I had a chance to hear the Burmesters in AZ last year. I am a BIG fan of Rowland and in my opinion, Burmester was the only amp in that league if you have hard to drive loads. The only reason I did not purchase is repair is reasonable and easy at Rowland, and I was afraid of an overseas company if repairs were ever required. I would definitely rate it above the flavor of the day d'agostino, Krells and Boulders.
Burmester 218.....
I am glad to see Burmester is being talked about on these forums, they are superb gear in my opinion.
if you haven't had the chance to hear the 218 do yourself a favor and take a listen, I started my Burmester journey with a 956mk2, upgraded to a 911mk3, upgraded to the 216 and have now settled on the 218
going up a level with each amp they all got better, more dynamics, deeper/wider soundstage better control, you name it, drastically better. the speed and dynamics of the 218 is as good as I have heard in quite some time
just wanted to share some of my journey and joy of owning Burmester, highly recommend.
Showing 3 responses by plaw
@zuesman You are correct, I have not heard the SIM Audio and have no opinion on them - nor do I really care. The OP's topic was Burmester which is what I had experience with. I have heard the Moon stuff (I think they are made by Simaudio) and it was nice - more of a mid-fi product to my ears. I would take the Classe Class D stuff over Moon. |
@ckr1969 I have had a few of them. I got the opportunity to meet Jeff Rowland - just a fantastic guy - he seems to put everything into the gear instead of advertising. I started with the model 7's - a breath of fresh air when trying to drive Wilsons. I have had the 625s2 - black as black and a great soundstage, but did not drive the mid bass as well as the 7's. I now run the model 8, great resolution, and almost as good bass as the 7's. If something ever happened to Rowland, I think I would buy the Burmester - only thing that I have heard that does not sound veiled. Early on I never thought that an amp can make such a difference - today I think it is almost as important as the speakers. You know, this is all subjective anyway. I do run the Classe Sigma Amps in home theater - great amps for the right speaker, but they cannot drive low ohm loads. |