Anyone here with Magico A3 driven by Bel Canto Ref600's?
Contemplating the A3's and would like to know if the REF600M will drive them properly. Currently using Martin Logan Montis and these aren't a great indication of what these amps can and will do.
To answer your direct question, yes the REF600 will drive the Magico A3, but I agree with Audio Troy's assessment regarding the dry sounding nature of the REF600 which may become more evident with the hyper detailed Magico.
Same crap, different post. I ask a simple question that only required a simple answer and the wanna be expert chimes in with opinions. I don't care what your opinion is on ANY equipment as I'm confident in my own. Audio Troy, you own neither Bel canto not Magico A3's so you bring nothing to the table.
Did you notice from our first post we said that those amps with a tube preamp and a warmish digital front end that such a combo could sound good.
The later post from the OP showed exactly that combo was what he was using.
Kind of verifys that we really do know what sounds good doesnt it?
We have tested a lot of class D amps and they can sound good yet to hear one yet we would use in any of our reference setups and we have a few currently on display.
No Tgun, we don't like Bel Canto's Class D, don't like Hypex nor Ncore,
We have heard some Class D amplifiers that were decent, the fact that you owned a high end store 15 years ago doesn't mean anything, almost all of the modern amplifiers around today will run rings around amplifiers from that time period. How do we know that, used to work in Sound By Singer and Innovative Audio two of the largest High end Audio stores in that time period and opened up our own store right after.
In our tests the Bel Cantos were wonderfully powerful, had great bass and dynamics, they failed to be involving, and did not have the magic in the midrange that really good Class A and A/B amplifier produce.
If you notice from our first post with you we did say that matching with a tube preamp and a warmer dac might help compensate guess what you have those.
In our tests switching out amp for amp the Bel Canto was good but not magical.
Today we sell many amplifiers that do not run as hot as space heaters that are truly magical.
The Bel Canto's are great if you need the power, for the same money a 600 Watt Anthem STR power amplifier would probably run rings around it. The Anthem is a Class A/B is reasonable in size and weight and it doesn't run hot.
Most 600M reviews, and I would disagree with you. While they are not class A/B they have a magic of their own. What shortcomings that have, which are few, can be tamed or enhanced, whichever it may be, with the correct interconnect, power cord, etc. etc. I find that they sound better using balanced in, but then, isn't this the case with all SOTA products? I'm not talking about balanced vs unbalanced. I'm saying it takes time, effort, and experimentation to tweak out the very best of components in this class.
I owned a high-end store for 15 years so I am well aware of and have owned some of the top amps in history. I could give you a laundry list as well but I won't.
To disparage an amp that has this few shortcomings is ridiculous. I believe your viewpoint comes from the fact that you just don't like Class D amplification. I get it. I was there once.
One more positive......I now don't have to turn my air conditioner on high prior to listening because my room is 100 degrees due to my amplifiers. LOL
Tgun, as we speculated you are running tubes and a softer sounding digital front end which adds a sense of body to the amps.
Personally we do not like Ncore or Hypex, the only Class D we have found to be decent is the Nuforce Ref 9Se V3, the Nuprime STA 9 for a cheap amp, and the Nuprime ST 10 for use with certain warmer sounding speakers.
We have tested $12k Ncore based amplifiers and they were clean, fast but lacking in the magic of a Class A/B amplifier.
The Bel Cantos are decent amplifiers but we think you would be much happier with the BHK amplifier.
Thanks for your insight Audio Troy but I've also been in the industry for awhile (45 years). My question really comes from the fact that the 600M's are currently driving the electrostatic panel only (340Hz -up) and are certainly not taxed in any way under these conditions.
I'm running a PSA BHK preamp with the PSA Directstream Memory Player and PSA DAC. The combination is heaven with the Bel Canto's. If anything, the Magico's will improve upon the strengths of this combo rather the opposite.
Coming from PBN Audio Denali monoblocks, which had tons of power/reserve, I was curious to know whether the Bel Canto's had the "guts" to drive a non-ported 88db speaker.
FYI - I never thought I would own a Class D amplifier, however, these are pretty incredible sonically.
Yes EBM we have over 30 years of professional experience, what's yours?
Your quip seems to bemoan the fact that the OP is wrestling with this issue, it is not cut and dry for so many people, hence what seems obvious to you is not to the OP hence the question asked?
The amplfiers will drive them but they would not be a good match.
The A3 will show all the deficiencies of the Bel Canto's class D technlology. The Bel Canto's are powerful with good bass and great dynamics, they are howerver very dry and a bit mechanical sounding.
We did have a set in the shop for evaluation and that was our experience with them.
The Martin Logan's are a bit more shelved in the top end and do not have the resoloution of the Magicos.
However, you are also not mentioning the rest of your system and if your have a tube preamplifier or a tube based dac it is possible that the combo will work with the Bel Cantos.
If you perfer the Magico's then you should get them try them with your current setup but you must realize that when ever you change loudspeakers you are going to need to revoice the system.
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