Johannes

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $950.00 from Hamar, Norway, Europ

Summary:
I bought the Muse Model One power amplifier (serial number 95 9600 with RCA input) approximately 6 months ago. It's in mint condition and I have had no hum or other noise problems with it. I bought it because of it's musicality and ability to drive loudspeakers with a low effectiviness. The power amplifier has a warm and powerful sound, and I don't recommend to use it together with a tube preamplifier. I use it together with a Rotel RC-1090 preamplifier which is very neutral in the upper/mid frequences and very tight in the low frequences. This is a very good match. My turntable combo, CD-player, cables and loudspeakers are all neutral in their sound.

Strengths:
Powerful and musical

Weaknesses:
None in my system

Similar Products Used:
Electrocompaniet AW-100DMB, Musical Fidelity A3CR

Price Paid:  $650.00 from friend

Summary:
Greatest strenght I admire from this amp is its midrange neutrality. Reviewer's comments on liquidity is well founded and its tendency to soften the bass is easily addressed with interconnect swapping.I settled with straightwire. It has 6 mosfets per channel and powered by a huge toroidal and the caps are like milk cans in size. Binding posts are from cardas and internal wiring by kimber. More importantly reasonably price. Its unfortunate it has been discontinued but they made it again because of demand for its return up to year 2000. It is very stable driving my thiels.

Strengths:
liquid mids, crystalline highs,well built

Weaknesses:
mine has captive cord and no balance input.

Similar Products Used:
classe', bryston,quad

Price Paid:  $700.00 from audiogon nos

Summary:
this amp is a fantastic buy in solid state for the prices i see it being offer for on the internet - assuming that this is the sound you are after and that it matches your speakers tonally.

Strengths:
i have a tube based system with neutral speakers. i use this amp for continual play, not critical evaluation of music or components. having said that, this is the only inexpensive solid state amp i have ever enjoyed with out regard to price. tonally it is smooth with out any specific emphasis in bass, mids, or highs. it makes listening to music a very pleasant experience. it lacks somewhat in the ability to produce heighth and depth in the stereo image but excels in width. product has been problem free. it definately doesn't hum!

Weaknesses:
this amp doesn't have the last word in transparency. while tonally it might sound like tubes, it lacks the air that you get with tubes.

Similar Products Used:
perreaux 2150b, threshold sa3, mesa baron and sonic frontier sf 80 (both tube). speakers are paragon jubilee/jems, a dynaudio speaker based system.

Price Paid:  $1000.00

Summary:
I stop by this area every once and a while to check other peoples experiences w/ the Model 100.I've owned mine for over 7 yrs. I pay a grand back in 1994. I thought It was a good deal then. The List was 1350.00 at the time. No internet to speak of then.This time I had to write my own comment.Because of Richard's experience detailed below.It must have been a Bad amp in the Bunch and that's it. I've never had a Problem w/ mine ever. Never had any feedback problems at all.As far as the sound. You have to match this amp very carefully or you could have problems. Richard, you should have demoed some other equipment or cables in your system. Your comments never mention if you Did. Because when you get the right match. The Goosebump factor is very high.I love my Model 100 and will never sell it and long as it keeps performing like it has in the past. Well, that's my 2 cents worth. Equip:Sonus Faber -Concertos ,Ah'99 cd player,and Aud. ill. m-3 pre-amp.

Strengths:
Wonderful Tube like sound. With Power too!

Weaknesses:
Not a One!

Price Paid:  $400.00 from Audiogon

Summary:
As soon As I saw the last review. I had to write mine. I just got the Muse 100 less then a month ago. Coupled w/ a Anthem Preamp. The sound has absolutely no Veil over it at all. It is wide open and very Musical. This unit is 1st Gen. Around 1994-95. And I have never heard any hum at all. For the price I paid it's the audiophile bargin of the Century. Hums in systems are terrible things.They can be caused by many factors.I think the last person just got fed up.But as for the sound just look at the other reviews. I feel the same way. For him to hear that kind of sound, it must have been another component in his system affecting the Sound.The Muse Absolutley does not sound like that!

Strengths:
Smooth highs, Great Bass

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Mccormack DNA 5