A weird thing happened to my Red Wine Audio 30.2..

Chin up old boy as the British say.I owned a Red Wine 30.2 it was an awesome amp in my system,bested both a Cary V12 and a Bryston 4BSST.For additional reassurance read the 6moons review,it's a world class amp.

The speakers I have in my system are Focal Profile 918s. I can't be sure but I would guess that they are not hugely unlike the Triangles that were in my friends store and that we hooked up to my amp. I was sure to do the test on speakers that were efficient enough to work with my amp, and as it turns out the Triangles had a very similar impedance to my Focals. While I am pretty sure my Focals are more to my liking than the Triangles, I can't attribute the outcome of the test to this discrepancy. I typically use an arcam cd36 or a project turntable as a source. In the store we used an esoteric cd player (I don't recall the model, but it was current). Also I use Cardas Golden Reference interconnects and Acoustic Zen Hollograph speaker cables in my system, as well as Shunyata power cables and a Shunyata Hydra for my cd player. Finally, the drive over was about 15 min and since I live in Canada and park outside my car was really cold, about -5 or -10 for most of the ride.

While there were many variables I could associate with what happened, we did our best to interchange many cables as well as sources and in total I ran the unit for nearly two hours in the store, all of which which did help to level the playing field a little. I should note that while the Signature 30.2 did produce a much better sound over the two hours period, it was still disappointing. When I first hooked it up it sounded worse than I care to talk about. I was truly stunned.

Anyway, with my tail between my legs I returned home and hooked it back up to my system and, bingo, it was great sounding again. I really do like my amp, but I can't explain what happened during the test at the store. The outcome led one store employee to refer to my Red Wine as an amp "for kids". Exactly what that means, I don't know, but, well, ya.

In the end I am siding with the positive comments left by you all since I know what my amp can do when things align and it's damn great sound.

Salesmen want you to purchase something.With enough doubt bestowed upon a customer,many will take the bait.An early Jolida I heard at the store I worked at(some time ago) was hooked to some small Mordant-Short speakers-wonderful sound,couldn't believe.The owner changed to a different speaker,awful.The 'right combo" may shine,wrong and you go running.Which was the culprit??

"I returned home and hooked it back up to my system and, bingo, it was great sounding again."

THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS!

Dude- you had a bad dream. Don't eat a big bowl of chili before bedtime. Enjoy your system and don't obsess. :-)

(and another thing, what's wrong with being a "kid"?)

Actually I have noticed that eating cheese before I go to bed makes me have weird dreams. It was probaby the cheese that made doubt my amp in my dreams. Also, since I'm 30 and feel lucky that I could afford a $2500 amp, I'm wondering what "kids" this guy knows with that much money and an interest in battery powered 30 watt amps. I guess rich kids are weird as hell these days. Most kids I see have iPods and low-fi, but still massive, headphones. Actually, I've been meaning to buy myself an iPod...