i spent some time (3 months) living with the bmc amp when they first came out. i have to take issue with the claim that it represents "good value". i found it to be a decent product, but no more than that. reading between the lines of the review, it sounded like mr. f. really felt the same way. the high point was that it handled bass well, but lot's of amps do so. he talked about the different topology, but different is not necessarily better and i found the amp devoid of any emotional involvement with the music. as for the measurements, it has a high power capacity, but not really good for speakers under 4 ohms, come on. my speakers are pretty typical (rated at 4 ohms, box, 3 way, dual 8 inch woofers, 100 lbs) in that they have a low impedence dip at around 80 hz, not too severe, but around 3 ohms. my experience was that the amp did not like that, the sound flattened out. so on big rock or symphonic numbers, it was difficult to follow the thread of the music in the 50-150hz range.
i was very glad to learn about that volume control as there really is no owner's manual. i used the unit as a stand alone amp and an integrated and the fact that it distorted at full power as an amp explained part of my experience. perhaps it would have had more finesse if i have backed the volume into the 50 range as john noted. even having used the amp as an integrated, running around 50, i still preferred using a preamp with it. but for me, this has always been the case unless it is a very good integrated such as the simaudio i series. admittedly, the discontinued i7 and current i600 have a lower rating, but they can play with 4 ohm speakers much better than the bmc so i see it as equal.
my friend with accoustat speakers also used it for months, but found that as is typical of the breed, the amp did not like the impedence dip he had at high frequencies.
when you can buy the above-mentioned simaudio product, a very fine plinius, excellent pass audio and others for similar money, all of which will handle the typical 4 ohm rated speaker that most people use for similar or less money, with all due respect, i think it is a disservice to call the bmc a "high value" product. before i passed the amp onto my friend, it did end up making a very fine amp-stand for my then current cary cad 120s that in spite of using tubes, could handle the impedence of my speakers.
i spent some time (3 months) living with the bmc amp when they first came out. i have to take issue with the claim that it represents "good value". i found it to be a decent product, but no more than that. reading between the lines of the review, it sounded like mr. f. really felt the same way. the high point was that it handled bass well, but lot's of amps do so. he talked about the different topology, but different is not necessarily better and i found the amp devoid of any emotional involvement with the music. as for the measurements, it has a high power capacity, but not really good for speakers under 4 ohms, come on. my speakers are pretty typical (rated at 4 ohms, box, 3 way, dual 8 inch woofers, 100 lbs) in that they have a low impedence dip at around 80 hz, not too severe, but around 3 ohms. my experience was that the amp did not like that, the sound flattened out. so on big rock or symphonic numbers, it was difficult to follow the thread of the music in the 50-150hz range.
i was very glad to learn about that volume control as there really is no owner's manual. i used the unit as a stand alone amp and an integrated and the fact that it distorted at full power as an amp explained part of my experience. perhaps it would have had more finesse if i have backed the volume into the 50 range as john noted. even having used the amp as an integrated, running around 50, i still preferred using a preamp with it. but for me, this has always been the case unless it is a very good integrated such as the simaudio i series. admittedly, the discontinued i7 and current i600 have a lower rating, but they can play with 4 ohm speakers much better than the bmc so i see it as equal.
my friend with accoustat speakers also used it for months, but found that as is typical of the breed, the amp did not like the impedence dip he had at high frequencies.
when you can buy the above-mentioned simaudio product, a very fine plinius, excellent pass audio and others for similar money, all of which will handle the typical 4 ohm rated speaker that most people use for similar or less money, with all due respect, i think it is a disservice to call the bmc a "high value" product. before i passed the amp onto my friend, it did end up making a very fine amp-stand for my then current cary cad 120s that in spite of using tubes, could handle the impedence of my speakers.