The Belles Aria Signature Integrated Amplifier

@ianrmack
Very interested in hearing your impressions of the Aria Signature sound. By the way, I also have the Qutest with Teddy Pardo power supply :-)

Also, if it’s not too much to ask, could you take pictures of the inside of the Signature amp? I can’t believe how little information there is about this amp on his website. Actually, his website has very little marketing information about all of his products... Strange, to say the least, as I haven’t come across a negative review

Low prob of a pic inside, sorry...😉

My take is that DAve B does not really “market” his products, per se. Hardly any real,reviews on Aria. Just hobbyist stuff. He doesn’t buy media so media not looking to give him ink.

my hope is that the Aria Sig sits in my basement listening room (now home office) for ever and will ultimately drive Dynaudio Special Heritage if I can find a used pair in 1-2 years...😉

The Qutest/Teddy Pardo/node 2i works for me. It’s just so simple and easy and fluid. 

Few days ago I watched Steve Huff’s review of Dynaudio Special Heritage. Steve Guttenberg reviewed them also, but he gets gobsmacked by everything he reviews, so it’s hard to take his words seriously.

I really don’t understand what Dynaudio, as a company, stands for. It sounds like they really knocked it out of the park with this model, yet they’ve limited its production to only 2500 units. Assuming they’re not losing money on it, why not continue production for as long as there is a demand? After all, are they designing speakers just to sell and make money, or their goal is (and should be) to be known as the company, which makes the best speakers?!

After they produce the last one, should those, who want to get their superior model, settle for their inferior ones? I mean, if they don’t want to put on more than 2500 units their marketing BS like "Heritage Special" to drive up the price, then OK, just continue producing them without that plaque! They can even keep the price the same, for all we care. Nobody cares/should care about what it says on the speaker - care how it sounds!

I don’t know if I would like everything about this speaker, but the number one reason why I’d buy them is because they seem to be really great at low level listening. So when I’m finally ready to pull the trigger in a year or two, turns out I’ll be out of luck, because the company, which makes this great product, decided that only 2500 privileged will be able to enjoy them!

Why? What is the point of designing/making good products then?!

On a related subject, the new Belles Virtuoso Integrated amp is now on display at the Audio Connection in Verona NJ. Sounds very good driving a pair of Vandersteen Quatro CT’s.  No meters just a simple faceplate like the new Virtuoso preamp.

I believe that John will be posting pictures on his website soon, Dave has not added it to his website yet. John Rutan would be the best person to talk to about this amplifier.

@audioinfidel 

Dynaudio is now owned by some Chinese company now I think. My view is this is a marketing thing and, if there is sustained demand for these speakers, there will be more.

I always wanted a speaker like this from them as the higher end the monitor you see from Dynaudio, the more I didn’t like the look of the box. the Confidence 1 is just not for me looks wise. The Heritage Special are!

Perhaps the design team had a wager for years over the viability of a conventional box stand mount yet with all the trickle down technology from the top range.