Blue Circle gear opinions please

warnerwh · « **on:** 19 Mar 2006, 07:23 am »

If anybody uses or has used any amp or other BC gear I'd like to know what you thought of the sound. I'm thinking about using one of the BC 24's on the mid/treble region of my VMPS RM 40's. Any quirkiness? Thanks

warnerwh · « **Reply #1 on:** 20 Mar 2006, 09:34 pm »

I'd like to thank everybody for their input

. I bought a BC 24 and will use it to power the mid/treble of my VMPS RM 40's. Hopefully the Rotel 991 I will use on the bottom will meld well.

Bingenito · « **Reply #2 on:** 20 Mar 2006, 09:36 pm »

Hey anytime

Sorry I did not see the post until just now. Better late then never.

The BC24 is a great choice for that application. Since I am a dealer I will let you comment on the sound with your 40's.

Take care

Bryan

JoshK · « **Reply #3 on:** 20 Mar 2006, 09:51 pm »

You'll have to ask Phil again what model the amp was that he brought over, but the BC amp he brought was probably the best amp I've ever heard on my speakers (RM40s). Its a match made in heaven.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #4 on:** 20 Mar 2006, 10:02 pm »

Quote from: JoshK

You'll have to ask Phil again what model the amp was that he brought over, but the BC amp he brought was probably the best amp I've ever heard on my speakers (RM40s). Its a match made in heaven.

Josh, that was the BC202...

If you're just powering the mids/highs, the BC24 should do a pretty good job...let us know how it goes in your particular setup! I will recommend that if the BC24 you bought has Sovtek 6922's in them, swap them out for the Electroharmonix 6922EH...definitely more refined on the top-side...

SWG255 · « **Reply #5 on:** 20 Mar 2006, 11:41 pm »

If you do a search here, you'll doubtless find my comments from around December when Phil lent us (the MAAC) a BC-202 amp to evaluate. I was very taken with this amplifier with my RM40s running full-range. Woodsyi found it to be somewhat problematic in his system where the BC-202 had to mate with two other amps driving his bi-amped RM40s and larger subs. The BC-202 is rather insensitive. All of that aside, it was musical, warm, with just a touch of extra "fire" on top (not harsh, glassy or even too bright, just a bit of extra romance up there), and had fabulous bass control, definition and detail. It's the best amp I've heard driving my RM40s for sure.

warnerwh · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Mar 2006, 03:42 am »

Well it sounds like I may have made a very good choice. We will see. Appreciate the feedback from you guys with the RM 40's.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #7 on:** 31 Mar 2006, 06:51 pm »

Quote from: warnerwh

Well it sounds like I may have made a very good choice. We will see. Appreciate the feedback from you guys with the RM 40's.

Am curious to know how this worked out for you...have you put the BC in your system yet?

warnerwh · « **Reply #8 on:** 1 Apr 2006, 01:02 am »

Phil: The Blue Circle sound quality is the best I've heard and a perfect match for the VMPS RM 40's. The BC 24 does with the sound no fully transistorized amplifier can. The "wholeness" of the music is much better than I've ever heard. The build quality is second to none too. I'm very happy with it.

Music is much more enjoyable. If I'd have known this amp could help that much I would have bought it long ago. I'm running it with a Conrad Johnson Sonographe SA 400 on bottom. The gain on both amps is 25.5db and they sound as one. The reason I'd thought I'd try a Blue Circle amp is because so many people have raved about the BC gear they own comparing it to cost no object gear they owned. Usually this is B.S. but in this instance I know it as a fact.

JoshK · « **Reply #9 on:** 1 Apr 2006, 01:10 am »

Congrats Warner!

I thought you'd think it was a good match! Gilbert's hybrid wares are a also nice hybrid of the benefits and ease of SS with the tonal lushness (not euphoria) of tubes. I am sure AVA amps have this quality too but I have only heard Gilbert's.

I as a DIY'er, I love Gilbert's work because he uses all P2P wiring which makes it real easy to see what he was doing and work on if at all ever needed or wanted (not just for stealing IP, which I myself don't believe in). Most good techs won't need a schematic in this case because it is so easy to read. This is also nice about some really old vintage amps. It makes the amp more timeless IMHO.

warnerwh · « **Reply #10 on:** 1 Apr 2006, 01:58 am »

The Blue Circle does indeed sound like what a great SS amp should sound like. The planars and ribbon sound much more real than before. I don't think a pure SS amp could match it.

There is a weakness and that's in the bass. It's not bad but definitely not as taut as a full SS amp. Part of this may have been because this amp has so little power. I know someone who I recommended the big AVA to and he really likes it. He did say though the bass was just a tad less punchy than the SS amps he's tried. I always suspected Frank's hybrid's would sound good. You don't hear about alot of problems with them either, guess he's had a few decades of practice.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #11 on:** 1 Apr 2006, 02:27 pm »

Warner,

Glad to hear its working out well. Interesting that you use a Sonographe SA400 on the bottom...I've got someone asking about a BC amp (likely the BC24) to use with his Sonographe SA250...

And yes, I agree with you that the BC24 doesn't quite match up to the bass speed performance of a pure solid state amp. BC's 200-series does much to improve that, but of course those are a lot more expensive...

Enjoy!

warnerwh · « **Reply #12 on:** 2 Apr 2006, 06:58 am »

Phil: To do bass perfectly I'd guess that you may lose the killer midrange treble in doing so. I say leave it alone. Biamp if possible or live with it. It's not bad but not as good as a pure ss amp. If you can biamp as I am then buy both. I know someone with an AVA Fetvalve amp and he says it has a slight softening of the bass also, this is very slight however. The improvement in the midrange and treble in my opinion on the Vmps RM 40's it's well worth it as you're giving up little. You can only tell if you're listening to your system and not to the music anyway. This person loves the sound of the AVA on his RM 2's.

The person with the Sonographe amp will find it a nice match with the BC 24. The Sonographe has a softer sonic signature than I'm used to. I don't care for the treble or it's overall presentation used by itself, I tried it that way and was disappointed. Then again I have been using the BC 24 that is truly an outstanding sounding amp. At 2,450.00 for a new one though it's what I consider expensive especially when it's power output is only 80wpc. The other good thing is I bet the gain on his version of the Sonographe amp is probably also 25.5 which makes life much easier unless you're active biamping.

SWG255 · « **Reply #13 on:** 2 Apr 2006, 03:49 pm »

When I had Phil's BC-202 in my system running fullrange, I found the bass on the RM40s with that amp to be exceptional. It had a very musical quality, especially with live recordings. I'd characterize it as having lots of "slam", depth, detail and plenty of palpability on acoustic bass and the lowest octaves of grand piano. Many audiophiles like the overly fast and tight presentation of the bass on typical big solid-state amps, and this is what amplified rock music (when done right) sounds like, because those monster pro amps have the same bass quality as their big audiophile brethren. However, often these amps fail to convey the bloom and warmth of acoustic bass instruments properly. They tend to make all basses sound like electric instruments. This is exciting but not accurate. It is a testiment to the BC-202 amp that with rock recordings the bass sounded right, and with classical recordings it sounded right too.