i would like to add an additional comment if i may to this thread-
As i sit down to listen to music, (even to this day) i come away
still amazed at how clean and clear and Dynamic my system sounds, with ML-33H's driving the von schweikert VR9's. even so,
i still eagerly peruse the forums, reading how wonderful the pass amps sound, or the dartzeel's, the soulutions, etc. so the other day i went back to re-read the stereophile review of the 33H's, including the measurements (something i usually skip over). every word rings true to what i am hearing, and the revelation that if you fed the amps more voltage, they would easily put out TWICE their rated power, or that the distortion figures are more like those of preamps than amps, etc. now i do not propose that NOTHING has improved since the day the 33's and the 33h's were designed, but there is no denying
that they were significantly overbuilt compared to many of their competitors.
at a time when ML was doing quite well financially, they seemed to have little concern that people would buy a $35K set of SOTA monoblocks- in fact as it turned out, they were unable to meet the demand for what was (obviously) perceived to be amongst the finest reference amplifiers available.
so for people like myself to own a (demo) pair of 33h's with virtually the same
type of internals as the 33's, and to be as un-disappointed as i am with
their performance, there is little more for me to say or do. the only remaining frustration is that i have to sit by and watch month after month while all of these wonderful new designs get posted and sold without my participation. i guess i'll just have to deal with it while i pay off all my other bills...
As i sit down to listen to music, (even to this day) i come away
still amazed at how clean and clear and Dynamic my system sounds, with ML-33H's driving the von schweikert VR9's. even so,
i still eagerly peruse the forums, reading how wonderful the pass amps sound, or the dartzeel's, the soulutions, etc. so the other day i went back to re-read the stereophile review of the 33H's, including the measurements (something i usually skip over). every word rings true to what i am hearing, and the revelation that if you fed the amps more voltage, they would easily put out TWICE their rated power, or that the distortion figures are more like those of preamps than amps, etc. now i do not propose that NOTHING has improved since the day the 33's and the 33h's were designed, but there is no denying
that they were significantly overbuilt compared to many of their competitors.
at a time when ML was doing quite well financially, they seemed to have little concern that people would buy a $35K set of SOTA monoblocks- in fact as it turned out, they were unable to meet the demand for what was (obviously) perceived to be amongst the finest reference amplifiers available.
so for people like myself to own a (demo) pair of 33h's with virtually the same
type of internals as the 33's, and to be as un-disappointed as i am with
their performance, there is little more for me to say or do. the only remaining frustration is that i have to sit by and watch month after month while all of these wonderful new designs get posted and sold without my participation. i guess i'll just have to deal with it while i pay off all my other bills...