hofbat

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I bought this power amplifier to upgrade from an ST-140 (which was doing a great job driving my rebuilt Maggie 3As) and with hopes the extra power might make a difference. While not a head-and-shoulders or quantum leap in performance, the EX442 seems better equipped to handle the low impedance load without any strain whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, I still am happy with the ST-140, and I think both are bargains on the used market.

I tested the EX442 against an Anthem PVA-2, NAD 216THX, Yamaha M60, Onkyo M504 and other power amps using a B&K Sonata MC101 preamp and identical cabling when possible. The B&K clearly outperformed the others with the Maggies, providing a much more balanced and pleasant listening experience. The Anthem and the Onkyo did provide some resolution improvement, but it made guitars sound unnatural and overall the high-end was rather harsh. The B&K is warm and soft (or tubelike as they say). Unlike me, that may not be the sound you want to hear.

Bottom line with all this gear is you really don't know until you get a configuration that works well together as a system. On my Audio Monitors, Vandersteens and Alons the B&K ST-140 amp sounds a bit subdued. That's what makes swapping components both interesting and frustrating.

wideglide

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Summary:

The B&K EX-442 is an outstanding audio value for the money, rivialed only, perhaps, by the Vandersteen 2 series of speakers.

I have had this amp for almost 20 years, and it still sounds terrific. It has a nuetral and liquid sound that is warm (for a SS), and almost tube-like, while providing much greater dynamics (it has capacitors the size of soup cans) than a tube amp can. It is pretty effortless on all but the most demanding source material. It's bass is very good, maybe not as tight as a Krell or Levinson, but then it doesn't cost $10,000, either! Wide, deep soundstage and good imaging. B&K's customer service is great; I had a Pro-5 preamp (bought as a two year old demo) that developed an -ever- so slight hum after a couple years (and way out of warranty). B&K told me to send it in, and they would check it out. They said the transformer was "within spec", but they could hear what I heard, so they would replace the transformer - FREE. They also said they had made some revisions to the main board since mine (ser. # 179) was made, so they would also install a new board.... also FREE! They even paid the return shipping! You don't find many companies that stand behind their products like this.

System:

B&K EX-442 amp, B&K Pro-10 Preamp, Vandersteen 2Ci speakers bi-wired with pairs of Kimber 4TC, VPI HW-19 JR w/ SME309 tonearm and Shure V-15 type IV cart., Magnum Dynalab FT-101 tuner, PARASOUND C/DP-1000 CD player

Price Paid:  $500.00 from MYER-EMCO DC

Summary:
Priced at originally $995, B&K's dual monuaral, 200 wpc EX-442 was an astounding value. Sweet mids, liquid highs and USA build quality that rivaled "The big boys." I sold plenty of these amps and not one came back due to production defects or lack of customer satisfaction. This amp was a gem.

Strengths:
Incredible value for the buck and terrific sound. Able to push tough in efficient speakers without sounding like it's huffin' and puffin.

Weaknesses:
This is not a status product... McIntosh enthusiasts will poo-poo it, but you've paid less than half of any of their products and gotten 95% of the sound theirs delivers.

Similar Products Used:
Adcom 5400 (YUCK!), Sumo Andromeda (sweet sound but fragile). Rotel 8500. Audio Research D240 (had to return it... I couldn't afford it Dude!).

