Belles Research Corporation? ?

I also looked at some old Belles gear locally - the amp was a model 150 and the preamp was a Symphonic. The only information I could find indicated the equipment was made in the late 1980's or early 1990's. The equipment was very well made and sounded good, but I figured I would call Belles (Power Modules) to see if they still supported the gear and provided schematics, etc. I was told there were no schematics and no support for the equipment any more. Needless to say I was disappointed and didn't buy it. I have owned other gear from reputable American manufacturers that are still in business such as Audio Research, Conrad-Johnson, McIntosh, and Cary, and every time I have asked for documentation or support their has never been an issue. It leads me to question why a company would abandon its older products and not provide any support. No Thanks - I didn't buy the equipment.

The Belles Research I amplifier and preamplifer were my first pieces of high end amplification. I purchased them in 1983, to go with a Rega Planar II, Lustre tonearm and R100 MM cartridge.

At the time I purchased a pair of Pyramid Met 7 speakers, manufactured by Dick Sequerra.

By 1986 I replaced the Met 7's with a pair of 15 ohm Rogers LS 3/5A's.

I lived happily with this system for another 6 years before selling the Belles gear and purchasing some Naim Audio equipment.

The Belles I was 100 watts per channel. It retailed for somewhere around $800 in '83. I also purchased its companion preamp which sold for about $500 and change.

It was a good sounding setup - much better than the Kenwood KA 8100 integrated I had been using at the time.

And the amp in particular was very well constructed and a nice simple design.

I found the dual volume controls on the preamplifier redundant, however, when making recordings they were useful.

I have a "silver" Belles. I think it was his 1st amp. The amp serial # is 028 and pre amp is 014. I did have the amp rebuilt with a new power cord, speaker terminals, cleaning and tightening of hardware. This one has no handles, just a power switch. The pre amp has 2 volume knobs, record and listen switches, power is always on. I have been very happy with it. I run some old Snell Js that I have rebuilt as well. Snell sells rebuild kits that are awsome. I often wonder what this stuff is still worth. I think it is the most power for that money. I love the other postings. I tried to get a new box and ended up talking to his wife. She is as kind as him. I think he made the first couple models in his basement, then was bought by OCM. My friend had a 300W OCM version that did not sound quite as good.
Happy listening, he made great stuff.

Thanks for the information. The amp is the model with rack handles and the rocker switch. It is well built and heavy. It's pretty dusty and needs a good cleaning. I sent an e-mail to their info account to see if any type of documentation was available, but it looks like most of my questions have already been answered. Thanks again for helping solve this little mystery.

Perhaps I should have offered specy stuff - 80W into 8 ohms, 160W into 4 ohms - a great current provider. P.S. Dave is a nice guy. :)

The Belles I would be 1980's. Previous post are generally accurate. Also was a matching Belles I preamp superceded by the XLM. Came in silver or black. Amps had either rack-width panel with rocker switch or narrow panel with toggle switch. I have one of each and they are still fine amps. :)

Belles Research was the first, then OCM (Magnum Research I think) and now Power Modules. A friend has my old preamp from the original Belles and it still works great. All of his incarnations have good build quality and solid engineering. I had the 150A Power Modules amp for about a year and it was a nice unit. Did you listen to the amp? Bet it sounds pretty good.

HI, yes DAVE BELLES now goes by POWER MODULES.I had a belles 400 power amp.was a killer amp,retail was $1800 in 1989.he is still getting rave reviews.checkout www.soundstage.com for reviews.I have spoke to DAVE a few times and is always a pleasure to talk to.he is down to earth and will not rush you off the phone.RICH

www.powermodules.com is my guess

makes the best amps for the $ in the world.

rhyno

I believe they're still in business. Recall seeing a Sam Tellig review of one of their pieces a few years ago. Nice stuff for the money, as I recall. Audio Connection in Verona, NJ used to carry them, may still, you might want to give John Ruttan a call if you can't locate the manufacturer, he may be able to help.