Le Amps?

[Andrew Pratt]

Jon what are your thoughts on the nOrh Le Amps? They're getting a lot of hype but then so are their speakers

http://www.norh.com/products/leamp/index.html

[JonMarsh]

Hi Andrew,

The Le Amps certainly a phenomena of sorts. They use an ST integrated DMOS audio amplifier module- which isn't necessarily bad; so does Rowland. There's been some controversy about their peformance, and measured characteristics versus listening. This isn't too dissimilar to the Stratos amplifier, as that goes, though their circuitry is quite different.

Both are amplifiers built to a tight price point, which with the right pairing (regarding speaker load) can, from all appearances, produce some very musical results. On the other hand, the areas where they cut costs *do* impair performance with lower impedance loads, and at low frequencies.

My take is that they could be a good pairing with a reasonably benign speaker, particularly for listening to more intimate styles of music in a small to moderate size room.

Subwoofer amp? Nope.

Amp for low impedance or "difficult" speakers? Nope.

Ultimate resolution? Not Ayre or Theta or Classe, or Aragon, but better than most recievers in the middle of the music, where 75% of it is. (they might be great in a biamp system paired with something with a meatier power supply for the bottom end).

For anyone considering *any* amplifier purchase, there's no substitute for hearing it in your own system.

Best regards,

Jon




Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....

[Andrew Pratt]

Thanks jon they aren't on my radar at all since I'm VERY happy with my new Musical Fidelity Dr.Thomas amp but given the hype I wondered what the real scoup was. I just wish I could find out a little more about my new amp...seems its very rare indeed. I contacted the distributor in Toronto and he claims only a handful were brought into north america and that according to the dealer I bought it from he claimed that he bought all that he could at the time so I think theres a good chance most of them ended up here in Winnipeg. Its nice to have such a rare beast but even better to hear it

[JonMarsh]

You've got a nice unit there, Andrew, the Music Fidelity gear is well designed, and as their name implies, faithful to the music. They're one of the few other companies to use choke input power supplies in many of their models, like Cello and Ayre.

Happy listening.

-Jon




Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....

[Andrew Pratt]

Thanks Jon I'm sending a letter off to Musical Fidelity in England to try and find out more about this beast. I'll let you know if I find anything out