Price Paid:  $400.00 from used

Summary:
My wife and i started out with an nad preamp and adcom 5400 power amplifier parasound cdp and 2ci vandersteens. as audiophile newbies we thought the system sounded great. well as time wore on we realized it was so bright as to be brittle. to improve we tried a parasound power/pre setup. oh boy did that ever get worse. brightness that would make the dog leave the room at even the lowest volumes. next we decided to take the advice from a friend who suggested audible illusions as a preamp to tame the brightness. sight unseen we bought a used 2d. what a difference! bigger soundstage, better imaging and improved tonal qualities. but...still too bright. after about a 1/2 of a cd we would begin to fatigue. we finally realized that the adcom had to go. we looked for months to determine what amp would suit our needs. we wanted tubes, but couldn't justify the cost for our power desire; 125w/channel. we came close to buying the anthem amp 1, but it was too weak at 40w/channel. then we came across b&k. we liked their earlier gear better and were seriously trying to get two st 140's when we came across the ex442. it's dual mono setup essentially made it two st140's in a single chassis with even some extra power to spare. it fit the bill. we got a good deal on it. so we bought it. we figured if it didn't match well in our system we'd sell it and not get hurt too badly. well, you can forget about our selling it. b/w the b&k and the audible illusions we have no brightness. our system is warm without losing detail. it's all there, it's just not in your face. it doesn't have a "digital" sound. it's just very neutral and natural. we have since upgraded to the homegrown audio super silver i.c., tributaries silver speaker wire and a mapleshade ultra thin digital interconnect for the dac that we've added. we've compared our system to a krell/martin logan setup with cardas wiring costing 10-12k and honestly liked ours better. i understand that b&k is now geared more towards the av market. apparently the designers that developed the st140 and ex442 are gone. too bad. they made some good gear.

Strengths:
warm, tubelike, better bass control than comparable tube gear, plenty of power, nice asthetics

Weaknesses:
fixed power cord (i know it's niggly, but i had to put something inn this box)

Similar Products Used:
adcom, nad, parasound, jolida, audible illusions

Summary:
I think I said it all above but also remember the B&K EX442 was designed and built in the USA by a US owned company. Only a handful true high end companies can make that claim. McIntosh bought out by car audio company, Madrigal by Harmon Kardon International (same people that own loads of cheap toy electronics). Make a call to Leonard at Audio Research in Minnetonka, MN and sense the value of a company that is passionate about their products and customers. Audio Research is my number one company (of any category, e.g., automobile or otherwise) for service and pride of ownership. Thanks for letting me air my opinions for whatever they are worth.

Strengths:
Holographic sound staging, powerful, liquid midrange, smooth highs, true dual mono-design, two transformers, two sets of capacitors and power transistors. I think time will bare out the failings of going with an oversized transformer trying to remain quite and provide bass robbing power to channels with that information and light delicate mids and highs to other channels. Even if this was not a factor, the B&K and other similarly designed rock solid designs are made for the reliable long haul. I have never had a similar amplifer that did not make it at least 15 years without a problem. Solid state equipment, no matter who makes it, depreciates faster than Honda's (even though as cars go that is rather slow). So if you have the room and ventilation area why not buy a bank of traditional 2 channel used amps vs. one multichannel struggling to make it the long haul and fight the multiple battles of bass, mids, imaging, staging, and reliability.

Weaknesses:
Perhaps not the most resolving but an outstanding purchase used for rear channels.

Similar Products Used:
My system is composed of Audio Research LS-3B preamp, Audio Research SPD1, Threshold SA4E amp, Forte 1A amp, B&K EX 442 amp, NAD 208THX amp, B&W 801S3 front channel speakers, KEF 200C center channel, Kinergenics SW800C balanced crossover to passive 12" subs, Magnan Vi Interconnects, Kimber XL speaker cabling, Optimus LX-8 rear channels, Monolithic power supply, MSB Link DAC, Elite PD-65 transport, Pioneer 414 DVD, Magnum Dynalab FT-11 FM Tuner (great company to work with also, incredible customer service), Kimber KCAG cabling now being replaced by Pure Silver Cabling from Homegrown audio (you have to compare them side by side to believe it www.homegrownaudio.com, Save some money for retirement when you will have more time listen to your stereo (don't let the Audiophile addiction bankrupt your family or cause you to work longer than you need to). Anyone can blow wades of money where it does not matter, a smart person surgically allocates cash where A-B testing shows a difference.