Your thoughts on Classe CA200 vs Musician III?

[JohnP]

Your thoughts on Classe CA200 vs Musician III vs BAT VK-500 or even Moon W-5?

I have upgradeitis something bad! I have wanted a Classe amp, preferably two of them to use as mono blocks if possible, for a while now. Right now I'm using a Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature and it's great but I just feel that someting along the lines of the Classe would offer much improvement. BUT, lately I have been reading quite a bit about the new Spectron Musician III. What have you guys heard about this amp paired with ML speakers? If you had the choice between two Classe CA 200's(bridged and running as mono blocks) or a Musician III which would you choose and why? Thanks for your thoughts.

Sincerely,
John

 

[JohnP]

My system should now be in my signature, lets see.........

 

[enilsen]

I've used a Classé CA-200 for the last 6 years now on my CLS-I speakers. Apparently these speakers are supposed to be hard to drive but you wouldn't think so with this amp. Before that I used an Electro company 100W amp which eventually died so I can only suspect the CLS-I was too much for it to handle.

I do like to play loud and this amp does perform so as far as reliability it has passed my abuses test. There is some sort of overload protection built in which on occasion has tripped, but not because of playing loud. I think it sensors spikes or something in the signal path. In any event this hasn't been a problem except I know it works and probably would save your equipment from damage.

BTW. I'm also thinking of getting a second CA-200 for a quad configuration.

 

[JohnP]

Hi enilsen,
Thanks for your reply. I figured the CA 200 would probably be enough juice but wasn't sure. How are these amps heat wise, do they put off alot of heat? I do have to worry about heat as these babies would be in a 17 x 21 foot room that is very well insulated so it can get warm fast. How about the sound of them? Right now I have my Odyssey's running off of a Sunfire amp (425wpc) and to be honest the Sunfire is surprising, it sound very nice but I'm just looking for a little bit more for my mains. Thanks again for your help.

John

PS- Just an FYI, there is a dude who just put up two CA 200's up on Audiogon for $2K!! Yep, for both of em.

 

[silver98]

I've benn using a CA-150 to drive my Quests for over 13 years. No problems with either the amp or the speakers. I have used jazz, rock and 'classical' music run through a Mark Levison digital / pre-amp front end. I think the key is to have the absolute best source electronics. The amp will work far less due to a cleaner signal its amplifying.

The CA-150 runs cool to the touch, the mids are quite clean, the bass has sufficient punch, and the highs simply sing. If you can find a pair of these amps (CA-200 or the CA-150) don't think twice, run, don't walk to pick them up. The 200's, while having the capacity to supply too much power to the speakers, will not work as hard, and you should have none of the issues associated with driving an amp into distortion and the subsequent angst placed on the speakers.

HTH,
Enjoy

 

[timm]

just my 2 cents. I have heard a spectron w/ von schweikerts. The owner described the sound as 'cool' / 'accurate'. A very clean sound. I too have a sunfire sig grand on Odysseys bi-amped. So - my ears compared his sound to mine. I thought the sunfire had a better sound for the logans in my very humble opinion. I think the classe is also considered more on the 'warm' side. However, be forewarned - us sunfire owners ALWAYS think there is something better out there. I think we are looking for approval from the likes of TAS & Stereophile...

 

[enilsen]

I do have to worry about heat as these babies would be in a 17 x 21 foot room that is very well insulated so it can get warm fast. How about the sound of them?

They don't put out as much heat as you would expect (warm to the touch). I have mine sitting in a closed cabinet with the rear of the cabernet open to let air pass thru. My tube pre-amp on the other hand makes heating in the winter obsolete as you could probably cook eggs with it.

The sound from the CA-200 is very neutral and I would say that your other components will need to measure up in terms of quality. A better way to express this is that this amp in not the weakest link in my system and it would be the last thing I would be upgrading as an improvement over what I currently have.

 

[DrJRapp]

If you had the choice between two Classe CA 200's(bridged and running as mono blocks) or a Musician III which would you choose and why? Thanks for your thoughts.

Sincerely,
John

For one thing, I would never run any amp bridged. It usually dramatically increases it's distortion and noise.

 

[Peter Hogan]

For one thing, I would never run any amp bridged. It usually dramatically increases it's distortion and noise.

Hi,
I don't understand your thinking here. Unless the manufacturer is doing something VERY wrong, bridging an amp should not increase either distortion or noise.

They are simply inverting the signal to one of the two amps, and then you connect the speaker to the 'hot' side of both amps. Inverting the signal does not add any extra distortion or noise, let alone a 'dramatic' amount. In many cases, since the two amps have the exact opposite mirror-image signals, some of the distortion and noise will actually cancel out, resulting in LESS distortion and noise.

Peter

 

[Gordon Gray]

Classe CA150 is a very good amp

John,

I've had my 150 for 9 years or so. Currently have the Summits. The 150 was in my system when I had the Aerius and the SL3, which is admittedly a more difficult speaker to drive. Rest of my system consists of a CJ Premier 18LS preamp, Mapleshade inteconnects / power strip / speaker wire, a Michael Green "Clamp" rack, and a Theta Miles CD player. Am currently auditioning a Cary CDP1 CD player thanks to Ron Hedrick at Marigo Audio.

