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Any love for the Belles Aria or other recent Belles amplifier?

I recently heard a Belles 150a Hotrod with Triangle Zerius speakers and a transformer volume control.  The sound is one of the most compelling pairings I have heard.  I am considering purchasing a used 350a or a new Aria or 150a ref. v2.

Has anyone spent time with one, two or all three of these amplifiers?  I'd like to spend as little as possible but still have an outstanding match with the easy-to-drive Zerius.  I like the idea of an integrated if it sounds as good as the bigger amps just with less output power.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
leahy
leahy's avatar
leahy OP
80 posts
 
Mezzanine,

Thanks for the post.  Between work and getting ready to take my daughter to college (she is going to a school 1/2 hour away from Amherst Audio - where I'll be picking up the Reynaud speakers), I haven't had much time to really dig in to the comparisons.  Once the Reynauds are in the house, I'll get more serious about rotating the amps and making comparisons.  My end goal is to keep one amp/speaker system that plays the widest variety of music in the most convincing way.  I have run out of storage room to hold all of the accumulated pieces  - decisions have to be made.

I will post my impressions after the Silver Bliss are in the house...
mezzanine
129 posts
 
Leahy, sounds great! Looking forward to your impressions. 
zek4u
45 posts
 
Stupidly sold my first Aria and just got another. Just can't believe this thing. I don't remember the headphone amp sounding great in the first one and on a whim, hooked up my Sennheiser HD800S headphones. Geeeze. I'm going to sell my Violectric V281. How does Dave Belles do it. Sounds amazing through these Gallo Reference Stratas I picked up too. Running them near field with a Chord 2Qute DAC, Chord Anthem 2 speaker cables, microRendu, Chord Signature Tuned Aray USB, REL S2, Tellurium Q Black. I'm very, very happy right now. FYI, I like the Gallos with the Aria better then the Harbeth P3s I just sold.

I've had sooooo many integrateds. Rega, Simaudio, Naim Supernait 2!, Hegel, Exposure, Marantz, TACT, Croft separates. you name it. Well I'm finally happy.

Thank you so much Dave!
fjn04
1,561 posts
 

Sounds like better synergy between the Aria and Gallo's, and I have no doubt they play very nicely with Vandy's. I heard from someone I trust, that the Belles/Vandersteen pairing punch way above their weight class... Sounds as if Harbeth/Belles may be another story.

jl35
4,239 posts
 
Zek4u  I see your Aria is for sale again - what’s the replacement?
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