Testing a few amps

[arvind]

Hi Mani,

I have heard the Soulution amps, though not owned them, however recently there was an amp shoot out at Ascendo. The 3 amps used in the shoot out were the Bolder, CAT & Soulution. Mr Jurgen Scheuring of Ascendo e mailed me that the CAT won hands down.

Arvind

[Suteetat]

For what it's worth, I never like Boulder house sound at all. Very detail, but rather thin, brittle sounding, too cool for me. It just does not sound natural to my ear. I heard Soulution, both monoblocks and stereo with Magico Q5 and I like them better than Boulder but still not quite my cup of tea. I run more toward high power tube or solid state with tubey sound, I suppose.

[manisandher]

Thanks Arvind, thanks Suteetat.

You know, I think I'm just going to order another Magtech amp from Roger Sanders. It sounds really nice in my office system right now. My wife popped her head in this morning as I was playing some Satie and said, "That sounds beautiful." I asked whether she meant the music or the sound, and she said that she meant the sound.

I'm not saying that the Magtech is the best amp on the planet, although it may well be for electrostatic speakers, which is Roger Sanders's expertise. If this system (NOS1, Magtech, Quad 2805) were the last one I ever had, I really think I'd be happy with it.

Mani.

[Flecko]

Hi Mani,
I am looking for a new amp too and Magtech seems to fit my "design goals". At the moment I use a 80Wpc Class A fully balanced transistor amp. It has to drive "normal" but low efficency two way speakers. Hence, there is the need of more power. It sounds good to my ears but I think there should be more bass control and a cleaner/faster representation. It sounds a little softened. I have looked at the marked and there are interesting amps from ML, Krell, MBL and so on, that would fit. But they are simply not affordable. The Magtech have nearly perfect specs, even better than the previously mentioned. High power, High damping, very fast and runs cool! Exactly what I was looking for. The price for the Magtech also seems absolutely reasonable.
Do you know if the Magtech is a real balanced design?
Are there any new candidates on your list?
Are you still happy with this amp?
You did not mention explicitly the differences to the Pass Aleph, was the Magtech so much better?
Thank you!

[manisandher]

Hi Flecko, in answer to your Qs:

Are there any new candidates on your list?

I haven't really looked into changing any hardware for a while now. I still love the idea of listening to some Swiss amps though - FM Acoustics, Soulution and Dartzeel. But with the prices that these command, it would be just listening and not buying I think.

Are you still happy with this amp?

Yes, I still very much like the Sanders Magtech amp. It is the smoothest transistor amp I've ever heard and, as I've alluded to before, just works so nicely with the Quad electrostatics. I strongly suspect it would work well with other speaker types too.

You did not mention explicitly the differences to the Pass Aleph, was the Magtech so much better?

I actually never managed to compare them against each other - I sold the Aleph4 a few days before the Magtech arrived. But if I could have only kept one, it would have been the Magtech. The Aleph4 was such an interesting design (100W transistor single-ended class A) and sounded really, really 'nice'. But it was just too much of a heat-generator for me to be using as my main amp day-in, day-out.

In summary, I'm very, very happy with the Magtech.

HTH.

Mani.

EDIT:

Sorry, I forgot one of your Qs:

Do you know if the Magtech is a real balanced design?

You may have to contact Roger Sanders for the official answer, but I don't think it is. I say this because Roger recommends using the single-ended inputs to the amp and not the balanced inputs. If it were a true balanced design, I suspect this recommendation would be reversed. However, in my system, the amp is dead quiet and sounds wonderful via its single-ended inputs.

[Flecko]

Thank you mani for your reply. I guess too, it might be no real balanced design. I contacted Mr. Sanders and asked to be sure. I will report back.

If not, I have an eye on the ML 432. Used it is affordable and it seems to be a well made amp. The 434 and 436 model is even better, if there would be a good offer. But other suggestions are welcome!

PS:
If it doesn't bother you not having a balanced amp, the german company AudioNet also has interesting amps with very good reputation.