Any love for the Belles Aria or other recent Belles amplifier?

Rich and JohnnyR - thank you for the additional information.  

It looks like I can find a nice condition 150a V2 a few hours away, so I will try that with my passive transformer volume control (sounds great with the Hotrod).  If I need more gain, I'll spring for some form of Belles preamp.

(((BTW, if you folks think the Aria is good, the Soloist integrated (which is about $1,000 more) is really good too.... its basically pretty close to a integrated amp version of the 150ARefV2. If you need more power and/or better sound than the Aria integrated - its well worth looking into.Cheers
Rich Brkich )))

Rich,
Thanks for your comments I agree with you on much of the above
 but wanted to shed some light with my take based from genuine listing experience. 
I have been a Belles Power Modules dealer since mid to late 80s....
In our listening sessions with many top quality speakers the 1995 Aria Integrated petty well smokes the 3 k plus Soloist on all the speakers we listened to.
 The new Aria Mono Blocks at 2995 are pretty magical and easily surpass the150 V2.
The Latest Belles SA 100 at 5500 with its Dual Mono design is even more fun then the 350 units which were already a fine design.
Best
JohnnyR
Audio Connection   

@leahy

Having first hand experience (as a Power Modules dealer) with the 350A Ref, the 150RefV2, the Aria, and the Soloist amps (which BTW, Dave Belles is not making the soloist separates anymore and the Solisit integrated would be a special order item), I would say the 350A is probably overkill on the Reynaud Bliss Silver... The 350A is a terrific amp, but I doubt you need the 250W/ch it has... the 150Refv2 would probably be a better choice (to my taste) based on what I recall various Reynuads speakers I have heard over the years sound like, but you just may prefer the more muscular sound the 350A has.

The Aria is a terrific little integrated... Dave Belles is also make a Aria power amp(s) and preamp too if you want to go separates. For example there is a Aria stereo power amp which basically the power amp that is in the integrated, in the same size chassis, with some minor refinements for the same price as the Aria integrated. Dave has also even mentioned making Aria monoblock power amp available too.

BTW, if you folks think the Aria is good, the Soloist integrated (which is about $1,000 more) is really good too.... its basically pretty close to a integrated amp version of the 150ARefV2. If you need more power and/or better sound than the Aria integrated - its well worth looking into.

Cheers
Rich Brkich

Thanks birbygdad and whitestix - great info!

I'd suggest you contact Aaron at Kanso Audio Furniture who is a Belles rep and uses a Belles front end in his stellar audio system.  He can tell you how fine the Belles line of amplification is.  

I have the Belles Aria preamp and his 150 v2 power amp. To my ears it is a hard to beat combo for the money. Add to that the fact that Dave Belles builds them himself and you have something very special. I understand that the rest of the Aria line is excellent too. BTW, I also have a Belles One power amp that is well over 35 years old and works like a charm pushing refurbed AR 2ax speakers! I had the thing checked out by a great tech and it still hits its specs. Not too shabby. Plus the Aria is just cool.

I just purchased a pair of Reynaud Bliss Silvers/Magic Stands, and I have Triangle Zerius and a pair of demo Finale Vivaci Mini speakers.  Different amps from the Belles lineup will match up better with different speakers, or at least that is my assumption.  I think a 350a Reference would be best with Reynauds, but the Aria is probably best for the Triangle and Finales.

It sounds to me like I can't really go wrong with any of the Belles amps.  I appreciate all of your feedback - it reinforces the positive evolution of the 150a Hotrod by a highly talented designer.

I'll post some impressions once I get the Reynauds and Belles amplifier in the house.  Based on hearing the Reynauds at Amherst Audio, I think the Belles pairing could be a grand slam combo, but I do love my Zerius...we'll see.

Thank you all for your insightful posts.

Cheers!

I owned the Belles 350a Reference amp and loved it. All of his amps are wonderful sounding. Never etched or hard always musical and nicely resolved with great bass control. Big fan of Belles amps! 

Check with Johnny R at Audio Connection in New Jersey.  He is a Belles dealer and had the Aria when I last visited in February.

Belles is good alright, owned 3.
That said, vast majority of what you heard was the Triangles .
 Last time I looked they had no US distributor which makes me bit wary .

 audioconnection I believe 

There's an interesting piece on the Belles website about the advantages of an integrated 

Thanks jl35 - I'll look for his posts.  The soloist was another consideration.  Good to hear you like yours so much.

I have Belles Soloist 1 and think it's awesome. Use with Salk SongTowers. The Belles dealer on this forum wrote a bunch about the Aria line a few weeks ago