Quote Originally Posted by Peter_Klim
Anyone know how well either of these budget amps do at playing music at low to moderately low volume levels, with medium sensitive spks: 90dB/2.83 volts/meter that are Nominal: 4 Ohms; Minimum: 1.2 Ohms? Do they heat up a lot?
Hope everything works out at the Doc, Peter. The only time a loss of hearing is a good thing is when you're married

I've got the Azur 540a running 4ohm Mission Argonauts that are 95dB sensitive. The impedence curve isn't as dramatic as your ML's, but I can say the CA runs very cool and I've got mine on pretty much all day. One of the things that I really appreciate about the CA is it's low level resolution. Whereas some amps need you to turn them up to fully develop, the Azur is balanced regardless of the volume. I use it for my office system so it's rarely cranked to, as Nigel Huffnel would say, "11". It does seem to produce a very real 50 wpc tho and I've never heard it show sign of strain or run out of room on the rare occasions I let it fly. Bare in mind, when you combine my speaker's sensitivity w/ my modest office dimensions (18'x10'), even half volume is REALLY loud.

From a pure sound quality standpoint, I'd actually give the C320bee a slight edge only because it's bass was a little deeper. The difference is miniscule however, and for me I opted for the far better aesthetics and much lower price of the Azur.

Hope this helps.