Silky smooth sound quality.Huge,deep sound stage.Pin sharp detail and image.Precise and fast low end control.

SE160s are still proto type, need more cosmetic improvement.

I had a chance to listen to Monarchy Audio class A single ended amps at T.H.E. show while I was attending the CES show, I was so impressed that I feel foolish to spend so much money to bought the Pass Aleph 0 mono block I am using now. The Monarhcy SE100 deluxs have all the sound qualities of Aleph 0 and not running as hot, the sound stage of the SE100 is even deeper than Aleph 0. I was listening these Monarchy mono blocks driving a pair of Sound Lab Millennium-1 speakers and that combo was simply one of the best sound I heard at the show and the cost is just fraction of the other best sound show room. Mr.Poon and Gino was very helpful and willing to swith between SE100, SM70 and the all new proto type SE160 for me to compare. I just can't get enough of the silky smooth sound coming out of these Monarchy amps.To me the SE160s are no question one of the best amps in the world as all the amps I have been listen to during my 15 years of audiophile life. Open,transparent,smooth and precise, the SE160s sound like a 200W single ended tube amp that will cost you $20k or more. I will recommend these amp to those who like music but don't have lots of money to waste, or even you do, to check out these right priced Monarchy amps. I am selling my Pass Aleph 0 to get a pair of SE100 and take my wife to a nice vacation.

Similar Products Used:

Threshold T-400, Pass Aleph 0

perfect delivery of female vocals, piano and violin; great for classical music

constant low level hum, "thump" when turned on, lacks punchy bass from like of Krell and even Acurus

I bought a pair of SE100 Basics without auditioning based on the fine reviews here and other "pros" (articles are available on Monarcy Audio's website). All I can say is the reviews were accurate.

I'm rediscovering my old cd's and find listening for hours mesmerized by the female vocal, piano and violin concertos. I close my eyes and it feels as though they are playing right in front of me. I won't go into the audiophile jargons on depth, clarity, soundstage stuff but this unit is awesome. I find this units is excellent on higher pitch instruments and perfect for classical music. I auditioned many solid sate amps and none even comes close to SE100's in its price range or another $1,000. Kudos to Monarchy for not inflating the price to gouge the customers like other "boutique" manufacturers do.

Downfall? Constant low hz hum (hopefully I'll get used to it) and lack of punchy bass of Krells and Acurus'. Guess SE100 is not really suited to rock'n roll.

I did hear distortions on high pitch pianos (on several cds) and replaced my cheap Prism 22 interconnect with DH Labs Silver Sonic BL-1 (another example of fine product at reasonable price). I did hear slight distortion but it disappeared in a day so I'm not sure whether it was the amp and/or cable getting burned in resulting no distortions. I'd think it was the cable though I'm writing this review after a week of burning-in the amp and a day of cable.

All in all, excellent product for the money. I also bought Monarchy Model 18B DAC w/ volume control and find this to be a good match although one might be better off with line premap to boost the signal somewhat as my Totems should sound "louder" at max volume setting in 18B.

I bought my Monarchy Audio set-up from Gino in SF and I'd rate him high for service and patience. He was firm on prices (unlike other posting here) and professional, and I'd do business with him again.

My equipements:

Monarchy Model 18B DAC w/ volume control (only $299!!!)
Monarchy SE100 Basic
Cal Audio DX-2 as transport
Totem Model 1
Target stand
DH Labs Silver Sonic BL-1 interconnect
DH Labs Silver Sonics D-75 digital cable
Tara Labs Omni II speaker cable (to be replaced by DH Labs Silver Sonic T-14)

Similar Products Used:

Linn Classik, Aucurs DIA100, Krell KAV300i, Sonic Frontiers Anthem int amp

Smoothness, musicality, imaging, power, clarity.

none.

These took a very long time to burn-in. Out of the box I wasn't sure if they were better than my NAD 314 int. amp considering that they cost about 10 times as much. At 15 hours, some improvement. After maybe 300 hours, they started sounding amazing.

Like the Soundstage.com review said, I can finally hear the nice resonance of the body of violins rather than screechy overtones of the strings. I listen to all kinds of music - mostly 70s rock, new age, ambient, jazz, classical - even country sounds good w/ these. These Monarchys replaced the amp section of my NAD 314.

I disagree with the idea that a system should be tailored to a type of music; I believe that a good system will sound good for all types of music. With these amplifiers, my system sounds good on all types of music.

Also, I have found that my system does not neccessarily make bad recordings sound worse. Several months ago I tried to listen to Johnny Cash's greatest hits CD and found the quality to be a little annoying. This week, my wife wanted me to hear some of it and the sound quality was a bit surprising. It sounded realistic as long as you don't get so picky that you have nothing to listen to except audiophile recordings.

This week I listened to a Maggie 3.6, Mark Levinson CD player w/ remote controled output level and an ML amp in a Stereo store to see if I needed to upgrade my Magnepan MMGs one day. Maybe it was the setup or room, but I much preferred the sound of my system at home; I heard lots of cymbals, but not much else (they had the Maggie resistors set to 0 Ohms whereas I am using a 1.5 Ohm non-inductive resitor). I also listened to another system w/ the $2500 Martin Logans and was disapointed w/ that too. I started to think that maybe my system produces music about as good as it gets.

I borrowed some Transparent Musiclinks interconnects from Stereo Design to go from my preamp to sub crossover and my bass response flattened out w/ no loss of highs and I could hear every bass note unlike w/ my current DH Labs cables, so I will be getting the Musiclinks soon. I am first checking out pre/pros for HT since my stereo music is as good as I have ever heard except w/ the big Martin Logan speakers. So I don't need to spend any more on the stereo sound after I finish cabling to get the monoblocks near the speakers.