When I first got the 150, I bought it from Overture based on a recommendation from John Salvaggio, who later moved on to be a manufacturers rep for Avalon. John said the Classe and the ML's have wonderful synergy. Based on my 9 years of experience with this amp and 3 different ML speakers, I totally agree and would recommend without reservations. Interestingly enough, I auditioned a VTL ST150 tube amp in my system a couple of months ago and stayed with the Classe.

As always, I would recommend you give the amp a test drive in your system, if possible, to make sure it "fits" your personal listening parameters / biases. Good luck.

GG

 

[JohnP]

Wow, lots of great info from you guys, Thank you. The Musician III sounds good from what I've read but I think I'm begining to shy away from that one. Right now there's one on Audiogon, like new for $2400 and seems the guy isn't having any luck, resell value is important(to me anyway) as well as looks and I LOVE the looks of Classe. I would like to pick up two CA-200's or even the 300's if I could as I've got the monoblock fever! I would love to find the CAM-300's or 350's!!:rocker: Thanks again for all the great info, now I need to sell my Mesa Baron and start looking for some Classe amps!

John

 

[JohnP]

Ok, I think deep down I really want a pair of Classe amps, bi-amped but still in the running are: a Simaudio Moon W5 or possibly even W6 mono's and the BAT VK 500w/ BatPak. So, anymore thoughts from you guys? Thanks a ton for all the help you've offered so far. Much appreciated.

John

 

[jtwrace]

I don't think you can go wrong with a BAT.

 

[MiTT]

I don't think you can go wrong with a BAT.

I would second this opinion. When I was auditioning SS amps for my system I listened to some of the Classe CAM series - can't recal which model sorry; as well as Mark Levinson 334 and BAT. I ended up with the BAT VK-6200. If you want a very musical amp, with an almost tube like midrange and plenty of "omph!" for the lower registers, I recommend BAT whole heartedly. It is wonderfully synergistic with my ReQuests.

 

[Gordon Gray]

Check out Parasound

John,

The other contender, with I believe has a very high price / performance ratio, is the John Curl designed Parasound amps. If you can, read the review in the most current issue of TAS regarding their 200 watt stereo amp. I've also been told that ML uses these amps when they go to the various shows to exhibit.

Might save you some money and get you where you want to be. Audio Advisors carries this product and you should be able to audition and get their 30 day money back guarantee.

Having said that, I think the advice you've received from this wonderful forum, is all appropriate. However, if you can "test drive" the amp in your system before committing to buy, you will have an additional level of confidence that you are buying the right piece.

GG

 

[aerius007]

Find a bat dealer or go to balanced.com. Aside from great products they are a great company to deal with. They are always willing to answer questions and if you find a used one its value will stay for a long time.

 

[JohnP]

Oh man, whats a guy to do!?! So many great amps, so little money. Now let me ask ya'll this, my system is in a dedicated HT(17 x 21 x 8) so what ever amp I choose is going to have to do double duty for HT as well. Do you think that amps such as Bat(250wpc) or the Simaudio Moon W5(190wpc) will struggle during certain movies?

See if I got a pair of Classe CA200's and bi-amped em then I'd be feeding the Odysseys 700wpc, I know that is overboard but...well you know, I am a male. Then I'd also be able to set a nice big pretty amp right next to each speaker, only need about 2 feet of speaker wire and then I could...oh boy, can you guys tell I have a serious upgradeitis bug and it is heavily laced with mono!? Ohhhhh, now TWO BAT VK500's would do the job nicely....

John

 

[Pcar928fan]

Oh man, whats a guy to do!?! So many great amps, so little money. Now let me ask ya'll this, my system is in a dedicated HT(17 x 21 x 8) so what ever amp I choose is going to have to do double duty for HT as well. Do you think that amps such as Bat(250wpc) or the Simaudio Moon W5(190wpc) will struggle during certain movies?

John,

LOVE that Moon gear man! They sell it at Sound Mind Audio right off Hwy 183 down near (just north of N. Lamar). I don't think they keep any on hand, but I bet if you were serious he would find away to get some in for you to listen to! Tell Brian Kurtz I said "hi" if you go down there...oh, they are appt. only, so call first! David Williams works there too...really nice guy! I think they have another David working there now too, but I have not met him.

If you are REALLY looking for something pretty and expensive how about MBL gear! YEA BABY!!! Get you some MBL 101e's and some BIG TIME MBL Monoblocks all in pretty piano black...yea baby!

 

[JohnP]

James,
That Simaudo stuff is sweet isn't it!! Right now I'm talking to a guy selling a pair of Moon W-6 monoblocks!! mmmm, boy would be nice if we could come to an agreement.:rocker: Also my still go the Classe route, thinking about two CA-300's each one bridged for WPC bliss!

By the way, who/what is MBL?? Guess I'm behind the times.

John

 

[Pcar928fan]

By the way, who/what is MBL?? Guess I'm behind the times.

John

Big audio company out of Germany. The stuff is just gorgeous and the big dog speakers are the MBL 101e and they don't even look like speakers...in fact thay don't look like anything you would have ever seen before! They are $46,000 a pair and their top of the line mono-blocks I think are $76,000/pair! YEOW! They do have lower end gear that a well heeled audiophile can afford, but frankly if you are looking at the low end of MBL you probably ought to look at ML stuff or something else and get better sound for the same amount. They made their name on the high end gear! Never heard it but it just looks AMAZING!