Review: CM Labs 914 Amplifier


Category: Amplifiers

Long before Levinson,Krell,Threshold,and others there was CM Labs of Danbury,CT. This little high end company produced some of the most musical solid state power amps.The build quality is robust,and is a total mil-spec amp. The 914 is one of the first,if not the first of the high speed power amps. The power output is 125 Watts RMS into 8 ohms,with less than 0.1 percent THD,at any freqency from 20 to 20,000 Hz. 175 watts RMS into 4 ohm. IM Distortin less than o.1 percent up to rated power.Frequency response +- 0.1 dB from 20 to 20,000 Hz at full power.Damping factor better than 500 at 8 ohms!!Circuitry is fully differential,full complementary common-emitter output.Is built to MIL spec A8625C,Type 2.More important than all the above impressive specs,is the sound quality. This is without doubt one of the finest and most musical power amps I have owned. Clearly in the same league as Threshold,Levinson,and others in the high end spectrum.Seldom seen in for sale or auction. People that have then just dont get rid of them--Thats how good they really are in the real world of high end audio. But if you ever get a chance to acquire one,Grab it fast

Associated gear
Acoustat Speakers,HK T-60 TT,Threshold Preamp

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Bryston,Adcom,Van Alstine
ferrari

Showing 2 responses by ingelsj

Hi Ferrari,

I ran across your threads on the CM Labs amplifiers and you appear to have knowledge about CM amps. I read the review on the CM914 and it appears to be a great piece of equipment. I recently purchased a CM915 professional power amp and I can't find any info about this amp. It looks very different than the photo you provided of the 914. AUDIO is stamped in lower left corner. My 915 reads CMLabs. I'm assuming the 915 was a later model produced in 1983. It appears certain models were available by custom ordering. I have a photo that I can provide. My ISP or browser sometimes has problems posting to the forum. Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Thanks Ferrari for the info on the 915. It's a very musical amp with plenty of power. I would like to upload a photo, but I can't seem to find any instructions. Can someone please tell me how to go about this? I use Safari browser and Mac computer.

Ingelsj