I hadn't heard anything about them for decades, when they were in the business of recreating that old Mark Levinson ML-2 magic--i.e., low voltage with lots of class A current. Their latest and greatest mono amplifier looks to be some sort of 'sliding' class A design. 35 initial 'A' watts, then the rest delivered in something more traditional.
At these prices it's going to be up to a dealer to convince the naive customer that 'the sound' is somehow better than the competition. They will have their work cut out for them. Classe design, industrial grey with a fan sticking out in front, paired with a black on white meter, is a bit on the limited appeal, streamlined modernist side. My guess is once the dealer lowers the lights for the demo, and the blue metered hue and green tubes start to do their thing from behind the backlit glass, and once that reflects off the oiled rosewood of those expensive B&W speakers--well, at that point most customers are buying the Mac.
Your point about the evolution (devolution?) of Denon and Marantz, and luxury branding, is an interesting marketing lesson. When Saul started out, his amp and preamp were decidedly luxury. Top of the line pricing. More expensive than anything out there. And his tuner was completely over the top. Even his first receiver. Once Superscope bought the company all that changed. Denon Japan has a history of some very high end products, but they were never exported to the US. My guess is that under SU, none of that will ever return. Personally, if I was in the market for big iron, I'd much rather have the Denon pictured below than anything from Classe.
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