Waiting sucks !!!

[Feanor]

My Bel Canto eVo 2i integrated is sold and shipped; now I'm experiencing an impatient and music-free wait for my replacements to arrive. (Well, I do have my iPod and bedroom system, but these are quite the same somehow.)

I ordered a brand new pair of Monarchy Audio SM-70 Pro's directly from Monarchy Audio. That outfit occassionally sells new, warranteed units direct to the public; I saw their add at Audiogon. On these occassions prices are far below MSRP -- they are vague on what basis they do it; 'B' stock, overstock, dealer refusal, who knows? Anyway I took advantage.

The SM-70 Pro's can be used stereo, but by all accounts they are significantly better used in "true balanced" mono mode fed by a XLR connection. Mine will run that way fed by my Adcom GFP-750 via my Behringer T1951 equalizer. I hear them in my MMG system a couple of years ago, so I know they'll sound great if not necessarily better than my erstwhile Bel Canto.

The output stage of these amps has zero feed back. Other than that, I don't understand much about the principles of operation. A preceeding model, the SM-70, claimed to have a "pure class 'A' output" stage, but claim is apparently dropped for the Pro model. In any case, they have large heat sinks and run pretty hot. This is a stark contrast to my Bel Canto that had no visible heat sinks and barely got warm. I'd love to hear if anyone knows more about these babes!!

http://www.monarchyaudio.com/

[RGA]

I don;t really understand - was it not you who kept saying the Bel Canto was as good as it gets? Digital amp and all. And now you are getting rid of it for something that by the sounds of it you have not heard much if at all and don't know much about?

I'm all for upgrades but what was the problem you were hearing in the first place that you are trying to fix. The Magnepan 1.6 is not terribly hard to drive.

[Feanor]

I don;t really understand - was it not you who kept saying the Bel Canto was as good as it gets? Digital amp and all. And now you are getting rid of it for something that by the sounds of it you have not heard much if at all and don't know much about?

I'm all for upgrades but what was the problem you were hearing in the first place that you are trying to fix. The Magnepan 1.6 is not terribly hard to drive.

That's is, right that I did say that the Bel Canto sounds great. But sound wasn't the main problem I was trying to fix; there were a few of others, though.

The the first, minor one, was that the eVo2i is an integrated that I was using as a power-only amp. As such it was a bit clumsy to start up and shut down. Note that the Bel had no "main in" connectors, so the signal had to pass thorough an extra gain stage or two. I didn't see this as a problem since are as tranparent as to be completely insignificant, at least to me. The second, more important problem was the I had more cash tied up in the Bel than necessary; i.e. that I could sell the Bel and buy something as good for less money.

The third "problem" is with me, not the old unit: I simply wanted to hear a slightly different sound -- to challenge my own assumptions and preferences. I could have bought an available Bel Canto eVo 200.2, an older model power amp that I could have had for about half what I could get for the eVo 2i, but it would have sounded extremely similar. The Monarchy SM-70 Pro is reputedly a bit different sounding. It doesn't seem too big a gamble since I heard it before in my system and it sounded basiclly great. I would like to understand its mode of operation better, but that is not per se an issue with the sound.