Belcanto Power Amplifiers

I also use the M300s with VSA VR-4JRs speakers and a tube pre amp (Dehavilland Superverve) and to my ears, it is a beautiful sound. I tried a couple other solid state amps (Bryston,PS Audio etc.), however, the Bel Cantos for their price, seemed better for me at the moment. The M300s appeared to have taken a long time to break in, especially the lower end, but, thats the case as you know sometimes.

I purchased a pair of M-300 mono blocks from a Belcanto dealer, to play a pair of standard Maggie 1.6QRs, through a Rogue 99 Magnum pre-amp, using Millersound bi-wired speaker cables. The amps would not work; when powered up, they simply let out a radio frequency type squeal, and their protective circuitry shut them down. I have friends who make their living in the high end audio industry, and they could not get them to play squat. I finally had Belcanto ship me a new pair and I returned the original amps. Naturally, they played perfectly in Minnesota, but once again the new amps would not make music in Pennsylvania. It was the most frustrating thing. The dealer contacted Rogue, and Maggie, and everybody had their two cents worth of ideas, but nothing helped. The M-300s just did not like the load the Maggies represented, or, the amps lack adequate RFI rejection design. No reason on this earth why they should not have played. Belcanto continued to claim no-one else had ever had the problem with these units, but I am told that is highly unlikely. They did play on an old pair of Boston Acoustic speakers and sounded fine at that, but they represented a rather benign load.
We tried bi-wiring; then I put jumpers in place and ran single speaker wires, but nothing would get those amps to play. Then a friend loaned me a pair of Nuforce 9's, and they sounded great, playing the 1.6QRs effortlessly. I have no idea why the M-300s would not work, but people in the know feel it is an RFI problem. I even took an old Sony CDP 707ES with a variable output, and ran it directly into the Belcanto amps, circumventing the Rogue, and still, nothing.
Just thought everyone should know to be careful, especially if they have speakers which can drop to below 4 ohms while in use.

I have seen threads saying the Evo amps were more musically involving than the new generation of Bel Canto amps. In a word -- NO -- at least not in my system. I had an EVO6 before I bought my Ref 1000s and S300. The EVO6 was a great amp, but the monoblocks outshine it in every respect.

Dgaylin would you say that the difference in quality justify the substantial difference in price between the S300 (or M300) and the Ref 1000.
I am ATM hesitating between the Nuforce 9 SE v2 and the Belcanto Ref 1000 or the M300 as an alternative). The rest of m system is a RA Opus 21 and a pair of Gallo ref3 vII.
I probably will onlybe able to test these amps in different places and with ancillaries I am not familiar with, that is the reason why I am asking

Yes I do think the price difference is justified but that's of course a very complex calculus for each of us. Given your speakers I think the additional power and dynamics of the Ref 1000s are a better but. I don't know the Nuforce except what I've read about it.

For what it is worth, I bought my S300 (for my rear surrounds) from a fellow Audiogoner who had auditioned it against the REf1000s for his front speakers. He wanted to save money and keep the S300, but he ended up unloading the S300 and keeping the Ref1000s.

Hope this helps.

--dan