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Belles 150A Short Review

I'm going to chime in about this amp because I think it's that good! My comparisons are based on other SS amps & not tube & mostly to power amps in the $2,000.00 range & under. This amp was definitely designed for the critical audiophile. Sounds excellent with all types of music but really excels at high quality recorded material, very well refined at its price point, with good depth. It doesn't have the bass slam of a Krell, but from top to bottom, it's very well balanced. One of the things that really stood out was the height of the soundstage. While listening I felt as if I shrank in size & my speakers grew to twelve feet tall, amazing acomplishment for a solid state amp. Some SS amps I have heard that can come close to this, suffer at the expense of a large soundstage, not this one. Excellent midbass, & the midrange is very well acomplished for a SS amp more so than previous amps. A slightly warmish sounding amp (no listening fatigue here) but with superb detail, not the state of the art in transparency but very good never the less. This small discrepancy is easily over-shadowed by what this amp does so superbly right. By the way, I am using the amp with the spectacular ARC LS-1 tube preamp, which is a killer bargain in its own right. Trying different interconnects is crucial for deriving the best sound ( but not necessarily based on costs). I used some Groneberg interconnects (not extremely expensive) but the same ones recommended by Klaus for Odyssey amps. Spectacular improvement over the Audioquests, but this equation can change from one amp to another. Everytime I fire this amp up I'm amazed at what it can do & the amount of enjoyment I get from just listening, very musical! David Belles deserves a standing ovation for this fine power amp. One can only imagine what the Hotrod version sounds like but from what I understand the only difference would be the addition of strategicaly placed damping material & gold binding posts. I strongly recommend this amp!
phd
phd OP
1,315 posts
 
Mboldda1, John Curl is a brilliant audio engineer & if he was able to produce gear without costs constraints, it would result in high quality sounding equipment in my opinion. His designs in the 90's offered reliability, high current, & a high damping factor which were unequal at the time (well almost) but not without alot of grit & grain. Mostly midfi (and I heard some midfi products I liked better) but always targeting audiophiles on a budget who were looking for brute force & vise-grip control over the low drivers. I liked the 2200 MKll the best in terms of power versus performance. Never took them seriously as an investment in sound quality. But from what I understand the new Halo products address these shortcomings in addition to your reference jc-1's. Maybe you can tell us what you really like about these new products as it would be interesting to know. What have you compared them to so far? But given the track record in sound quality of both Parasound & Belles the latter is where I would invest. All Belles gear, regardless of price sound good from the get go.
bigtee
803 posts
 
I had a pair of JC-1's for a time. I bought them while using the Belles 350a amp. While any gripes about the JC-1's are minor, there was something about them I just couldn't warm up to. I'm kinda at a lost here to describe it. I had several friends come over and listen and we all agreed on the sound but everyone had a hard time putting it into words. While the amps are powerful sounding, it is kinda in a "Hi-Fi" way. I've stated this in other posts. Something along the lines of a Camaro vs a BMW, powerful sounding and satisfying most "Audiophile" descriptions but lacking in the ultimate soundstage depth with a little flatness of stage and maybe not the last word in resolution.
The Belles 350a won out even though it is not quite as powerful in the bottom but seemly more coherent overall.
So with my statement about the 150a Reference, I suppose that's where I would stand. Nobody can be faulted for using the JC-1's. They have a first rate build quality, actually, here, I think better than the 350a although the 350a is a simpler circuit design(and of course, less expensive-you could always use a pair of 350a mono's for the same money!!!) I do believe there are speakers they would work well with. I've noticed these amps have gone up a $1000 for the pair which does help move them on down my personal rankings. It makes the 150a Reference mono's a hell of a bargain and a single amp a super bargain.
BTW, my comparison above was using a single 150a Reference vs the Parasound monoblocks. A better comparison would be using the Belles mono's. Hopefully, someone can shed some light on this as requested above. I certainly feel that it, based on one amp, would be an effort in futility. I would think the comparison would head into a runaway for the Belles.
mboldda1's avatar
mboldda1
575 posts
 
i do not own the jc-1's but am thinking about the stereo 150a reference and just wanted to know how theuy stack up against some of the more reviewed amps.
bigtee
803 posts
 
Mbolda1, Unfortunately, the Belles lines are not that well distributed and comparisons are probably going to be hard to find (since they are not well reviewed and readily at hand-they tend to be somewhat overlooked which is too bad.) In their price line, they are the best amps I have heard and I have heard a bunch.
You can read a review, if you haven't already, on www.soundstage.com (Doug Blackburn's review) I think it pretty much sums it up and I'm sure he has listened to a pile of amps also.
Dave Belles pretty much builds these things to order and is always looking for ways to improve them. He has been involved with a lot of amp manufacturing over the years.
I don't think you will come anywhere near beating this amp at this price point. I pretty much would consider it a no brainer.
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