Warm, Smooth yet Transparent Amp

Hello Charles,
Yes, your description of transparency sounds very enticing indeed, I would call that natural transparency. The word transparent has taken a ugly turn for me on these boards, as most will equate it with that artificially created sound where the treble region is emphasized to provide the illusion of more detail. I find that sound lean, thin, anemic, and soul-less. There are many detail freaks in the high end these days, who are looking for the ultimate in resolution and transparency, no matter how artificial it is when compared to live, unamplified music.

I'd love to visit more local jazz clubs, but unfortunately, my wife is not a fan of that genre of music. So we compromise, no jazz for me, no country for her, and we just attend live Symphony Orchestral performances (we both enjoy classical music). :)

John,
Yes, "natural" is the key term.

Not sure I agree with your "conclusion it must be the amplification" (without having seen your room, that is).

If you are mixing audio and video and your speakers are flanking a reflective screen and placement dictated by "where the screen is" (not to mention what your wife thinks) then changes in amplification might be dwarfed by bad room placement and lack of room treatment.

I would keep everything the way it is and borrow a better amp before spending your own money.

Hello Denon53
Like Charlesdad I think transparency comes from a lack of distortion so it can result in a more transparant and warmth of tone when those things are in the recording. I think the more transparency results in closer to the live natural sound. It's without as many artifacts that distort the sound weather in the higher frequencies or somewhere else and let the original sound come through less molested. A lot of times this allows something to stride that fine line and become more musical without losing anything at the same time. So in this context transparency won't add warmth but it will let what warmth the recording caught that the musician intended come through best. And that is not an easy feat for a lot of electronics Instruments can create a warm sound, a strident sound, a dissonant/discordant sound, ect. No doubt we are all familiar with them. So with that being said I would recommend a Belles 150 amp. When available can go for used in the neighborhood of 700.00. It is decently transparent. It can convey recorded warmth. It has sins of omission because it might be slightly less detailed in comparison to others but it had no noticeable sins of commission. It produces sounds which can be quite natural. But all components have different interactions with other components so you may have a different result than what is suggested on this thread.

Charles, your explanation is probably the closest to what I have always believed a good system should be. I'm 60 now and have always believed that the ultimate goal for an audio system is to reproduce the music as if you were sitting in the room when it was being recorded. So to now find out that most audio nuts are really trying to distort that realism, as John says, is deflating. LOL I'll live. I understand both of your explanations but Charles's is closer to what I'm looking for. I also realize it's not an easy feat, thus this thread. So far I have found that exaggerated upper midrange/treble sound which John speaks of. I'm looking for what Charles describes. Marqmike hits on it as well. No exaggerated treble, no bloated bass, but all natural like the full sound of a good acoustic guitar when all strings are strummed at once. Forte heh? Belles? I've read many good things about Belles and Forte has been around for a long time has it not Charles? I think we're heading in the right direction guys.

As for my room, it's very open. My listening area is what I believe use to be the dining room, it sits between an open living room to my left and my master bedroom and sunroom to my right. All very open. Carpet on the floor couch, loveseat to my left. I sit in a recliner in the area that is about 22' x 15' with the sides very open. I'm sitting about 15' from my system, 52" LCD TV high up on far wall. I hope this all helps. I will be using the arcam for a preamp, or did you already figure that out? lol

Any additional suggestions are still welcomed. And I thank all of you who have already written a reply. It's all good!
If this made no sense, it's only because it was a long day and I'm bushed! lol I almost forgot, I also have a REL T3 sub that is part of the system.
Bruce