Hard to imagine. I wonder what equipment they used with it.
Eyes.
Hard to imagine. I wonder what equipment they used with it.
I'm not sure what you're talking about, John. In post #50 Tks inserted Amir's graph of the ABH2 in bridged mode, and manages 500 watts @ only 0.00026% noise and distortion. Perhaps the Halcro could do better in both regards, but I not seeing how "SOTA performance drops right off".
I have read your discussions regarding your issues with a lot of amps these days not meeting the USA FTC power output measurement standards for their specifications, but I admit I'm on a different page than you about how important things like a one hour 1/8 rated power preconditioning period are. I'm sure in the FTC rule realm the Halcro wins, but for $40K I'm just not excited about it. I'm still using a boat-anchor linear power supply Class AB solid state amp, and even the performance and compact form factor of a pair of bridged ABH2s for $6K isn't getting me to budge. (Finding a better speaker than my 11 year-old Salon2s at a reasonable price (e.g. less than $30K/pair) might get me excited enough to buy, but I haven't heard anything like that yet.) IMO, amps just aren't interesting enough for $10K+ anymore, if they ever were.
Magico S5s.They are almost brutally accurate and revealing speakers and will tell you exactly how things really sound.Hard to imagine. I wonder what equipment they used with it.
Yes, I understand that and, fwiw, I do that, too, although not exclusively. Apparently, they made measurements, as well.Eyes.
But, as another has already posted, if the amp is fundamentally transparent (as measured), their judgement has to be based on flaws in the associated equipment (or elsewhere).
Magico S5s.They are almost brutally accurate and revealing speakers and will tell you exactly how things really sound.
I have a beautiful large coffee table (with a wide drawer) and a shelf on the lower portion. 2 stacks of 2 (with extended feet on the stacked ones) of my 5 NAD 2200's reside on the lower shelf. On the upper shelf is my Technics SL-M3 TT (about one third larger than the average TT, with a rosewood veneer plinth) on the right & my oppo 205 UHD on the left. Both my mother (who is very picky about aesthetics) and my wife (whom I am committed to living with [and has done a number of interior designs of living quarters {& doesn't particularly like stereo equipment}]) say that it actually turned out pretty good as opposed to the visual disaster that they both contemplated when I suggested how I wanted to integrate it in our (my wife & myself) large cathedral ceilinged living room. I was amazed at least as much as they were that a couple of days spent arranging and rea-arranging the stereo equipment (and buying a $25 table at an estate sale) worked out so well. And company that my wife has seems to like it also. Happy Wife=Happy Life. So mixed spreading and stacking can work great.I agree with you in general. I’ve always kept my previous amps on top for better air circulation and heat dissipation. To be honest, it might be more of a preference in this case since the AHB2 doesn’t have the usual heating concerns. It runs very cool. Unfortunately, Benchmark doesn’t give us placement options. Putting the amp on top would look cartoonish. The components would have to be kept on a tv stand pretty far apart on different levels to be more ok visually.
There are more of us that are the right "kind of demented" than one would think. I run 3 NAD 2200's (2 bridged mono at 4 0hms [one left, one right] and one in stereo at 2 ohms for my subs). I have 3 more that are currently in resto-modification mode (2 to match the three I have & one early non-PE one to be used in a lesser secondary system). I aspire to do the same one day with the Benchmark AHB2's in the future, as I believe that they are the spiritual successor to the NAD 2200's. Please see the NAD 2200 Vintage Amplifier Review of one of my TRIPLETS (soon to be QUINTUPLETS) on this site.Two amps? You're my kind of demented.
My AHB2s sit on top of NAD C298s.There are more of us that are the right "kind of demented" than one would think.
Kal, can you share your subjective impressions of whether there's a noticeable difference in the sound produced? I assume you may have driven the same speakers with both.My AHB2s sit on top of NAD C298s.
Hi Fi Critic awarded the AHB2 one of its worst ever scores. Measured very well but it was not musically convincing.
Hard to imagine. I wonder what equipment they used with it.
My AHB2s sit on top of NAD C298s.
I have expressed my impressions in my review of the NAD as well as in subsequent speaker reviews.Kal, can you share your subjective impressions of whether there's a noticeable difference in the sound produced? I assume you may have driven the same speakers with both.
Halcro. Go look them up. Check out a few Stereophile reviews. They've been doing better amplifiers than Benchmark for decades. Seriously, the Benchmark is a toy alongside their gear. And, their latest models are even better.
Depends on your definition of better, they seem fundamentally different. The Benchmark is easily the cleaner amplifier but delivers nowhere near the power of the Boulder 2150. If you "only" need 490 watts of power @ 8 ohms, you're better off with two Benchmarks bridged, however, if you need more then yes, the Boulder is better.And this is even better
https://www.stereophile.com/content/boulder-amplifiers-2150-monoblock-power-amplifier-measurements
And they have been doing it for decades as well. Not cheap, however.
Thanks; I went back and re-read your review. I infer that any differences are very subtle, as one would expect from excellent amplifiers.I have expressed my impressions in my review of the NAD as well as in subsequent speaker reviews.
@stan21
You can always go rack mount to help tie everything together better. I really like the look of my front amps. Best looking and best performing amps I could hope for. If they start putting their stuff in $1k chassis, I could have never built my system as it was already stretching the budget.
Rack mount will also help with cable management. I used some butcher block and welded open frame racks by Middle Atlantic. I also made all my cables except the power cords using the same canare cable benchmark uses.
Front rack installed:
View attachment 149517
Rear rack before it was installed:
View attachment 149518