Solid State Power Amp Reviews

Editor: I appreciate the tremendous amount of work Michael Fremer put into his review of our BHK Signature 300s, and I'm pleased that he was able to use them with both the Wilson Audio Alexandria XLFs and the Marten Coltrane IIIs—which differ from one another about as much as two box speakers can. The fact that he found the BHKs to pair well with both speakers validates the effort that we and Bascom H. King put into making the BHK 300s a universal solution.

Obviously, some matches are more simpatico than others. In this case, Michael favored the 300s paired with the XLFs—but we have yet to find speakers through which the BHK 300s do not provide musically engaging, compelling, balanced performance.

Speaking of "balanced": Michael's use of the BHK 300s with a single-ended preamp does not present the amps at their best. We prefer balanced operation, which offers so many advantages, with no downside and minimal cost, that—well, we honestly can't understand why anyone would choose to build purely single-ended topology. In our experience, balanced operation of the 300s produces meatier, more palpable bass and midbass, as well as a deeper soundstage—the areas in which Michael preferred his $135,000/pair DarTZeels.

I apologize for not yet being able to provide the matching BHK Signature preamp, which couples with the BHK 300s in balanced mode and presents the amps at their finest. We're productionizing Bascom's design, and I invite Michael Fremer and John Atkinson to experience the amps matched with the BHK front end, when the latter is available in spring 2016.

Michael made so many positive statements about the BHK 300s that it's difficult to focus on just a few, but I truly appreciate his characterization of the 300 as "a powerful, nimble-sounding amplifier that immediately drew me in with fast, punchy, tight bass; rich, liquid mids; and delicate, transparent highs—all effectively well integrated into a coherent whole." I'm touched by "I would be hard-pressed to identify anything wrong in the BHK 300's sound," and by "This kind of convincing, sophisticated performance, particularly from the midband up, is what one expects and gets from the finest cost-no-object electronics." I expect that modest Bascom is blushing right now.

Michael mentions how Bascom, Arnie Nudell, and I joke about our ages, and we do indeed. But: among the three of us, we have around 150 (!!) years of experience in the audio biz. I believe that we have learned a bit about how to make good sound and good products. PS Audio is in its 43rd year—yes, Stan Warren and I founded the company when we were still in grade school—and we take our reputation for building innovative, durable, good-sounding products very seriously. That's something we don't joke about. I've known Mikey for many of those 43 years, and I appreciate his expertise as well as his jibes.

As we both enter alte kaker-dom, I'm glad that the mystery of that hair has finally been solved: "occasional lethal shocks." Ohhhhh . . .

Paul McGowan, Founder & CEO, PS Audio