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In Reply to: REVIEW: ARS Sonum Filarmonia Amplifier (Tube) posted by tmiddle on April 26, 2007 at 21:13:54:
... on receiving your amp at last! Glad you like it. You should grow to appreciate this little machine more and more as everytime I think I know exactly what it does, it keeps surprising me.
Bobby says it finally breaks in at 200h and though I never thought break-in was dramatic, the Ars did change again over the last few days, as I'm reaching the 150-200h mark, and became incredibily dimensional.
Paired with the VSM-MMe, the Ars opens up a soundstage the likes I've never heard. My previous reference for soundstaging was a pair of Avalon Opus. Well they've just been beaten. The layering and DEPTH I can now hear are amazing. Also, most amp/speakers will create a semi-circular soundstage behind the speakers, meaning it seems slightly closer to you where the speakers are located, with the maximum of depth in the middle. Well the VSMs and the Ars give me the impression that I was actually looking into an other room, wherever I "looked".
I've said that before and I'll say it again, the Merlins are the most balanced, musical, magical design I've heard/owned. And the Ars, however small and reasonable it is, is a match made in heaven. Seriously, if somebody offered me a pair of Joules or Lamms for free, I would probably say no, because I don't want any bigger amps and don't know what they would do better.
JB
Follow Ups:
if anyone offers you Joules or Lamms for free and you opt not to take them, please pass along my name ;)
On second thought, I might take them for a second system!
i fear we are confusing some readers.
if a speaker is 87db or more efficient and offers a benign and tube friendly impedance, this 30 watter certainly has considerable magic.
but for most speakers that are a far more complicated load and inefficient, the fila will run out of steam. more powerful amps with higher damping factors will run most speaker systems in a superior fashion.
as good as it is, this amp is not for everyone.
bobby at merlin
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