Hi there. I have a pair of M700s that are fabulous. They drive my Maggie's wonderfully. I did some minor mods to them that proved fruitful. I upgraded the IEC inlet to a Furutech GTX gold and damped the bottom and top as well as swap out the stock fuse for an AMR fuse. The AMR fuse is the best most natural sounding fuse that I've found. I tried the whole Synergistic line and concluded that the AMR sounded best. So , let's say for less than $200.00 in tweaks, I was able to reach great levels of performance with the M700s. Outstanding amps regardless of price. They are fantastic !!!
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Mr. EvilAngel, So, yeah, thanks for responding. It is reassuring to know others are enjoying them. You know how it is, looking at new amps. trying to decide on the best course.. I called the company today asking questions etc. My primary use would be to drive a pair of Burchart S400's (@6 Ohms) speakers i have on pre-order. They are a fairly new brand and relatively unknown and manufactured in Denmark from a guy named Mads Burchart.. The S400's are an improved version of the S300's. Being 6 Ohm speakers i will need some powerful ombre's to drive them hence the attraction to the Stellar 700's. PS Audio has a 30 day window on returns plus they also have a trade-in program if you buy straight from the company, up to 900 credit i believe so its a bit enticing to at least try them out.. Did you buy new and or use the trade in program? |
The S400’s are very good speakers. However, I find it a bit silly to drive $1900 USD speakers with $3000 monoblocks, plus your pre-amp. Even Paul McGowan states that at least 1/2 your budget should be spent on the actual speakers. Also, they are 4ohm, not 6ohm. And no, being 4ohm doesn’t necessarily mean it’s difficult to drive. They are 88dB efficient, so as long as you aren’t sitting super far away, I’d say 50W into 8ohm would be more than enough if you are using these only for music (movies need more wattage). The Emotiva PA-1 monoblocks are $300/each ($600 a pair), and use the exact same amp module as in the PS Audio M300 ($1500), the ICE 300ASC, whose datasheet is easily found, it’s very good. If you went this route, that would free up $2400, so you could get speakers costing upwards of $4300 instead, more than double the amount of the S400’s. |
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evilangel725,Where did you purchase the AMR fuse? |
@mzkmxcv. True on the split between components. I was aware of that but did so anyway. $1,900 for stellar 700 monos @4 months old in primo condition so i made an executive decision there. S400’s were 1,400 with 200 off on preorder. I looked at Watkins GenFour but it took the owner two days to return my call and i had already purchased the S400’s. So, hopefully my knowledge and skill will improve especially with feedback provided by fellow audiogon members like yourself.. |