Jafant…
My appreciation for the Belles 250i Integrated has as much to do with its outstanding sonics as it does, as such things develop over time, with its owner David Belles. There is little, make that zero, information available on this integrated anywhere to be had; even the far reaching and intrusive interweb fails to produce so much as sales brochure reproduction. Emails sent to Power Modules, his current company, have also failed to produce a reply. C’est la vie.
During my wayward youth I, like so many others, sought after the most popular brands of the era -Marantz, Sansui, Pioneer, etc. In fact, until I stumbled upon Audiogon as I was internetting to replace a stereo receiver I was still in possession of one of those brands. When I first moved into this house in 1994 my first addition to my “collection” was a pair of Klipsch CF 3’s. Apart from the Klipsch and to some extent Marantz, there was no name behind the brand. There was Saul of course, and there was Paul. They had stories. There was nothing backing up the Pioneers, the Sansui’s, the Nakamichis, the most popular, consumer commercial brands back in the day.
Not long after buying my first pair of Thiel - CS2.2 - I began reading about Jim Thiel. Nothing I had previously owned came close to producing the sound I was hearing and my curiosity grew. Unlike Belles, there is a TON of information regarding Jim Thiel’s history. I became attached. Personally. I believe that I’ve read everything there is available to read about Thiel the man, and Thiel the company. As I related to Tom Thiel during our all too brief personal introduction last week as he picked up my CS 2.4’s, there are only two brands of loudspeakers that have delivered an “aha!” moment to my ears, Thiel and Magnepan. Suffice it to say the the CS3.5’s delivered this atomically.
Just the construction of the Belles 250i alone is reason enough to appreciate it. The power supply is encased in a separate enclosure attached to the amp itself by an umbilical cord. Inside that box is a pretty damn big toroidal transformer. My uneducated assumption reasons that this was designed to reduce noise. I could be wrong - after all, I’ve previously stated that I don’t know a mosfet from a misfit, but I know what I like. (The Belles long form name is Belles 250i Mosfet Integrated Hybrid.)
I am also assuming that the output rating for this may be 125 W into 8 ohms, 250 W into 4 ohms. (Given the absence of any officially disclaimed information.) It seems right to me. The B. A. T. Integrated, as well as the Pass Labs X150.5 amplifier I previously owned were rated slightly higher @ 150 W 8 ohms, 300 W into 4 ohms. I’ve never had any amplification higher than those - and I don’t believe I will never have the need for it.
The Belles is closer sonically to the Pass than I can say it is for the B. A. T. I have always operated within the constrictions of my personal financial weather map. Sometimes it’s sunny and seventy degrees, sometimes it’s not. When the weather develops into the nasty and cold the first thing to suffer is my audio equipment. Fortunately equipment is merely a possession that can be substituted or eventually replaced. With even better stuff!
At this moment I have a pretty darn good cheap-seats setup. A quick, unscientific or mathematically precise summation lands this at around…$4K give or take. Not too shabby.
I guess this means that I don’t miss the B. A. T.
Cheers!
