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THE BLACK BY BEL CANTO- NEW REFERENCE

The new Bel Canto mono blocks that just came out, called BLACK BY BEL CANTO, weighing in each at 45 pounds, may be the amp I mentioned in a thread two years ago that had bee delayed for release back in 2013. The mono amp that John was working on back in 2012 was a Class D amp with no switching module replaced by a very large DC power supply. Reading the info on the website, would conclude this is it. Its also using a Ncore power supply as well. The large main power supply John designed would account for the heavy 45 pounds each. These new mono amps are part of a new three piece system. The amps are $15K each. Go to the Bel Canto home page. Scroll down to the very bottom right and click black face plate option and this will open up the new pages for the Black system. Has anyone out there heard these amps?
audiozen
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
I'll be more interested in something similar to the compact ref1000m monoblocks I currently have that I might also be able to afford using latest Class D technology when the time comes. This already has more than enough muscle for pretty much anyones need, so not sure what the benefit of upping the size, weight and cost with these accomplishes practically for most.
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drubin
3,265 posts
 
It appears that you can use these as traditional power amps via their analog inputs, but the real performance happens when you use them with the fiber optic link from the Asynchronous Stream Controller. So this is really a different kind of beast for BC.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
I listened to a pre-production unit of the entire Bel Canto Black system at RMAF 2013. It was a very sweet and musical sounding system, with very fine resolution and no glare.

Per my undrstanding of a brief chat that I had with John Stronczer at that time, Black monos appear to sport custom modules from Hypex... But it was not clear to me if such power conversion modules were derived from NCore NC1200 parts, or they were derived from upper end UDC modules with some NCore extensions.



Some information about the Black system can be found at:

http://www.belcantoblack.com/Bel-Canto-Black-MPS1-Powerstream.html

G.
audiozen OP
831 posts
 
The BLACK Class D mono amp uses a new type of transfer function design with the incoming circuit from the wall that is not found in any other Class D amp. There is no switching module, instead, the current comes into a A.C. filter then into a large D.C. power supply that sends the current to the Ncore power supply that was custom built for Bel Canto. This A.C. filter/D.C. power supply designed by Stronczer is known as the HSDR/High System Dynamic Range power circuit.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
Sounds like the cat's meow.

I understand the design motiviation but large expensive Class D amplifiers seem to defeat the primary advantage of Class D amp technology for most, ie lots of drive and muscle in a small, light, reasonable cost package, er, kinda like the current BC CLass D amps.

Seems to me the efficiencies of the switching power supply, is a key to this.

The value might be if this kind of Class D design is able to outperform anything else. Could be. I guess if you really want the biggest and best, you should still expect to have to pay for it.
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