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PS Audio BHK 250 Power Amp owners?

I am considering some upgrades to my system, planning to go with a set of Magnepans and the right amp to drive them.

Reading about various powerful amps to drive Magnepans as they need, I am curious about the BHK250, which is hybrid amp with tube input stage and then a transistor output stage.  Being designed by Bascom King, it must be at least very good, if not excellent.  Instead of a Krell or Levinson or Pass amp I am thinking that a hybrid BHK amp might do the imaging part better than straight solid state while still supplying enough juice for the Magnepans.

So I would like to ask if any users here have or have had the BHK250, how you liked it, what speakers you drove with it.  And if you got rid of it, what were the main reasons.  

troidelover1499
stunami
10 posts
 

Sanders Magtech are made for Maggies.  I've had Magtechs on 3.7, 3.7i, and 20.7.   Hard to beat that synergy.  I no longer have Maggies but I kept a Magtech on my Revel 328BE and it's staying there.   I've never heard/read a Maggie owner say anything to what you may have read.  They are loved once they are on a correctly setup pair of planars. There is 30-day in-home trial and I got a lifetime warranty, don't know who's lifetime however.    

bugredmachine's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
bugredmachine
409 posts
 

Isn't a Magtech a Coda cousin?

I have a Coda 8 Continuum and it has to be the best amp (of 35 owned) in 20 years. I'd love to swing a Coda 16.

When I bought my Wilson Sasha's at Albert's shop we auditioned them with the BHK's and I absolutely hated them. No life or oomph. We hooked up some Sim Audio mono blocks and they made the Wilsons sing right into the back of my truck. But that is only one experience in a showroom so YMMV.

dconfalone's avatar
dconfalone
3 posts
 

I'm not sure it does fully double into 4 ohms. That seems to be what PS Audio has on it's site but if you look in the manual you will find something different. And when asked about the 250 driving difficult loads Mr King said "Well music is transient." I'm not sure what to think about BHK 250.

dconfalone's avatar
dconfalone
3 posts
 

I'm not sure it does fully double into 4 ohms. That seems to be what PS Audio has on it's site but if you look in the manual you will find something different. And when asked about the 250 driving difficult loads Mr King said "Well music is transient." I'm not sure what to think about BHK 250.

cio52
121 posts
 

I've owned my BHK 250 amp for a couple years now.  I really like the amp and believe the tubed input stage helps the sound quality when it comes to providing a rich and lively sound from my DALI Epicon 8 speakers.  The speakers are rated at 5ohms and 89db so they are an easy load for the BHK amp.  When I had Maggie MG12's with 2 subs (Mcintosh c45 and mc352 amp) the treble was really too hard.  So I cant tell you that larger Maggies (MG12's were 54" tall) have more or less strident treble since I only had the MG12 but Trumpet, Alto/Soprano Sax and Vibes were very bright.  I think the BHK amp would be a better match than my Mcintosh MC352 for Maggies.

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