While this is not officially a RMAH purchase as I was not there, the amp I am buying was.
It is the Arte Forma 150 integrated and was in some rooms including the Bogdan Audio room.
Micheal Gill, the North American distributor for Dayens also sells his line of gear including this new 150 watt integrated. It is going to retail for $1999.00 He has a lot of tube amps as well.
I figure if he is smart enough to pick up the Dayen's line then he must know what good sound is. Here is some of our email conversation about the piece.
"This integrated has 150 watts per channel and sounds great.
Big smooth sound."
"My 150 watt integrate has clarity soundstage and punch...overall in the higher
level."
"I-150 integrated amp is 17" wide x 15 1/2" deep x 4.75" tall."
"Class D kit I can get for $150 and the sound is not very good. Very inexpensive
parts also. I do not recommend this for music lovers. If you are a gambler then
buy and build this kit and compare it to my amp. Sound is night and day apart."
"Stereo Mojo wants my 120 watt USB integrated amp and Ampino for review. Stereo Times magazine would like my 250 watt power amp and preamp for a formal review as well. Our 150 watt integrated replaced an austrailian made Perreux 350 watt power amp and preamp costing$ 12k in Bogdan Audio Creation room driving his $28,000 speakers."
"Eggleston Works speaker mfg will use my 500 watt fully balance mono blocks with
matching preamp for the upcoming 2011 CES show in Las Vegas. Retail price is
$10k for the 3 piece set. Our amps in general have shown better sound
performance than similar amps costing 5X here in Denver."
"The great interest shown to our products by the audio press and professional
recording engineers here at the RMAF leaves me no doubt that my bragging is not
merely hot air."
"As Dayens Audio use the pricey and great sounding Mundorf capacitors our amplifiers were ear tuned by Norbert Mundorf himself with his best Mundorf caps."
"Our flagship 250 watt stereo amp that we brought to RMAF will aslo undergo an
all aluminum case have dual mono build with balanced connects and WBT speaker
connectors and sell for $3500. Sonically my amps have proven to be a winner at
their first US audio debut in RMAF.. The physical cases will be improved next in
the Arte Forma audio line."
While I was zeroing in on the Dayens Esctasy I thought I would try this 150. It is more neutral than the Esctasy, as the Dayens has a warmer sound. I want to use the amp to drive some speakers in a near field situation for recording. So I want detail, imaging, non irritating, neutral, and well... POWER.
If Eggleston can be happy with the sound of the Arte Forma solid state amps then there is a good chance I can be.
Rocket_Ronny
