Best Integrated, period.

I'm interested in what amplification Kiwi thinks does sound best with the MBLs. Back in accordance with my point that there is no "best", from what I've read their sound in general leans more towards the detailed and analytic side of things, so I could understand the preference for a hybrid design in that case.

Regarding the technical suitability of the Rowland/ICE, I think his review confirmed that the Rowland did take full control of the difficult to drive MBLS, which is what I would expect and even demand, he just had a few reservations about the resulting sound from his perspective. That is why technical fit of components is key, but that alone does not guarantee a match to tastes.

I've never actually heard MBLS, but from what I have read (a lot), they share a difficult to drive, power hungry load with the Ohms and a similar design to some extent, but I suspect the sound from the specialized omni driver array used is much different otherwise. The Ohm Walsh driver is also a unique design but not totally unlike a conventional dynamic design. I think Class D could work very well in the case of the Ohms and produce a sound that one can "warm up to". Tube amplification is right out with either Ohm or MBL I believe do to the difficult load and power consumption.

Rowland has Magico's big, little (they're large for minis) mini-monitors that he uses with some custom sub. He recently sold his prototype big Magicos that he tri-amped. Anyway, the little bit that I heard was...magic.

Rowland-Magico, that's a match made in...Rowland's shop, if not heaven.

Dave

Hi Dave, Mapman - i've responded to your questions in the review section of the forum as i didn't want to divert attention away from the central thread topic. Regards.

All, what we still do not know is what Kiwi meant by "ad a "listen" to the C500. How many hours of break in did the unit have when he performed critical listening? How many hours of active warmup did the unit have since the last power down? We do not know Kiwis expectations nor his sonic reference. Let us also consider that one audiophile's bleached sound is one other audiophile's accuracy. I have for example listened to Spectron only on SP speakers. . . and vocals where anything but sounding bleached to me, rather, I found them to sound grand and nuanced. But then, I am admittedly not fond of typical tube sound. Kiwi's 'bleached vocals" may be nothing more than a matter of differing expectations. G.

Kiwi_1282001,

It indicates you compared to MBL amplification but not what kind of hybrid amp you normally use with your planars?

If the planars are anything like Magnepan, I could relate to how hybrid amplification could add a nice touch, again depending on taste. I would expect the same to be true with MBL speaks.

Personally, I believe discussing the "best" integrated in the context of specific speaker designs and how they are different makes for a more valuable discussion.