Amp/Preamp Asylum

RE: Great review of the Net Audio redo on MSNBC nt

67.184.113.11

In Reply to: RE: Great review of the Net Audio redo on MSNBC nt posted by Duilawyer on June 03, 2007 at 15:40:08

I bought a Monarchy SM70 on eBay for $450 incl. shipping. I LOVE it! Sounds STUNNING on my ribbon tweeters. Very detailed, but not "etched"- great delicacy. Nice transient "sparkle" when called for. Every bit as "silky" as the various tube amps I used.

Runs hot, but that's OK, it's not like BURNING DANGEROUS hot.

Things is BEAUTIFULLY made, like it's all machined from great slabs of billet.
It's small. It's 25 watt / channel. It's small, heavy and jewel-like. About half the size of a typical mid-fi receiver or amp. Great little gizmo.

By the way, I also used an AMC CVT-2030- hybrid (Mosfet driver/ class-A EL34 outputs.) That also sounded VERY nice on the tweeters- VERY "silky" and offered some musicality and detail- but not the finesse of the Monarchy. And nowhere near the transient ability of the Monarchy. The MAC sounded better, for example, than a Dynaco ST70. The Dyna was very NICE but lacked detail. The ribbon drivers that this amp is running is crossed over at 2500 Hz, don't forget, we're just talking highs here.

I would compare the tube amps to pewter metal- nice but a little dull; the Monarch to nickel and the various transistor amps to chrome-plated plastic, if you want a visual metaphor that attempts to describe their sonic characters.

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