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Review 1 of 1
Price Paid:
$1500.00
from used Summary:
I have had the great fortune to come upon this wonderful hybrid tube Blue Circle BC24 power amplfifier. It easily bested a McIntosh 6200 , Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista, Conrad Johnson (tube) integrated ampliers.
I used the McIntosh 6200 integrated as a preamp for comparison to the BC24. With the Blue Circle BC24 as the amp, the grain of the McIntosh and the boomy bass went away, and what came into play was beautiful warm live "you are there" liquid (but not syrupy) midrange, extended non fatiging highs, and excellent bass control. There was just more life and realism to the music. Don't get me wrong, the McIntosh sounds wonderful, it just couldn't compete with the quality sound and contruction of the BC24. Interestingly, the same input signal through the underrated 80 Watt per channel BC24 was louder than than through the 120 Watt per channel McIntosh!
The quality of construction with the Blue Circle gear is at the very top of what is available anywhere and it is geared toward producting remarkable sound which is does. Hand wiring, the best Caps, and thoughful design.
Although I had it paired with a BC3 Despina Preamp which cost more than the BC24 (as you probably know, preamps determine much more to your sound than your amp), I found I was in audiophile heaven pairing it with a Joule LA-150MKII preamp that I bought used (and is the best preamp I have ever heard bar none, including the BC3 Preamp, Rogue, BAT, Cary to name a few)
The BC24 is highly recommended. I had the more powerful BC28 for awhile which is quit nice, but it was more power than I needed to drive my wonderful sounding Spendor S8e floorstanders which are quit efficient, so I sold the BC28 and wisely put the money difference into the Joule preamp.
The power is way underated. The BC24 can drive almost all but the most inefficient speakers quit well. It also did a good job with my Dynaudio Focus 220 and 140 speakers. Some people may not realize that the same volume setting will give you more sound out of the same brand of floorstanders over monitors.
This amp runs class A.
Strengths:
Beautiful sound with a liquid full of life midrange and detailed but non harsh highs.
Great size for a rack system but needs a little space overhead as it runs class A.
Underated power which is plenty for most speaker systems
You can tube roll to change the sound.
Ultra high quality hand wired construction Weaknesses:
None except maybe cost, but great value for what you get
You can scratch the almost mirrored brushed stainless steel finish Similar Products Used:
McIntosh 6200 (had grain, slightly boomy bass, lacked the liquid mids)
Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista (great sound, just a little digital in comparison)
Conrad Johnson Tubed MV55 (sounded dull in comparison)
Plinius 9100 Integrated (lacked the tube mids, beautiful highs though)
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