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What do you think of Classe

I was wondering what you guys thought about the Classe 300, 400, 301, 401 power amps, I recently bought a CA-300 and I love it, very powerful bass and very smooth sound with slightly on the warm side of neutral, the soundstage is very wide and decently deep, I'm just wondering how the other big SS amps compare (Krell FPB series, Pass Labs etc)Already I want more.....
totalmlb
aball
2,018 posts
 
Very good products if you like their character. I would describe them as a little dark, a little warm, smooth, coherent, and overall pretty rich. Different type of sound than Krell but Pass, McIntosh, JRDG, and Revox are similar IME. Congradulations on your fine purchase! Arthur
nighthawk
259 posts
 
Sounds "electronic" compared to Rowland. Doesn't quite get the timbres of acoustic instruments right.
aball
2,018 posts
 
I was making a general-sound-type comparison. If Classe sounded exactly like Rowland, Rowland would be out of business. Arthur
denf
241 posts
 
Also, as always, VERY dependent on the loudspeakers you are hooking them up to. I had a CA301, driving my Martin Logamn reQuests, with what I thought was pretty decent sound. Then a friend brought over his InnerSound ESL amp -ABSOLUTELY SMOKED THE CLASSE, in ALL parameters.

The build quality of the CA301 was "first rate", in every respect, but it sounded harsh n'nasty compared to the ESL.

So again, depending on the speaker used, your mileage may vary...
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