I have read that Belles amps this one being a 150A Hot Rod mates well with Audible Illusions preamps. Well....it does! It's a very musical combination. This amp likes a tube preamp and with the Audible Illusions it's wonderfull. I have several tube amps and wanted to hear a solid state amp in my system. I didn't want to spend a small fortune and found this one used in perfect condition it's a later 150A Hot Rod cira 2007. Speakers are Vandersteens the new Model 2's. I still pefer the tube amp sound. But for the price I paid for this Hot Rod it was hard to say no. I listen to this amp and could easily be happy with it with in my current system. But, it does make me wonder how the 150A Reference would sound?
Vandersteen 2ce Sig2's
Audible Illusions 2B
Sota Shapphire Table
Denon 1650AR cd player

Pure. liquid. detailed, transparent. quiet. grain-free, glare-free... price... An audio bargain with no regrets!!!

let me think....

This is a review of the Model 150A reference. this unit was recently awarded a Double Reviwer's Choice by Soundstage.com.. This amp was recommended to me for use with my Merlin VSM-MX speakers... I then looked up the Soundstage review. Now, let me state that I don't usually believe reviews... and when I do use them, it is just for reference to get a list of amps to consider. The reviewer was so enthusiastic that I ordered the amp unheard ( after speaking with a few owners and the designer). I am someone who has owned insanely expensive audio gear and at one point felt I owned the finest system I had ever heard/the finest system in the world. Of course that is most likely UNTRUE, but I am just stating this is how I felt. After downsizing, I realized I was spoiled and could not live with a middle of the road system. So, I bought/sold/bought/sold until I could find something that would give me the sound I was used to, but at a much smaller dollar figure. I can soundly say I am extremely pleased/shocked at the level of performance of the 150A Refernce... and all of this for less than $3K. Transparency is important to me... I also can't live with thin sounding gear that makes instruments sound nasal.... texture is another 'must have'... I don't want to make this too boring, so I won't go too much further. describing the amp. If you need to read a professional review... go to Soundstage,com and look it up. If you are considering a new amp.... and looking anywhere near 10K or less... save your money... buy this amp! If you are looking in the $20K region buy 2 and use them as monoblocks... and keep the change... or use it to buy a nice preamp - with xlr output ( you need this to use the 150A ref as monoblocks) and a top notch cd player. Another nicety is this amp is only 40 pounds... so, you won't break your back moving it around. The build quality is good enough... looks/feels solid... the sound quality is off the charts...

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You name it! from Adcom to Halcro and just about everything in between.

Solid little amp for the money.

Lacking bottom end slam, won't drive low impedence loads well.

I purchased the 150A Hot Rod based on Reviews and was very happy with the unit. Quiet with a great sound stage. Easily drove my 8ohm speakers. But after listening to a friend's Threshold T200 I heard what my speakers were really capable of on the bottom end. So I upgraded to the Belles 350A and not regretting it one bit.

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Belles 350A Adcom GFA545II Threshold T200 Decware SE84B

Transparency, detail, focus, soundstage, lack of coloration.

none

I was looking for clean transparent power for my Alon MkIIs. I have a Musical Designs SP-1 tube preamp, and a friend suggested I audition the Belles 150A. I bought it, an have not been disapointed. It is clean, transparent, quiet, with a fantastic soundstage. With Alcarian Black Ophus bi-wires, and the SP-1, I now have a great sounding system for under $7K that always gets a gasp out of my non-audiophile friends when they first hear it. I prefer acoustic jazz, but this setup sounds great with everything from Chesky's Ultimate Demo to Reel Big Fish. In addition, I have some vintage Fulton FMI-80s, and wired those into the system, and compared the Belles 150A to my Adcom 5300, and my NEC 2600. No comparison - with the Belles, I haven't heard the Fultons sound so good since I first heard them in college run by Audio Research equipment. In my opinion, the Belles 150A is an outstanding piece of equipment, and at the price, it is THE power amp bargain of the decade.

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Adcom 5300 NEC 2600

SMOOTH big soundstage Powerful

none I have found

This is a review of the Belles 150A hot rod and the saga of my quest for high end sound. It all started two years ago when I bought some Triangle Cellius speakers. I hooked them to my dennon 3802 and after break-in I began to see what they could do but I also noticed some problems specifically hard bitting treble. I began to upgrade first, I got some Musical fidelity M250 mono blocks. no help. I decided to build a seperate two channel system.I added a AH Njoe Tjoeb 4000 with upsampling. When I ran the three together it was worse,no bass, harsh bitting treble and hard to control the volume with the CD player. I then added a sunfire classic tube pre {great}This helped, better bass and big sound stage less harshness. I then decide to replace the monos with a Belles 150A. Major inprovment. This amp is smooth,it has a huge soundstage, and rock solid center image. The Belles has half the power but on direct comparsion is the better amp. the M250 was loose, flabby, and harsh.The M250 is well built and powerful but a bad match with bright speakers. Lucky for me Alan at Audiowaves gave me a fair trade in for the M250. this great system was further inproved by adding AH ls noise killers to the tweeter terminals. the best 50$I spent. The harshness is gone.finalaly I spent 11$ on some eggshell mattress foam placed behind and beside the speakers. This makes a big diferance with the soundstage. I am now happy but enough about me.The Belles 150A is a great amp! Powerful, precise instrument placement, and huge soundstage.Yes it takes foever to break-in,but it is worth it.This amp is an overachiever. So smooth.I highly recomend it.

