I compared the BHK 250 to the mc452. Not really much of a comparison in my opinion, the BHK trounced it. More 3D, richer overall.
I am a McIntosh fan, though, really good IMO.
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Thanks Man,
My 300B SET was one of Nick Gorham’s latest creations, in his words…he wanted to see what would happen if he wrapped some solid state regulation round some DHT 300B’s…
He was “quite pleased” with it, which if you know Nick was quite the compliment.
it was a spectacular amp, but the annual cost of 300Bs at a grand a pop was just too much.
So solid state for me.
Thanks Scotte,
the mono’s would be a bit much for me if I was honest, and beyond my “stopping off point”.
If for no other reason I don’t have space to for two big amps in my system, and I wouldn’t put anything on my floor!
My only concern with the new power amp (and I’m not sure how much it actually is, given I’m sensible with the volume control) is the amp being “overpowered” for the speakers.
Its governed by the volume control of course, so it may be a case of finding a happy compromise.
The Mac 462 is 450 watts…and knowing McIntosh its probably nearer 600!
Very helpful, just what I was looking to hear…direct experience.
Thanks.
Indeed I know Nick, I have some of his power supplies and almost bought his DAC, but it blew up when I had it on demo. He does by all accounts make excellent components. I had a 300B-XLS with solid state regulation. The valves last 5 years or more, but are still £700+ per pair.
Did Paul Coupe do your refurb? Might be worth asking around about the suitability of the EAR 534, which didn’t sell, but it would probably be a long term commitment because valve amps seem difficult to sell at any price. As a really high quality 50w valve amp might be the ticket. Shame it’s down near Portsmouth.
… which has just be relisted.
Just because a speaker is rated at 100 watts, does not make the BHK a mismatch. More is better, IMO.
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People do not realize it is more likely to damage a speaker with an underpowered amp than it is to do so with an amp with more power than needed.
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I looked at buying a pair of these speakers at one point. You can run them with a 10w flea amp, 100w is the absolute maximum you would ever need. More is not better for these speakers, and plenty of other speakers like ESL’s.
There is quite a lot of discussion elsewhere, like here:
Basically, 20w to 50w Class A, probably valves, seems to be the consensus. As someone said, “More than 100 watts a side may seem a bit bonkers with these”. I would agree.
Recommendations from owners include EAR 534 and EAR 509 Monos. They are both around £5,000 new, there is a 534 available for £2,000, and the Trilogy 993 hybrid at around £6,000. The designer of EAR is one of the most highly regarded engineers of the last 30 years and Trilogy also has a stellar reputation. They all have local service and support, whereas a BHK would have to be shipped 5,000 miles each way.
It is clear from the second hand market, and a PS Audio dealer I know, that there is some market in the UK for PSA regenerators and DAC’s, but very little if any for amplifiers. There is a huge choice of equally good and much cheaper products (and shipping around Europe is easy and cheap). In the UK the obvious alternative to BHK are Chord (e.g. SPM 1050 Mk2 - made in the UK) and Bryston 3B3 or 4B3 (distributed and serviced from the UK), and about 35% cheaper. This is all rather academic, because these are the last amplifiers you would ever use with H2’s.
Since you have a BHK pre, wouldn’t it make since to get a power amp that is designed together like the BHK250? You wouldn’t have to worry about synergy. Getting two different company’s equipment could be hit or miss. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. I’ve heard many different company’s power amps and so far I haven’t heard one more impressive than the BHK250 for anything near the price. That amp replaced a Bryston 14SST, which replaced a Mark Levinson 332 and so forth. The BHK 250 is just so much better than these previous amp in every area that it’s silly. I don’t think you would regret it if you got one. You can also just take one home to try and return it if you don’t like it. How many places offer you that?
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p.s. For those who are unaware of Nic Poulson, he established the idea of clean power in the European market with his company Isotek (formed some years before PS Audio started in the regeneration business). Isotek preferred the conditioning route, but also make regenerators. He had already stated Trilogy, that has been making very fine amplifiers for 30 years. Before I had a PSA regenerator I had an Isotek conditioner. Trilogy may be unknown in the USA, but it is highly desirable over here and there’s a good chance of my buying their 907 phono amp.
Unfortunately his 915R/995R pre/power combo is about $50,000. Shame.
His hybrid integrated is also very highly thought of.
Do you know anyone that is listening at 100 watts RMS? I may use 20 watts of the 600/side (into 4 ohms) available from my BHKs 99% of the time.
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What speakers are you using your BHK to power? Have you owned or heard Impulse speakers?
There are diminishing returns with power, where more makes no difference. With my Harbeth it is somewhere between 150w and 200w. With Impulse it is somewhere between 50w and 100w. So get an amplifier in the power range that’s best.
The Trilogy 995R is an amazing hybrid valve/solid state amplifier, that I heard with Wilson Sasha DAW, a quite sensitive speaker (91db). The 995R were used in 40w pure Class A mode for those speakers, whereas for less sensitive speakers it can operate in 200w Class A/B.
Another great amplifier is the Plinius SA-103, that can operate in Class A or Class A/B, they sound marginally better in Class A but get very hot and consume huge power. Massive beasts, a friend blew his up and took a year to move it out.
To simplify matters, using a BHK with H2’s would be a bit like going to the supermarket in a monster truck rather than a nifty little hatchback.
Plus the fact that Impulse speakers have been around for 30 years, ask any users (or the person who reviewed most of them) and they will recommend a low power valve amp or solid state Class A.
The same would apply for Tannoy, Audio Note, Quad and no doubt other high sensitivity speakers. Big is not always better, it can just as easily be worse.
My speakers are 95 dB sensitivity, 4 ohm. They sound incredible with the BHK 300s. Amps are not just about the amount of power they put out, but, to each his own.
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