Been driving my FR-10’s with the S300 for a year. Have been thinking about upgrading to the M700’s but wonder if there would be a significant (subjective I know) sonic improvement. Any thoughts?
There’s only one way to find out. Buy the M700 to eval for 30 days and if not happy with the cost/benefit ratio, return them.
Just a thought.
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Congrats on the speakers!! (I have the FR20’s and have heard the FR10’s)
With the M700’s there is imaging that only monoblocks can bring. There are also stereo amps that have dual mono interior construction inside one chassis. What is your preamp?
The M1200’s are even better than the M700, so I like the link that @weedeewop suggested. The following is another option… (which can be negotiated)…
I recently (Feb. 8, 2025) upgraded from the S300 to the M700. My speakers are a late 90’s pair of Magnepan 1.6QRs. My preamp is a PS Audio Stellar Gold. I wrestled quite a while with whether to upgrade. I read many reviews, some very good ones on this forum. I simply couldn’t get passed the notion that 700W was just massive overkill. My biggest concern was that I would only hear a difference at concert-level volumes. I live in a duplex and, with respect for my neighbors, rarely listen at those kinds of levels (usually with Scotch involved). Finally, after a few years, I took the plunge. I was pleasantly stunned by the improvement. At conversation-level volumes (say 60±2 dB) the sound was markedly better. At somewhat louder levels, even better. I’m not a musician, so my description may not make any sense, but musical instruments seemed to become more well defined. For example, music produced with two guitars, which might have seemed somewhat “smeared together” with the S300, now sounded distinctly like two guitars. There was no doubt that there were two guitars present. The sound from each guitar was very well located and very distinct. Before I offend some musician out there, I’ll just say I am very happy with the change.
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I recently purchased a Gryphon Diablo 333 which makes my beloved BHK 300 Monoblock amplifiers available. They are aggressively priced and include shipping (non-trivial for these beasts) and PP fees! Brand new “Kevin’s Stash” matched tubes from (Upscale Audio) installed in Feb 2025. More expensive (even used) than the S300 or M700 but these amps are in a different league.
See it here
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Welcome to Club 333!
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I upgraded from the s300 to m700’s about three years ago. My s300 may have been defective because I thought it sounded muffled. The m700’s have been an enormous improvement in every way. The Music Room frequently has them available at a nice price.
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I went from a 150wpc amp from another manufacturer to a pair of M700s to power my Maggie .7s and had the same experience. There’s no substitute for headroom, even at moderate volumes. It’s hard to describe in words, but there was a palpable sense of “ease” in the presentation. Supremely natural textures and timbres, detail without strain or harshness, super-black backgrounds. And it just got better with increases in volume.
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I went from the S300 to the M700s on my Salk BeATs. Made a huge improvement across the board. I have a decent sized room and play normally from 75 to 85 db. Biggest differences was smoother top-end and more controlled bass.
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I love my M700’s! Now driving LRS+, soon to switch to FR5’s.
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I have come to appreciate this as being axiomatic in terms of the benefits of high-powered mono amplifiers.
As long as you don’t overdrive your speakers, I am not sure you can really have too many watts per channel.
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Absolutely agreed. With the exception of overall presentation, I’m not among the blessed or cursed (depending on your perspective) with ears that hear much in the way of differences that many describe.
However, there was a very real sense of ease that came with M1200’s feeding my 90dB Spatial M4’s at moderate volumes (65dB average at 7-8’ from the baffles). The sound ultimately was not to my liking - I’m somewhat resisting the suspicion that I’m more of a tube guy - but there was no denying the effortlessness of the presentation. I’m not sure of the proper description, but transitions from relatively quiet moments to where an instrument or voice comes into the mix just feel very natural.
I’m sussing through this right now trying to figure out what’s next, but I suspect there is much more to this than simple headroom. If 200 wpc good is 400 necessary twice as good? I don’t think so.
In a recent video Paul described headroom as an amp operating in its linear range. I suppose this depends a lot on your listening preferences and everything else that determines how hard an amp is being worked. It may be total crap, but I suspect that micro dynamics are the starting point for the subtleties that are the magic of stereo recording and playback. The system needs that headroom, but everything in the system that contributes to micro dynamics are the things also heard in this ease of presentation. Does it require 700 wpc on tap? I think the answer is, it depends.
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