I did borrow the Rotel RC 995 preamp (that's why I tried the Transparent cables to compare balanced and single ended inputs to the Monarchys using the same model of cable) to try the balanced inputs and to see if a preamp made much difference before I tried HT pre/pros. Balanced, the Rotel was maybe slightly clearer and definitely slightly more dynamic than my NAD 314. Single ended, my wife preferred the NAD. The balanced output was not worth the extra $700 to me since it prevented me from using my sub crossover. The cables made a huge difference in the bass and are worth hundreds of dollars for the sound difference even when I still had DH labs going from sub Xover to Monarchys.

I any case, these Monarchys are better than I thought I might ever be able to afford and I don't feel that even if I won a lottery that I would want to replace them w/ something more expensive.

Similar Products Used:

none.

I picked up a pair of Monachy Audio SE100 mono blocks about 1 month ago.WOW.Now I realize how much detail I missed before and how much money I wasted on those big name and big size amps.(I owned Arogom 8008st,Threshold T400,Pass Audio Alpha 0 mono blocks,BAT VK60 tube amp before).Huge 3-D sound stage with fine details.Very very very transparant.And God bless Monarchy Audio,the list price is only under $2400.00.(I picked them up from a internet seller for $1550.00 brand new)I urge anybody who want to listen to real high end sound to give this amp a try.You will be so impressed like those other reviewer.Four thumps(including toes)way up.My current gear including:
Sonic Frontier SFT-2 transport
Monachy Audio DIP super drive
Classe DAC1
Threshold T400(I am going to sell it)
Legacy Focus speakers
Audio truth Clear speaker wires
Monarchy Audio interconnects

clarity, detail, warmth

Not as powerfull as some monster amps, turn-on thump, takes a while to fully warm up

I am contunually impressed with how well these little amps stack up with the best out there. Overall the sound is fairly warm and tube-like, but still retains SS user friendlieness. Here's a rundown on how it compared to other amps:

Unfair comparisons:
NAD 214: no contest, the NAD is grainy and rough in comparison and can't handle a hard load. Tough because the NAD is a great bargain at it's price and still and excellent midrange component.

Acurus: The Monarchy is warmer, less grainy, more detailed, puts out more power, and handles hard loads better

Fair comparisons:
SimAudio Moon W-5: The simaudio has more power and authority and is an excellent component, but if your speakers don't require that much power the Monarchy seemed to have slightly better resolving power and better fine detail

Welborne: These are better than the Monarchy's, but the Monarchy's were surprisingly close. The 300B's have just a bit more upper end and high-end detail. For the price the Monarchy's should have been blown away by the Welborne's, but the Monarchy's surpised me with their ability to present a similar 3D sound. High praise indeed for the Monarchy's.

The Monarchy's sound halfway between a solid state and SE tube amp in terms of sound. They are also able to drive very difficult loads like my Martin Logan CLSIIa's.

They are a steel at the retail price, and would still be a good deal at twice the price. I've had some questions for Monarchy and they have always been very friendly and responsive.

Similar Products Used:

NAD 214, Acurus A150, Simaudio Moon W-5, Welborne 300B monoblocks

Sound better than PASS amps for $2000. The sound is musical, smooth, bass, warm, 3D soundstage. Highly recommended.

I bought the Monarchy SE100 Delux mono blocks from a dealer $2000. At the sound was very tube-like, smooth and great bass. I liked them and bought a pair new.Rushed home open the boxes, connected to my speakers (Vandersteen 2Ce), turned the power on, the volume on (CJ PV10A preamp, CD63SE + X10-D CD) and nothing happened, no sound, dead right out of the box. I called the store they told me to call Monarchy. So I made a long distant call from eastcoast to westcoast next day. They told me, I overdriven it with my preamp so I'm out of luck.
What kind of company is this? After argued almost 30 minutes, that the units just died right out from the box. Finally, I got the dealer to take them back...

My point is never buy anything from a company that doesn't support their product.

I have just bought a pair of Monarchy SE100 Delux, 100wpc single-ended for $2000. This brings out some very beautiful sound from my Von Schweikert VR3, smooth top end, great sound stage.

In the past few years, many amps/preamps that were borrowed from friends and dealers came in my house and gone (Krell, Levinson, Counterpoint, Classe, Sonic Frontier ...etc) Last week a pair of Monarhy SE100 Delux single-ended MOSFET monoblocks (100wpc) brought over by a friend. We plugged in the system let them warm up for 30 minutes. We listened to Jazz (Ella F., Ray Brown, Ellington...),classical (Vivaldi's 4 Seasons, guitar concertos, Mozart Symphonies..) and pops.
For every CD, song, LP we both so surprised the sound is full, rich, warmth, 3D+ image like the best Single-ended triode tube gears with the bass tight, powerful of the big Brystons, Krells... Recorded music sounds like live music, I can hear the overtone of some classical guitars, violin and the vibration of the grand piano...

This is the best amps I've ever heard, I just placed an order for the pair.
Oh! And the price is only $2000.00 a pair.

I have been review this mono block for about 1 week.I can say with all my confidence that this little guy will easily be equal or better than any amp on the Stereophile class A list.Image,sound stage,transparency all are first class.The 3-D depth and air around players are the best I have ever heard.(I almost heard all the amps on the Stereophile class A list)tonal ballance is a little too bright,but this will make big music sounds more transparent.Plus the low low price,hightly recommend with all my heart.Too bad they don't have a 10star rating.