New Bel Canto Gear at RMAF

Guido, thanks for the excellent review of this Ref 1K MKII.

Regards,

Kenobi

Thank you guys, much appreciated. It is pretty clear to me that switching mode amplification is coming into its own, at a variety of pricepoints, with some leading products that do not owe any apologies to anyone for not containing 'traditional' technologies.

Hi Guido,

A well researched and written review on the Bel Canto Ref 1000 MKII - thanks!

A couple of questions if i may?

1. In my audition of the Ref 1000's earlier this year one of the most impressive aspects of the amplifier was its speed or transient response which was particularly appreciated in large scale orchestral music but benefited all music in general. What was particularly impressive about the amp was its awesome control over the harmonic tail. Your review only skirts the speed determinant. I wondered whether you'd like to comment further?

2. Depth was another strength of the amp - its ability to cast images from the front speaker plane to seemingly one mile behind the speaker plane was another outstanding attribute. Again, your review is largely silent on depth of field performance. Can you comment further on what you found?

3. One criticism i had of the Ref II amplifier was its poor ability to capture 'body' in the vocal image. The machinery's focus on neutrality means the presentation will be considered a touch lean by some. Because of this, i preferred driving the Ref II's with valve pre-amplification which then for me summed to the perfect team - flesh plus dynamics! While i'm aware your review did not include any valve pre-amplification and that clearly you must be a 'neutral' guy given your selection of components i would nonetheless invite any comment you have on the density of the body of the vocal image.

4. Finally, you used new Furutech cables for this review. I would be personally interested to know why you favour the Evolution II cables and whether during the course of the review you inserted your Cardas cables to observe what sonic changes resulted? Personally, i found the Cardas (Golden Ref and Golden Cross) quite suitable for partnering with the Ref II's. They helped inject tonal warmth to the precedings.

Thanks again for your review.

Thank you Kiwi, in answer to your questions,

I prefer the Furutech Evo IIs to PCs and speaker wires to the Cardas Golden Ref wires that I had in the system, both with JRDG 312 and Bel cantos, prior to starting to write the review. As the effect of the wiring swap was common to both JRDG 312 and Bel canto, I removed the issue from the review equation. I may discuss it in a future article on the Furutech wires.

As I assert in so many words in the conclusion, the R1K Mk.2s are remarkable and engaging devices. Perhaps I should have also mentioned that there were one of a relatively small number of amplifier that I enjoyed at RMAF in 2008. Their impressive ability to expose harmonic complexity is discussed both in the sections on the Poroscina performance and the quasi Tuvan throat song of the bariton in Regnantem Sempiterna.

Illustration of the amps' excellent staging and imaging is found in the Krall and in the Yo Yo Ma paragraphs, although I am not sure what a stage a mile deep would sound like, regardless of reproduced music or standard live venues.

The authority and transient ability of the amps is also excellent, as I discuss in the cello work, in the conclusion, and I believe also in the section on Krall, in spite of some minor quibbles.

The Bel Cantos break in relatively quickly for ICEpower amps. They stabilized after approximately 500 hours, which is when any residual leanness was removed, and they reached maximum top to bottom frequency extension and harmonic congruence. While some leanness and foreshortened treble was in evidence prior to them settling down completely, by the time I wrote the review I found them to be very well balanced across the spectrum, except for some minor and only occasional exhuberant flares in the mid bass region. However, as you point out correctly, I do admittedly belong to the school of moderate musical neutrality, and I do not typically enjoy more than the gentlest trace of 'warmth' in a device. G.