Solid State Power Amp Reviews

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Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Benchmark Media Systems AHB2 power amplifier
Kalman Rubinson  |  Oct 30, 2015  |  20 comments
I first saw Benchmark's AHB2 stereo power amplifier at the 2013 Convention of the Audio Engineering Society, in New York City. On silent display in Benchmark's booth on the convention floor, its compact size and comprehensive features made the amp immediately attractive, and the design was described as a departure from traditional analog and digital amplifiers. It was also explained to me that the AHB2 was based on designs by Benchmark's founder, Allen H. Burdick (whose initials it bears). By the time of Burdick's retirement, in 2006, Benchmark didn't yet offer a power amplifier, but the company used a prototype based on his work to evaluate their new digital products, and that amp was soon developed as a commercial product; Burdick died just weeks before the AHB2, now named in his honor, was shown at the 2013 AES convention.
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Solid State Power Amp ReviewsTube Preamp Reviews
Blue Circle BC21 preamplifier & BC22 power amplifier
Kalman Rubinson  |  Feb 28, 2001  |  0 comments
I've been attending the annual Consumer Electronics Show for years, and usually come away with the impression that there are too many "me-too" products. I see a numbing similarity of approach of manufacturers within a chosen discipline: solid-state power amps in black and silver bristling with heatsinks, single-ended triode amps with their glow reflecting from bronze or wood panels, MCPU/DSP-centered devices with sleek, flat cases and intimidating remote controls, etc.
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Audacious AudioSolid State Power Amp Reviews
Boulder 1060 power amplifier
Sam Tellig  |  Dec 24, 2014  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2000  |  4 comments
Can an $18,000 power amplifier be a bargain?

Can an $18,000 wristwatch?

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Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Boulder 2050 monoblock amplifier
Jonathan Scull  |  Sep 02, 1998  |  0 comments
How much power do you really need? How much power can you actually use? What's necessary, and what's icing on the cake? And does anyone really need 1000Wpc?
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Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Boulder 500 power amplifier
Dick Olsher  |  Oct 03, 2008  |  First Published: Aug 03, 1986  |  0 comments
Yet another amp from Colorado! This is the third amp to come my way from that state (the others being the Spectrascan and the Rowland Research), and at this point, after living with it for a couple of months, I'm quite comfortable in declaring the Boulder 500 to be one helluvan amp.
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Solid State Power Amp ReviewsJ. Gordon Holt
Boulder 500AE power amplifier
J. Gordon Holt, Various  |  Apr 11, 2008  |  First Published: Oct 11, 1991  |  0 comments
To high-end audiophiles, the Boulder 500 amplifier and its less expensive derivative, the 500AE (Audiophile Edition), would not seem to be "high-end" designs. They are designed around op-amps (felt by many to be generally poor-sounding), they have scads of negative feedback (which is perhaps why op-amps sound bad), and they have only a moderately hefty power supply. Why, then, is Stereophile publishing a review of an op-amp–based power amplifier? Read on...
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Solid State Power Amp ReviewsSolid State Preamp Reviews
Boulder 810 line preamplifier & 860 power amplifier
Fred Kaplan  |  Dec 23, 2007  |  0 comments
Boulder Amplifiers, named after the Colorado town where the company has resided since its founding 23 years ago, makes some of the most elegant-looking solid-state amps around. Chassis are anodized, aircraft-grade aluminum with rounded edges, machined and finished in-house. The two models reviewed here, the 810 line preamplifier and the 860 power amplifier, each have a sleek, compact build—stacked atop each other, the two stand just over a foot high—owing to extremely efficient packing of the circuitry inside. These are the company's "entry-level" electronics, but there's nothing cheap about them—the preamp retails for $6900, the amp for $8500—and for all their economical size, they look like luxury goods as well.
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Audacious AudioSolid State Power Amp Reviews
Boulder Amplifiers 2150 monoblock power amplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 24, 2017  |  32 comments
"I'm a recording engineer, so I value accuracy," said a panelist in a discussion—titled "How to Read Between the Lines of Audio Advertising"—at last October's Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. I, too, was on the panel, which was moderated by Brent Butterworth, a writer for the SoundStage! Network of online audio magazines.

