years, Magnolia used the extremely large McIntosh mono blocks, preamps, DAC's, etc., to drive the big KEF Blade One Meta speakers in the store, but the McIntosh gear didn't sound nearing as impressive to me as the KEF's being driven by the lone Hegel H600 integrated amp.  I was highly impressed.  Happy listening.       

tak1's avatar
tak1
27 posts
 

Good morning Kenny. Greatly appreciate your time & effort. Yes, you did answer my question … and more. I’m aligned really with EVERYTHING you said in regard to the Salon 2s and today’s Integrateds. But I came to the decision to purchase the Salon2s by virtue of my own research and perhaps more importantly after owning a pair of the F228Be …. which I also hold in high regard. Having never owned a top-of-the-line speaker before, I jumped at the opportunity – it was then or never. And I did so, without hearing them “live” prior. End game speakers indeed – certainly for me and you and others as well. I shall save your words, for a couple of reasons, but aside from my brother, no other person with any audio experience, has ever heard my system (besides the Mrs). So it’s damn NICE to read what you’ve written and to hear someone with obvious experience & knowledge say what I believed to be true. So, thank you again Sir. Enjoy the tunes~! Good morning Kenny. Greatly appreciate your time & effort. Yes, you did answer my question … and more. I’m aligned really with EVERYTHING you said in regard to the Salon 2s and today’s Integrateds. But I came to the decision to purchase the Salon2s by virtue of my own research and perhaps more importantly after owning a pair of the F228Be …. which I also hold in high regard. Having never owned a top-of-the-line speaker before, I jumped at the opportunity – it was then or never. And I did so, without hearing them “live” prior. End game speakers indeed – certainly for me and you and others as well. I shall save your words, for a couple of reasons, but aside from my brother, no other person with any audio experience, has ever heard my system (besides the Mrs). So it’s damn NICE to read what you’ve written and to hear someone with obvious experience & knowledge say what I believed to be true. So, thank you again Sir. Enjoy the tunes~!

parkergetdean
1,042 posts
 

I don't have much against the Hegel but it's not my preferred brand for sure. It sounds great but it has its own sound, "high" on clarity, low on detail. It's like vanilla extract, it makes everything taste good, but there is that taste. If Apple was a hifi brand, it would be Hegel.

jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,920 posts
 

op

there are a few vocal hegel haters on this forum

the hobby is a big pond there are plenty of fish in it, many people with different tastes... i just ignore the detractors

i’ve mentioned this in other discussions about hegel amongst top ss amplification contenders -- it’s my sense that folks who don’t like the ’sound’ of hegel amps actually want their amps to bring some sympathetic distortion into their setups... this is not what hegel does, bent holter and his crew aren’t selling that to you ... if you think hegel doesn’t offer adequate detail or sparkle, it is because your system doesn’t have it, look elsewhere in the chain ... if you think hegel doesn’t bring voices to life its because your source or speakers otherwise lack that capability... and so on... 

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