Classe 15 vs Classe CA200

Don’t know about the 15 but have had a CA200 for close to 25 years.  Always worked well with tubes - CJ premier 14 and ET5.  75 ohm input impedance  so it is an easy load for most tube preamps.

Also drove Thiels with the CA200 - it is a beast at only 200 watts.

Jerry

I had a Classe’ 15 amp which I purchased new in 1999. I believe I paid $2900.00 from Ensemble in Nashua, NH. I liked it a lot but after I bought a new Odyssey Stratos Extreme in 2010, I realized how muddy the Classe’ 15 sounded. I ended up giving it away to someone that bought an audio rack from me. The Classe was very well made but......


I would think the CLasse’ CA 200 to be the better sounding amp since it was a newer design.  Going from 175-200wpc means nothing.  I had a Classe 10 amp before I bought the  Classe 15 and going from 100-175wpc was not really noticeable.  

Everyone has an opinion. FWIW, I use a Classe Audio DR-15 with an MFA Magus C tube preamp through Sonus Faber Electa Amator speakers. The combination sounds great to me. I wish I had bought that audio rack from "stereo5", I would really like to have a second DR-15. I just remembered that there were two 15’s, the DR-15 was while David Reich was with Classe. The designation changed after he left to just 15. I believe the designer who replaced him was Glen Grue. I called him about phono resistors in my Classe Audio DR-6 preamp. As I recall, he was very helpful.

I much preferred the Twenty Five to the DR-25 , and many preferred the Fifteen to the DR-15

@tonykay ...................I would have loved to give it to you. Those amps were bridgable.  The 15 was not as good as the DR15.  Glen Grue made the amp more profitable for Classe’ by redesigning the circuit and using cheaper parts.  I read the 15 was better, but after hearing the DR15 found the latter to sound better.  
The Odyssey did indeed sound better than the Classe’.  I was running Vandersteen 2Ci speakers back then. The Odyssey amp is the only amp out of many that I went through that I wish I never sold.