H2O Signature Stereo vs H20 Signature Mono Amps

The H2O is great for people who are upsizing, and even downsizing.

There are four H2O amps.

1) The Stereo H2O is a groundbreaking amp. It can handle any speaker load.
It handily controls the bass. It's mids are fluid, and articulate. The highs
simply natural. $2000

2) The Mono H2O amps improve on dynamics and separation. They are two
complete amps. For lighter loads, I would opt for the Stereo H2O. $4000

3) The S-250 Signature increases kick, and is somewhat quicker. $2800

4) The M-H2O Signature monos are the creme de la creme. They do
everything a little more. The reason is, there is more room in the mono amps
to apply added features. $5000

All H2O amps are fully balanced.

Strong tube preamps mate well with the H2O.

Barrelchief,

One correction on the above. I beleive the Signature Monoblocks retail for $5500. The other prices sound correct.

As for anyone comparing the Signature Stereo to the Signature Mono's I would doubt there would be more than one or two, since Herny has just started making a Signature of the stereo version.

As for if the Sig mono's perform that much better than the Sig stereo to justify the price, that would be a question for Henry as to the sonic differences, and most likely the load of your speakers as well, your room size, your listening levels, etc. will help you decide whether or not you will need the mono's rather than a stereo unit.

Is Henry coming out with a preamp? I don't know. I know I heard his preamp design when I was there that he was working on. Whether it is anywhere close to the performance level he wants to achieve to bring it to market is not known by me. If memory serves me correct he has been building amplifiers for well over 10 or 12 years and he just brought his amps to market half a year ago... so I guess that would be another question for Henry.

The H2o Sig mono's I have do have balanced inputs. I have not used them and am not certain what a fully balanced design would entail... again I would redirect you to Henry.

As for yor question of success or failure mating a good tube preamp with his H2o's - I have had overwhelming success with the combination of the First Sound Presence Deluxe Mk II preamp going into the Signature Mono's. I am not sure how you quantify a "good tube preamp" - however I can tell you this combo leaves nothing to desire. Well not true, I still *do* desire my wife would let me spend more on albums and cd's and such... :)

Hope some of my limited insight helps.

I'm thrilled with my Signature S250s. I had three of the original S250s for tri-amping and got the first Signature upgrade. It's definitely worth the extra cash and makes me wonder if Henry ought not skinny his line down to just the mono & stereo Signatures while offering upgrades for the earlier products.

My only concern with tube preamps is that some have very high output impedances (over 500 and up to 1500 ohms). The input impedance of the amp is set by the ICE module at 7-8 kHz. You really need to keep the preamp output impedance under 500 ohms otherwise you will compromise the amps bass response, which is one of its most stunning and arresting characteristics.

IMHO, of course.

Jeff

I talked to Henry just before posting. I didn't mention the prices. Thank you Kirk. According to Henry, the Sig monos sit at the apex of the H2O line. The S-250 Sig is not the same amp, though Henry should be happy to see it surpassing expectations.