musicality and effortless dynamics.

look plain?

This is a review for Cello Encore 150 mono/mono amplifiers, not for the Duet. As Encore 150's are not listed, I have to borrow the space to praise these gems.

They replace ML 336. Speakers tested were Burmester 961 MK2 and Cello Premiere which I settle down for now. The Encore 150's may look plain, but are very refined as well as musical. When the symphonic forte requires, however, these amps can be very dynamical. Pair of NBS Statement power cords are used. Encore 150 runs cool, it is part of the reason for me to chose it rather than Cello Performance II. Cello Performance runs hot and not really suits the hot weather of Taiwan.

Similar Products Used:

ML 336, Krell FPB-300.

effortless clarity, dynamics, very wide sound stage, sound so natural like if it wasn't there at all

none

I had a great opportunity to buy a Duet 350 4 years ago, it's been one of my hifi dreams since first listened to cello gear back in 1987, I've been so happy with it, I bought a second one to biamp my speakers

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I've never thought of owning something else because up to today there is no compelling reason to do so, although the Encore 150 and Performance II are better.

Delicacy/nuance combined with power, speed combined with slam, ultra-clean sound combined with holographic soundstaging. I've owned Krell and Mark Levinson and have extensively heard the Spectra, but the Duet 350 is at least a couple of notches above in almost all respects.

You have to use Fischer balanced interconnects, which limits your choices.

Out-krells Krell, out-Levinsons the Levinson, the equal of a Spectral DMA-150 in terms of air, speed, ambiance and inner detail but with a lot more punch, bass and that hard-to-describe but nonetheless very present gravitas, or authority. I've used a Krell KSA250 and a Mark Levinson 333 with my two systems (Cello Master, dCS Purcell/Delius, Mark Levinson; Duntech Princess, Wadia/Audio Synthesis CD front end) and the Cello Duet 350 is far better than both in almost all parameters: transparency, speed, detail, dynamics, slam, delicacy, soundstaging.

Similar Products Used:

Krell KSA 250, Mark Levinson 333, Aragon 8008

Sonically glorious and very high in power, utterly reliable, mechanically silent, elegant in appearance. While very expensive by most standards at $9500, I believe the value is actually quite high considering what else is out there.

Very high gain for an amplifier (+37 dB) means that in my system, which uses relatively efficient Cello speakers, I hear a slight hiss from my Cello Reference DAC which feeds the amp straight in since I use a Z-Systems RDP-1 to digitally control the volume between the CD transport and DAC.

Other than this minor sonic problem, which is of course totally specific to my unusual system, I have never been able to pin any flaw in my system's sound on this amplifier. It is the best I have used in my systerm.

Cello's use of balanced Fischer conncectors as the sole inputs pretty well ties you to Cello Strings interconnects. Also, the barrier strip output terminals only accept spades and O-rings. Cello would call both of these "features" of the product, rather than limitations, since these probably do maximize the sonic results. But be aware that it is difficult to use this amp without also using Cello strings interconnects with balanced Fischer plugs and speaker wires without spade or O-ring terminations.

There are probably better amps out there, including Cello's own Performance II, but these, in my experience at least, cost much more than the Duet 350.

But in my system, I have never heard any other amplifier produce sound as lifelike as the Duet 350. And I'm using "lifelike" as shorthand for all sorts of audiophile desiderata, as well as musical expresssion and naturalness, and freedom from all types of annoying artificial distortions and noise. Oh, I could want for still more power (I could buy another Duet 350 and bridge or biamp them) and yet stronger, deeper bass (but then I would need speakers whose woofer cones can take even more power than my Cello Stradavari Premieres since the woofers hit their stops before the amp runs out of steam).

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I have never owned another amplifier this expensive. I have previously owned Audionics CC-2, Amber 70, Threshold S300 II, Mark Levinson No. 23, and AVA FET-Valve 500 amplifiers. I extensively listened and compared amps of the Krell, Levinson, C-J, ARC, Spectral, etc., variety in stores and at shows before committing to the Duet 350 as part of a basically all-Cello system.

Color,tone,bass,musicality,warmth,visceral-impact.

Big,really big...I mean huge! Keeps sliding around on floor when I try to hold it between my knees. Also,my fingers bleed a little after a couple hours of use.

The Cello is king. All I can say is that a simple change of gut-strings was all that it took to transport me to sublime audiophile-heaven. And by all means,do not forget to invest in a decent case.

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None...nothing but cello's all my life.

Power, speed, sweet highs.

It's big. Really big. Fischer connectors.

I have owned this amplifier for seven years -- for six years, it was my primary amp. The Duet 350 is fast and sweet with deep bass and impressive control. It is highly musical, open, and transparent. To use the old cliche: sounds like no amp at all. It replaced a ML 23.5 and was a step up in musicality. The amplifier still contends with the best on the market. A classic. I replaced it with Cello's reference, the Performance II monoblocks, on which it is based (the differences primarily lie in the power supplies and the number of output transistors).

Similar Products Used:

ML 23.5, SFS-80, Cello Perf II