Looking at Amps $1,000.+

NJPOLKER

I am in the market for something like a BAT VK200, Belles 350a, Krell KSA so if a fellow member is thinking or planning on selling one I am real interested. Looking to make the purchase by next week or sooner.
Thanks Drew Crawford

steelervic

i will be selling an adcom gfa-5802 soon.

hoosier21

Aragon 8008ST for 800.00 box and manual, shipping not included

george daniel

NJPOLKER wrote: »

I am in the market for something like a BAT VK200, Belles 350a, Krell KSA so if a fellow member is thinking or planning on selling one I am real interested. Looking to make the purchase by next week or sooner.
Thanks Drew Crawford

Good luck with your search,, any of the three would sound fine,, errrr, I'm partial to the Belles.

lakesailor

I hated my Belles; as in really strongly could not stand it. I would take an Adcom 5802 over the Belles ANY day. On your list I really like the BAT VK200. Nice amp. I would also look for a Threshold.

I have not personally owned an Aragon, but listened a fair bit and almost bought one. Nice amps. I would look for the 8008 BB with the dual transformers instead of the single transformer 8008ST. The BB also came standard with balanced inputs; something that was an option on the ST.

I also hear lots of good things about Marsh…might be worth a look. Good luck.

tcrossma

I'm very happy with my Belles Reference 150A -- no plans to sell it right now, so can't help you there, but it's a great amp.

NJPOLKER

I bought a Belles 350a and it should be here Monday.
It will be running along with a new to me Anthem pre2L tube pre-amp.
Make no mistake, I'll let everyone know my thoughts.
Thanks guys for all your suggestions.
Drew

george daniel

lakesailor wrote: »

I hated my Belles; as in really strongly could not stand it. I would take an Adcom 5802 over the Belles ANY day. On your list I really like the BAT VK200. Nice amp. I would also look for a Threshold.

I have not personally owned an Aragon, but listened a fair bit and almost bought one. Nice amps. I would look for the 8008 BB with the dual transformers instead of the single transformer 8008ST. The BB also came standard with balanced inputs; something that was an option on the ST.

I also hear lots of good things about Marsh…might be worth a look. Good luck.

What did you not like about the Belles?

NJPOLKER

Along with Georges question can I ask what else were you running. It seems odd that the Belles is not a performer. Just wondering.
Drew

lakesailor

It’s not so much that Belles “is not a performer” all decent amps these days will perform admirably and generally provide years of trouble free service. In the case of the Belles I think it was more that my expectations were very high and I found that the amp really did nothing out of the ordinary that made me single it out; or as I often like to say “stand out from the crowd”

For example; if you have ever heard a Levinson amp; they have an eerie ability to somehow suck out all but just the pure music out of the sound and can produce it in stunning accuracy and detail with phenomenal imaging. A Levinson just stands out.

When I got rid of my Belles; I next tried out the Aragon 8008 and was immediately much happier; the Aragon was surprisingly musical; it did real magic with the top end; something I often find lacking from “big power” amplifiers. Surprisingly; it didn’t impress me much with the low end and that is ultimately why I didn’t end up buying one. Even my smaller Belles 150A did a better job on the low end. In fairness the salesman at the time told me the dual transformer 8008 “BB” model had a superior low end; unfortunately they were not in stock at that time.

Ultimately I ended up going with a Pass Labs X150; and that my friend is truly a wonderful amplifier. I would not say it is the same league as a full on Levinson; but it certainly was in a different league from the Belles and Aragon. The X150 is just an all around sweet amp. Obviously we are getting away from $ 1K amps again and that takes me back to my original suggestions….Adcom GFA 5802; Threshold; even Aragon. BAT is also very good by all accounts; but might be tricky to find at that price point.

NJPOLKER

lakesailor
Thanks for your opinion on the amplifiers.
I will let you and everyone else here know my thoughts after checking out the 350a.
Drew

NJPOLKER

lakesailor wrote: »

I hated my Belles; as in really strongly could not stand it. I would take an Adcom 5802 over the Belles ANY day. On your list I really like the BAT VK200. Nice amp. I would also look for a Threshold.

I have not personally owned an Aragon, but listened a fair bit and almost bought one. Nice amps. I would look for the 8008 BB with the dual transformers instead of the single transformer 8008ST. The BB also came standard with balanced inputs; something that was an option on the ST.

I also hear lots of good things about Marsh…might be worth a look. Good luck.

I have to wonder what your dislike could have been. Maybe there was something wrong with the one you had because the one I have is PERFECT.:)
Low volume high volume everything crisp clear detailed the sound stage is staggering.
Thats all
Drew

lakesailor

In fairness; re-reading my post my wording was likely poorly choosen. In all fairness the Belles was a good amp and did everything well. My reason for disliking it was more due to the fact that I did not feel it stood out from the rest of the crowd in a way I was expecting given the price point.

I run some fairly low impedance panels in my setup and the Belles seemed to struggle to drive them. They just didn’t glow in the mid’s and highs like they did with Aragon or even the Adcom 5802. Mind you both of these amps are rated as having more power so I assumed that was the case.

That was until I tried the Pass Labs X150. It was rated in the same power range as my Belles but it so vastly outperformed the Belles it was scary. Now granted Pass Labs amps are not inexpensive; however the Pass Labs lists at $ 500 more than my Belles 150 reference did and for the extra $ 500 the Pass Labs was in a whole different league.

Conversely both the Aragon 8008 and the Adcom GFA 5802 could be had for less than the Belles so I ended up feeling a tad not happy with the Belles as a result. Thus my criticism is partially based on value for money as well as performance. I hope that better clarifies my views on the Belles I had.

For what it is worth I sold the Belles to a friend. He ended up selling it to buy a McCormack DNA 125 that he also felt was better value. To each his own. What is most important is that you are enjoying your Belles and that is what matter most. Congrat’s on your purchase and enjoy the holidays listening to your new rig.

NJPOLKER

Fair enough
Merry Christmas
Drew

lakesailor

NJPOLKER wrote: »

Fair enough
Merry Christmas
Drew

Just out of curiosity; and I should have thought to ask sooner – what are you running for speakers with your new Belles ?

NJPOLKER

I have a pair of SDA SRSII's with rdo-194 tweeters sonicaps, mills resistors. I also hook up my SDA2a's and they sound great too.

lakesailor

I can see how the Belles would sound nice on those. Panels are such nasty speakers to try and drive; they really limit your amp selection. I should have factored my speakers more into my views on the Belles. After all you can’t put sports car tires on a 1 ton truck !

Best of the season to you and enjoy the holiday’s !