"Accuracy is overrated," I interjected from the other end of the dais. "Accurate to what? To your sonic tastes? To what you hear on your preferred loudspeakers? Other than one's personal preferences, I'm not sure the term accuracy has much meaning."

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Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Bricasti Design M15 power amplifier
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 21, 2018  |  39 comments
On the second morning of a recent audio show, I walked into the exhibit room of Bricasti Design.

"How about some Mahler?" asked cofounder and designer Brian Zolner.

"Oh God. Not at 10am!"

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Audacious AudioSolid State Power Amp Reviews
Bricasti Design M28 monoblock power amplifier
Michael Fremer  |  May 01, 2015  |  9 comments
Google Bricasti and all that comes up are sites relating to Bricasti Design products. The name must be fanciful—it sounds Italian, but cofounders Brian Zolner and Casey Dowdell most likely are not, and the company's headquarters are not in Milan or Turin but in Massachusetts.

While its name might be whimsical, nothing else about Bricasti is. As John Marks reported in his review of Bricasti's M1 DAC in the August 2011 issue, both founders previously worked at Lexicon: Dowdell as a DSP-software engineer, Zolner as international sales manager. Bricasti develops its products in conjunction with Aeyee Labs, formed by a group of ex-employees of Madrigal Audio Laboratories and based in New Haven, Connecticut.

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Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Bryston 14B-SST power amplifier
Larry Greenhill  |  Nov 08, 2002  |  0 comments
Talking to fellow audiophiles, I sometimes hear generalizations about power-amplifier design: "High-power amplifiers don't sound as good as low-power amplifiers." "Tube amps are more musical than solid-state amps." "Class-A circuit designs always sound better than class-AB." "Bridged amplifiers don't image precisely, throw deep soundstages, or have the transparency of non-bridged output stages." Etc.
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Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Bryston 28B-SST monoblock power amplifier
Larry Greenhill  |  Jan 31, 2008  |  0 comments
It was a hot, humid, New York City evening in early August, and I was thankful to be sitting in the air-conditioned dark of Avery Fisher Hall, up in the Second Tier, for a Mostly Mozart concert. Listening to cello soloist Alisa Weilerstein in Osvaldo Golijov's hypnotic Azul, I was suddenly jolted by an explosive mix of primitive cello sonorities, accordion, and staccato riffs on ethnic percussion instruments. My thoughts turned to the importance in music of both power and delicacy, and of how Bryston Ltd.'s 28B-SST, a 1000W monoblock power amplifier, was designed to address both.
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Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Bryston 3B-ST power amplifier
Larry Greenhill  |  Jul 10, 2005  |  First Published: Oct 10, 1996  |  2 comments
Canadian electronics manufacturer Bryston Limited has been producing consumer and professional amplifiers since 1974 [see Robert Deutsch's interview elsewhere in this issue—Ed.]. Bryston amps are engineered to be physically and electrically rugged, to meet the stringent demands of professionals, many of whom leave their studio amplifiers turned on for years. While chassis had to be light instead of the audiophile massiveness found in some high-end consumer amplifiers, studio engineers and concert pros continued to favor Bryston amps, which easily passed the "steel toe" test. The 4B, for example, became a standard amplifier for recording engineers and touring musicians.
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Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Bryston 4B power amplifier
Larry Greenhill  |  May 06, 2007  |  First Published: May 06, 1992  |  1 comments
On January 1, 1990, Canadian electronics manufacturer Bryston instituted a remarkable warranty program that covered each of their products for a full 20 years. This warranty includes all audio products ever manufactured and sold under the Bryston name. Besides covering parts and labor costs, the company will also pay shipping costs one way. This is all the more significant for their 4B NRB amplifier, which has been in production since 1976. The amp's $2k price, while not cheap, is at the lower end of what well-heeled audiophiles typically pay for amplifiers.
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Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Bryston 7B NRB-THX, ST, & SST monoblock power amplifier
Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 05, 2005  |  First Published: Oct 05, 1993  |  0 comments
The Canadian audio industry has been mounting a challenge to other high-end manufacturers over the past few years. Ask any audiophile about Canadian audio manufacturers and chances are that he or she will have no trouble rattling off a string of respected names—Classé, Museatex, Sonic Frontiers, Mirage, PSB, Paradigm, Energy. And Bryston.
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