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classe twenty five and classe fifteen

Hi there I am curious to what the differences are between these amp I am guessing that they are built the same years and they have the same design philosophy but the twenty five is the higher model, i cant seem to find to much info on the 25, any info would be greatly apperated.

Thanks,Paul
paulficarella
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

I had the DR25 Nice robust amp).

From memory I recall (long time ago) both DR25 and DR15 had balanced inputs, these were a bit of a hoax as they were just an opamp that summed and they fed into the single ended input afterwards.

Better sound is obtained by just using the single ended inputs straight into the discrete input transistors.

Inputs are also capacitor coupled, I replaced the 5uf electrolytic coupling cap for a better quality plastic one for a further improvement in sound, and increased the Class A bias a bit more so the heatsinks ran at 50c on a hot day 30c.

Cheers George

mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,940 posts
 
#1: that the DR-9 was 1 of your faves. Is it a sweeter amp than the Classe’ - 25?

Yes.  Sweeter, warmer and smoother.

#2: you said you ran your a pair of DR-8’s in mono. I ran a pair of DR-9’s in mono & the amps sounds way better in Stereo than it does in mono, there’s no comparison! That’s why I’m looking at a Classe’ - 25, I need the power. Did you do anything with your DR-8’s other than flip the switches at the back?
Your’s are the first comments that I remember liking the stereo version over the mono better? I had quite a few customers come back and buy a second amp for mono. I guess it would depend on the speakers they were driving, but for most of the demanding speakers of the time, the monos were the way to go.

#3: Between the Classe’ - 15 & the Classe’ - 25, which did you prefer & why?

The 25 was better. Better bass control and extension. Better grip on the high frequencies, effortless power when needed.


willmacc's avatar
willmacc
80 posts
 
If anyone knows the answers, wd be much appreciated.
What's the wattage consumption on the 25? 
And do they produce alot of heat? 
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,940 posts
 
If anyone knows the answers, wd be much appreciated.
What's the wattage consumption on the 25?
And do they produce alot of heat?

According to the literature in my dealer binder, the 25 has a power consumption of 325 watts at idle.

They really don't run that hot.  Depends on the volume setting and what speaker it is driving, but normally, not that hot...which I know is relative, but that's the best answer without knowing all the parameters.


ami's avatar
ami
63 posts
 
I owned a fifteen, and it was a very nice amp. Solid, musical, pleasant, flowing and rhythmic. I liked it a lot, in my second system, driving a pair of vintage Ryan MCL3. Seemed appropriate vintage for the speakers.
I wasn’t really looking to replace it, until I happened to get an opportunity to A/B it against a pair of modern hypex nCore monoblocks... :-) 
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