General Asylum: REVIEW: Classé Audio DR-9 Amplifier (SS) by Rod M

Every time I'm upgraded stuff, I always ask myself if it can get any better than this. And each time, I'm amazed that it can and does.

For the past year or so, I've been using a Belles 150A to drive my Vandy 3As with the thought that one day I'd find a better 2 channel amp and move the Belles to HT duties. But the Belles sounds so good for a cheap amp that I didn't feel a real need to move forward and decided to add another sub, upgrade pre-amp, yada, yada.

So the quest for the amp while dormant was still lurking in my head. I thought about tubes, but my speakers aren't SET material. Llanos and new Class CA-200s, too expensive for the cheap guy that I am. Then I hear the old Oakroot talking about his old DR-9, and DaveB tells me it sounds $%^& good. Hmmmmmm.

Boy, are these ever hard to find. Did they not make many or does no one sell them? But finally, there it was tempting me, so I had to check it out. It was owned by a true 'phile, about 8 years old, mint (not a scratch on it), and latest rev before production ended. Rated quite conservatively at 100 wpc and doubling down to 400 wpc at 2 ohms.

So how's it sound? Absolutely musical. Refined, powerful, wonderful timbre, tonal accuracy and dynamic contrast. And I thought I had dynamics! Players gained more 3 dimensional depth, became more fleshed out with the mids becoming sweeter and smoother. Pianos were sounding good before but now really sound good, a slight mechanical feel is gone.

The treble is sweet without the slight hint of grain that could creep into the Belles when pushing it hard. Cymbals now have body and the feel of bronze that wasn't there before.

Now the bass, I had hoped for improvement and I got it. The tonal quality of the bass drums moved up at least a few notches. The Belles has good bass control but drums can sometimes 'thunk' instead of 'thumping' particularly pushed toward live levels. This thing just sounds right and just doesn't seem to run out of gas. Hey, got to play it loud sometimes.

Actually, that's where the differences become hugely evident. Where the Belles could sound a bit constrained with a flattening of the dynamic contrast, the DR-9 tells me to turn it up! Even very loud, the dynamics are all there. Kick drums don't just kick, they knock me back in my seat. And not a hint of grain or compression.

So can it get any better? Sure, Oakroot could sell me his and I can mono-block them ;)

REVIEW: Classé Audio DR-9 Amplifier (SS) Review by Rod M at Audio Asylum