Price Paid:  $1600.00 from cora

Summary:
j' ai achete un ensemble Classe CP35 et CA100 en 1994. J' ai vraiment regrette mon achat. Pourtant , j' ai ete patient. pendant plusieurs annees, j' ai essaye de leur faire jouer de la musique. J'ai essaye au moin 12 paires de haut parleur, 10 sortes d'interconnect, 20 marques de cable, etc...etc...j'avait beau prier, supplier, faire bruler des lampions, il n' avait rien a faire.
Les Classe de la serie DR son tres covainquant. Les autres sont des horreurs.

Strengths:
Il sont beau et bien apprecie des magazines specialises.

Weaknesses:
LE SON MANQUE DE VIE.

Similar Products Used:
BRYSTON, LINN , NAIM, ALTEC, B&K, CLASSE DR5

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Audio Visions, West

Summary:
I decided to replace my self-designed and built pre-amp with this unit after a substantial amount of auditioning at my dealer. I was warned by the dealer that it needed perhaps up to 100 hrs of break-in. I ffound this to be true. It was so-so at first and simply got better and better as time went on. I used AQ balancced Pyton interconnects to connected to the CA101 amplifier that got to match it. I purchased the premap with the phono stage which is surprisingly good. After a year of continuous operation, it is one great pre-amp by any standards. Highly recommended, especially with the phono stage. I though my home built tube, FET, and NE5534 based pre-amps were good, but this unit cured me of the urge to build.

Strengths:
Excellent definition and an outstanding phono section (at least for MM cartridges). Has one balanced output and one balanced input capability

Weaknesses:
Caveat: it needs a long break-in period before you can judge it's performance. Patience is needed. It didn't sound too good right out of the box.

Price Paid:  $700.00 from Cherry Creek Audio

Summary:
The CP-35 with the all silver face was a discontinued model when I purchased it. I like the clean front panel styling over the newer model CP-35 and other recent Classe products that went to a two-tone black and silver look. The build quality of this preamp is good and the unit has a nice feel to it with easy to operate front panel controls and remote. The volume control is electronic in that the volume knob doesn''t turn a potentiometer that can wear over time and the digital display allows you to easily set or return to a precise volume level. The display can be turned off. The rear panel includes balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA inputs and outputs making the CP-35 a very versitile preamp for the price. In older Classe preamps they used high quality machined RCA jacks but lately Classe has gone to cheap PC board mounted RCA jacks like those typically found on consumer electronics products. I was a little disappointed with the cheap RCA jacks but they didn''t affect this little preamp''s performance. My CP-35 was completely quiet with no hiss or hum in the background. It presented solid bass and good treble frequency extension without being grainy. It''s a fairly neutral sounding preamp with good dynamics and not overly aggressive or bright. I like this preamp so much better than the more expensive Adcom GFP-750 which has gotten a lot of hype since it received a Stereophile class-A rating. The Classe CP-35 just crushes it on overall presentation and features for less money and it looks better. While the Adcom GFP-750 has had many quality problems and high failure rates, the Classe CP-35 has been highly reliable. System used at time of test: Conrad-Johnson Premier 11a tube amp. Sony XA7ES CD Player MSB Gold Link III DAC w/P1000 pwr supply Thiel CS 1.5 speakers

Strengths:
Just does what it''s supposed to without any glaring flaws. Solid build quality. Very reliable. XLR and RCA inputs/outputs Simple and functional front panel controls and remote.

Weaknesses:
Not the most transparent preamp I have owned but for the price the CP-35 is one of the best.

Similar Products Used:
Personally owned and auditioned in my system: Adcom GFP-750 BAT VK-20 McCormack TLC-1 Creek OBH-12 Conrad-Johnson PF-R Conrad-Johnson PV-12L (tube preamp) Conrad-Johnson PV-14L (tube preamp) A

Summary:
I have a lot of nice components but when used together they don't amount to anything special. I've been borrowing some equipment to try at home and see if I can get a sound that is musical and fun to listen to but still with enoough punch and detail to be interesting.

Meridian 508.24 CD
Pass Aleph L preamp
Melos SHA-Gold preamp / headphone amp
Harmonic Technology Truthlink interconnects
Harmonic Technology Pro 11 Plus Speaker cables
B & W 805 Nautilus Speakers with dedicated stands

As you can see this is theoretically a good set up but it didn't deliver the goods, it was good on vocals but lacked solidity, sparkle and power on faster tracks especially.

I borrowed the Classe CP35 and was amazed at the transformation. The sound is enjoyable. In my girlfriends words "it's the best I've ever heard". You can hear everything with no confusion or muddling. At the same time the sound is very solid and organic. It sounds like real music. I can't say it's the absolute in transparency, but on the other hand it's hard to pinpoint anything missing either. For the first time in a long time I can sit back, relax and grin at the music. Mary Chapin Carpenter sounds stunning, as does the Beautiful South, but also U2, Will Smith etc.. This amp can do it all.

Interestingly I also borrowed the Classé 101 power amp but that sounded terrible with this preamp. The sound was very unmusical and unlistenable. However, I must stress that it may not have been broken in. After hearing the preamp I have a great respect for Classé so it's hard to believe that the 101 isn't also good in the right system.

I want to mention something worth thinking about. High end equipment reveals a lot and system matching is the key as my review shows. Even within the same company and with top reviewed stuff, you can get a horrible sound. That means that a good review means that every component in the chain must be capable of great performance. However, a bad review doesn't tell you much. It simply means that somewhere in the chain there was a waek link and that link is not necessarily the component under review.

I highly recommened this if you prioritise music enjoyment over analysis. Well done Classé.

Strengths:
Enjoyable and sounds like real music,

Weaknesses:
Not 100 % open

Similar Products Used:
Pass Aleph L, Melos SHA Gold, NAD Silverline S100

Summary:
I borrowed this unit from a local dealer, I was trying to get a remote controlled preamp to upgrademy McCormik passive.

First, this unit is designed to be POWERED ON ALL THE TIME. I tried to listen to it 3 hours after plugged in, it sounded really crappy. If the salesperson had not warned me that it took 30 hours to warm it up, I'd have dismissed it.

When it warmed up, the most obvious improved to my system is imaging. Every instrument in an orchestra is precisely located, especially the ones on the far left and right, which my passive preamp can not handle very well. The transparency is as good as the passive (no easy), dynamics is observably better on many recordings, vocals may be slightly muffled (only observable on best recordings). The only obvious shortcoming is that timbre is somewhat dirty, and sometimes a little bit unatural; the sales person says it is common in solid state amps.

It is definitely on my list of candidates.

Associated equipments

Pioneer Elite CD player
McCormik Passive Preamp (for comparison)
Music Reference RM-9 Power Amp
Totem Model One Speakers with Velodyne ULD-12 subwoofer

Strengths:
Good overal sound quality especially imaging, affordable price, compact size

Weaknesses:
slightly grainy timbre, only 1 set of output