Amp/Preamp Asylum: REVIEW: Solar HiFi Fusion H1 Monoblocks Amplifier (SS) by Kristian85

Model:	Fusion H1 Monoblocks
Category:	Amplifier (SS)
Suggested Retail Price:	$1399 ea.
Description:	Class D mono block, 250 wpc/8 ohm
Manufacturer URL:	Solar HiFi
Model Picture:	View

Review by Kristian85 ( A ) on November 19, 2003 at 11:49:23
IP Address: 12.231.114.47

Add Your Review
for the Fusion H1 Monoblocks

This review is not truly that--it is a collection of my impressions gleaned from several hours of listening to a relatively unfamiliar system.
Caveats:
First, I spent several hours at a friend's place listening to his new Solars. His system is relatively unfamiliar to me, but I have heard it before with Cary SLM-100 monoblocks on mids/highs, and Marantz monoblocks on the bass.
Second, a few qualifying comments about my experience, without which you have no idea where I'm coming from. I have been listening to HiFi since I was about 7 years old--about 30 years now. I worked at a high-end dealer in Seattle, WA from 1986-1995, and from those days have massive experience with all manner of equipment from McIntosh, Krell, Levinson, Martin Logan, KEF, M&K, Dahlquist, B&W, Dynaudio, Sonus Faber, Denon, Yamaha, Sunfire, Carver, Adcom, Audio Research, and so on. I have heard everything from all the manufacturers and their reps, spendinf hours filtering out BS whle having free lunches and dinners. I have attended innumerable live shows of all sorts, including classical, opera, and unamplified jazz, during the last 25 years. Live sets a standard that constantly reminds me of how incredibly far away even the best systems are from reproducing the real thing. My personal system goal is NOT to have a live event in my living room--that is, IMO, a false God, and a pursuit fraught with folly. Instead, I try to get as much off the chosen medium as possible with the least amount of veiling and coloration while accepting that I'm not (absurdly) going to transport a full symphony and chorale into my small listening space. A great system is one that can give you an idea of the recorded venue looked like on a tiny scale. Correct tonal color is more important to me than over-hyped detail and soundstaging--the traditional American high-end goals. Does a bowed violin actually resemble the real thing? It does me no good to be able to hear rosin come off the bow if it sounds nothing like a real, wood-bodied violin. Also, dynamics and impact are important--another reminder from live music. Too many systems, particularly smaller tubeamps and smallish speakers, are utterly incapable of reproducing anything like live dynamics and impact ( indeed nothing really can). Hearing Orbital or Bruckner's 3rd Symphony live equals fearsome impact and dynamics. Favored audio writers include Anthony Cordesman, Robert E. Greene, Paul Seydor, Greg Weaver, and Steve Rochlin.
The Solar amps are a class-D digital switching amplifier, with proprietary implementation of the LC Audio amplifier module. The highest quality parts are used throughout--Jena labs wire, Cardas posts, cryo-treatment of all relevant parts, massive powersupplies, and beautiful construction.
The system: Heavily ModWrighted Pioneer DVD player into Cary SLP-98L, into the Solars, into VMPS RM40s with TRT caps, linked by treated AC power, and excellent powercords and cabling. I forget the names. The speakers are, BTW, the best speakers under $20K I have ever heard. That's another story told better by others, but they are another massive bargain.
The music: Goldfrapp, ThouShaltNot, Wolfsheim, Dead Can Dance, Bill Evans, Endraum, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Brendan Perry, Einsturzende Neubauten, Tomasz Stanko, Lyle Lovett.
It really is a quite simple matter. I believe the amplifiers are, together with the Levinson 33H, Nagra VPA, McIntosh MC2102, and Ayre V-1X, the finest amplifiers I have ever heard. I cannot say with certainty whether they are better and so on, and in any case, at this level of performance, it becomes much a matter of preference. They cost $2,800 per pair, a mere fraction of the costs of their esteemed brethren in my Pantheon.
There is an utterly beguiling mix of coherence (that special coherence heard in SET's in spite of their multitudinous other fatal problems), clarity, speed, and stunning bass control that at first doesn't call attention to itself. It sounds so realistic that one, at first, simply takes it for granted-"ofcourse it sounds like that"--because it does so well in emulating the real thing. We are speaking here of an amazing combination of the best tube amplifiers' tonal color (NOT euphony--but correct tonal color as reproduced, e.g., by the Nagras and Mac) and soundstaging, together with Krell-like bass control and power, except without that artificial, too insistent character that often accompanies Krell bass reproduction (Fun to listen to for 5 minutes, but hardly accurate). The Solar's bass is so tight and controlled that a first thought may be that the sound is too lean--but prolonged listening reveals stygian depth with lifelike definition. That is, the strings of an upright acoustic bass can be defined clearly from the kickdrum, and so on. And there's massive power/control when called for--like with electronica like Orbital, Haujobb, and so on. The overall effect is one of excellent freedom from veiling or dynamic constraint--sounds simply leap out of nowhere. I want to specifically point out that these amps are, to my mind, better than the Bel Canto EVO I've heard, with less euphonic warmth and more speed and neutrality. I stress that these are NOT dry-sounding neutral amps--the full spectrum of tonal color is present when it exists on the medium.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that traditional "analogue" amplifiers are dead, dead, dead. When $2,800 monoblocks with nascent class-D technology rival, and surpass, many $20K+ "analogue" amps, well, then, the writing is on the wall. It will only be a matter of 2-3 years, too. This is categorically not comparable to the birth of CD versus LP--this is comparable to the ascendancy of DVD-V over VHS. the big trouble faced by these outstanding class-D amp makers, such as Solar, Spectron, and Acoustic Reality, is that dealers usually are not interested in flooring $3K amps that badly smoke their resident, high-end-approved $10K+ spaceheater behemoth. But, such is typically the case of overachieving gear that plays way out of their priceranges.

Product Weakness: A conservative audiophile community and commercial network that do not like to embrace quantum leaps in price/performance ratios. But, that's typical of most revolutions. Bring out the Audio Guillotine! No, seriously, I didn't get enough time to identify weaknesses, which there of course are.
Product Strengths: Massive overall performance that in all areas shadows or surpasses the best "analogue" amplifiers I've ever heard.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Solar HiFi Fusion H1 Monos
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Cary SLP-98L
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	ModWrighted-to-the-Max Pioneer
Speakers:	VMPS RM40/TRT
Cables/Interconnects:	Unknown--but expensive bigwigs.
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	-
Room Size (LxWxH):	- x - x -
Room Comments/Treatments:	-
Time Period/Length of Audition:	Friend's house--2 1/2 hours.
Type of Audition/Review:	Friend's System
Your System (if other than home audition):	-

Product Weakness:	A conservative audiophile community and commercial network that do not like to embrace quantum leaps in price/performance ratios. But, that's typical of most revolutions. Bring out the Audio Guillotine! No, seriously, I didn't get enough time to identify weaknesses, which there of course are.
Product Strengths:	Massive overall performance that in all areas shadows or surpasses the best "analogue" amplifiers I've ever heard.