Hi, I have been meaning to write a review ever since purchasing these amps about 8 months ago. What held me back was the fact that they sounded sooo good, that I up graded all my components.
My story, a wife inspired redecorate forced a down size to my HT/stereo system. I did like how the room turned out so I need to make it work. So, a new Plasma TV, small scale HT pre/Pro into my Bryston amp driving B&W 804n's. Yes full circle back to 2 Channel and I liked it. This brought out the short comings of the b&W 804's, I owned them for 10 year and know then well. Amps yes I need a new amp! I like Bryston, have owned a few, another Mac maybe, Classe? I gave class D a look not really wanting to go that way, guess what?
The B&W 804n's are not known for their bass output, can sound a little small (congested) and could use some help with sound stage size. Now for the Achilles heel, the tweeter can be hard and bright. Class D are known for their bass, can open up a speaker, increase sound stage and powerfull amps. If i could find a warm class D amp that was not so hard in the treble I would try it.
It was not easy, but my search led me to Tommy's Digital Amp Comany. Tommy was very exited about his mono's, this would work well for me. I could place them behind the speakers a free up space in my too small rack. Not enough, Tommy was gushing about how much better they sounded then stereo amps. Yes mono's please.
Tommy lives an hour away and delivered them to me and set them up. WOW, out of the box, WOW! The first thing that hits you is the bass, tight, fast, controlled it is very addictive. For the fist time I could truly say I do not need a sub. The speaker opened up with a relaxed easiness, but yet fast. Sound stage increased, with height and depth with a nice dimensionality. The air and space between note is very nice as these amps are very quiet. These amps are so quiet that details previously unheard come to life. For me it is all about the mid range, well it needs to be warmth,juicy,meaty,real. These amps injected life into the B&Ws like no other had ever before. The treble is neither rolled off or etched and free of grain, believe me the B&Ws are unforgiving in this area. In my opinion the amp is uncolored and detailed with unlimited power. My last amp, YES (don't we all say that?) and a bargain to boot. At this point Tommy said this is very loud. I got carried away with the volume and it sounded great.
My quest for better sound. I like to make changes one at a time. I added a W4S Dac-2 as a preamp/Dac with HT bypass with balanced interconnects into the amps. Next came a Squeezebox touch, Flac files running JRiver. Harmonic Tech 1 meter pair of Pro-9 ref SE external bi-wire speaker cables were chosen. Gabriel Gold refection balanced interconnects made me smile. With some time under my belt and new gear one would think short comings would surface. None have these amps just keep getting better. I Wonder how far you can take them?
Thanks for reading and I an pleased to be among this class of audiofiles.