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Musicial fedelity M250

Relaxed Sound Quiet Build Quality

No colorations in the bass

This amp is VERY relaxed. I never felt the need to turn it down and found it sounding better as I increased the volume while retaining it's tonal quality. The bass as first seemed lean but after further test I'm inclined to believe it to be the coloration of my previous amp the LLANO Trinity A-100 due to a pr of siemans and halski 7308's. When the Bass notes hit they did have tone and definition, no bloat or boom. Soundstage was simular in width and depth to the LLANO, giving the LLANO a slight edge here although I was using a Rogue 99 Mag with the LLANO. The amp has good timing and is not to forward with it's presentation. I guess like everyone else I heard neutrality, with listenability. This is the most relaxed solid state amp I've heard. IS it quiet? Yes, no trans hum and very little tweeter hiss. I love the amp and it is the best solidstate amp I've heard. I feel this amp benefits from good fuel it is a HOTROD! The amp has no character of it's own IMO, if any it seems to smooth things out a bit. I listened to this amp with the new Coltrane classic records 45's, as well as the st. james infirmary 45 (Satchmo Plays King Oliver). I spent time with U2 Rattle & Hum as well as Sarah Mclachlan, Joni Mitchel, I also listened to Counting Crows Recovering the Satelittes on LP and Lincoln Park My December on 45RPM. I did listen to Smetna's Moldau and some other various classical as well as some windham hill records including the piono sampler. All listening done with Vinyl on: NAS SpaceDeck Dyna 17DII Belles 20A Pre Belles 150A Hot Rod Silvercat's from Catcables.com Speaker wire was Cardas Golden Reference and VDH Tea Track with WBT's Merlin VSM-M Some CD and SACD, not on a reference player.(Pioneer 45A)

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Quiet operation, balanced, smooth sound

None for its price!

I purchased this as a used (mint condition) amp to replace the Adcom 5300 (85-125 w/p channel)which I felt was a bit harsh and weak through my Maggies. Great amp! Clean, good sound stage, smooth and much more dynamic. My system: Adcom GTP-502 preamp/tuner Belles 150A Hot Rod amp Adcom GCD 700 5-CD player Magnaplanar MMG12 speakers Cardas/Wireworld interconnects MIT Terminator 2 cables

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Adcom 5300, Yamaha Receiver

I can only enthusiastically endorse all the reviews of this product. The Belles 150A, when tied to an Audible Illusions tube preamp is one of the best sound combinations to be had at any price. You can't go wrong with this amplifier.
PS: Be sure to give it its due in the breaking in period..it definately flattens out after 80-100 hours....

Very Detailed, Great Imaging and Open Soundstage.

Well it's not a 5000.00 amp, so it doesn't have the bass slam or very last detail of the multi thousand dollar amps.

This is a review of the 150A Hot Rod version. The thing that impressed me most about this amp is how musical it is. It isn't the be-all and end-all of amps (it lists for 1495) but I haven't heard an amp in this price range sound this good. It keeps drawing me into the music and I forget about the equipment. That's what i've been looking for all these years. I've had many different systems and this is the first time I haven't been listening to the components. When I first received this amp I was getting a little distortion from the right channel, so I called Alan at Audiowaves and he said he would get in touch with Dave Belles. Dave called me back within the hour!!! I've dealt with audio Manufacturers before and been left wanting, but this was a whole new experience for me. I have never received such great service. The problem was the load created by my speakers(Triangle-"Titus xs") and wire(Goertz Alpha Core MI 2 bi-wired). Dave new the problem, put in the fix free of charge and had it back to me in less than a week. He also kept me updated by phone. My hat goes off to Alan at Audiowaves and Dave Belles. I wish there were more Dealers and Designers like this.
System:
Belles 150A Hot Rod Version
Rega Planar 3 with Sumiko Blue Point Special
Rega Planet CD Player
BAT 3ki Preamp
Lehmann Black Cube Phono Preamp
Titus xs Speakers
Tice Elite 4 Power Conditioner
Marigo Power Cords

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Everything except bass

Bass (for me)

I had to think hard about this review because I hate it
when people slam good products. This is a great amp for
audiophiles but I would not recommend it for folks who
are bass freaks like myself. The first time I heard this
amp I almost puked. It seemed to take alot of the dynamics
out of my system. I had just purchased a Bryston preamp,
which made a big difference in my sound, and I was looking
forward to having my first great amp. Finally, after many
weeks of listening I began to discover the beauty of this
amp. The detail and clarity are excellent. Except in the
area of bass slam/power it is one of the best sounding amps
I have listened to. Don't get me wrong, for most normal
humans the bass power is probably fine. The detail of the bass is certainly excellent.

I bought the amp used (it was a Hotrod 150A) and ended up selling it. The guy I bought it from and the guy I sold it to had the same complaints as me.

If you are not a bass freak the Hotrod 150A at $1500 is
one of the best amps you can buy in this price range. For
me though, the Bryston 3BST is a better choice.

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