First off, I must say that Tommy doesn't appear to take any shortcuts. This is among the most well packed items I've ever received, period. Never met the man, but I can say that he certainly sweats the details here! Pretty sure this box would survive a hurricane.
Other nice touches include placing the red LED on top of the enclosure facing upwards, so it won't be pointing directly at the listener in the dark. Also makes it easy to visually verify that it's ON in my case, since the amps are placed on the floor directly behind the speaker. As you can see, the diminutive size of these amps allows very close placement of the amp to the speaker binding posts. The speaker cables I cut for this install are no longer than 8-10 inches! Currently using 14 gauge copper-coated aluminum wire since it's what I had lying around. At the moment it's just "stock" type power cables as well. Cabling will be upgraded in the future; I just wanted to get these things playing.
I appreciate the sorbothane footers underneath the marble base. These are also what I use underneath my speakers since it's a hardwood floor. As long as you use the right size footer for the weight of your component, it's a great choice.
I will say that the Ohm Walsh speakers I'm using are notoriously power hungry, and that my other amp has 3x the power per channel as the Maraschino's with their medical power supply. At this point the Maraschino's sound cleaner and quieter than my other amp, but lack the "ultimate authority" that comes with so much power. This pretty much mirrors what Tommy has said when comparing the Maraschino's to his bigger amps as well.
I have some new speakers coming in about a month, and I've requested a bi-amp configuration. This way I will be able to use the Maraschino's on the tops (60hz up), and the other ClassDaudio amp will go on the 12" subs (20-60hz). I believe this other design has the potential to be much more transparent than the Ohms without sacrificing the wide sweet spot. At this point the Maraschino's will have a lot more play time, which I always prefer before saying too much.
Tommy, while we're on the subject, do you recommend a certain amount of burn-in?
One minor niggle - one of the power supplies emits a high-frequency sound that is audible from 3-4 feet away. Not a huge deal but thought I'd mention it in the sake of completeness.
Overall, I really look forward to getting to know these amps and getting the system fine-tuned. They sound like they have tons of potential, and I really like their form factor as well. Color-wise, they are almost a perfect match to my custom painted NOS1. More to come in the upcoming weeks and months. I think Tommy has a really cool product here that deserves attention. It's obvious that he's taken his time and hasn't rushed these to market. I think they are unique and offer a compelling combination of traits that I haven't seen elsewhere. Thanks for such a cool product!
Here you can see the beveled top corner on the marble base. It's the small things...
Other gear-
Amps - ClassDAudio SDS-470 4-channel amp
DAC's - Benchmark DAC2, Phasure NOS1
Sources - 2012 Mac Mini, XXHE PC, Oppo BDP-93
Speakers - Ohm Walsh 2000's
Power - Pi Uberbuss & Majikbuss, several TWL PC's
