Soundstage, true musicality, warmth, sweetness, great level of details without being fatiguing, taut bass (using them in mono).

We don't understand this question...

The SM-70 Pros are an incredibly pleasant surprise. We leave to the professional reviewers the details but as far as true musicality is concerned there is only a few amps left in the market to compare with this last model. The soundstaging, sweetness & warmth along with the level of detail they render make them the amps for the tube lovers, or rather for anyone who love m-u-s-i-c. Period. We've had John Curl designed HCA Parasounds, Pass desined Threshold Stasis SeriesII & have heard quite a few of the so called "exotica" but none of them can truly compare. Anything better should easily break your & your wife's bank accounts. We can easily say that the quality of these products for the price asked are an indictement for the high-end industry. As far as the heat is concerned is like complaining that your loving baby also cries (??). My wife & myself don't find it bad at all. Besides what can you expect from a true class A, zero feddback amplifier? The other detail, hum in some cases, is but the case of a high gain amplifier that will allow for an easy drive using a passive pre-amp, which is musical heaven. We pospened buying the Monarchy Audio products for 6 years just to find out how much musically we've lost. And we are now expecting to buy our new pre-amp from this very fine brand name too.

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Threshold 150 Watts per channel Stasis SeriesII, Parasound HCA-300

The SM 70 Pros were bright at first and I almost sent them back but glad I didn't! It has been over 5 weeks now and they sound much better after the burn in time. My speakers are Klipsch and are 99 DB so they are very efficient which can be a bit bright at times. These amps new are a little bright on speakers that are not as efficient as my speakers. My speakers are the Klipsch KLF 20's and with the SM 70 Pros were very bright at first but now are sounding very good!! The midrange is no longer very harsh sounding but is very smooth and the highs are very detailed. If you own Klipsch and are looking for a great solid state amp this one would be a great match!! These amps are outstanding for home theater!! I have a SM 70 runing my center channel with 70 watts and it sounds great. I also have 2 SM 70 Pros runing my left and right speakers for home theater. I use a Dennon receiver as a preamp and it sounds great. I also use the SM 70 Pros with a Luxman preamp in a 2 channel stereo system and it sounds even better.

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SM 70

Well I just hooked up 2 SM 70 Pros and even before they have had a decent burn in period they sound fantastic!! Right now I'm using a Luxman stereo reciever as a preamp and it sounds so much better than my Dennon 4800!! I bought a Luxman preamp that I'm waiting on. I have wanted this Luxman preamp for almost 20 years and finally found it on Ebay. I own Klipsch speakers which are very effecient and do not need huge amounts of power so these amps are a good match. One thing that does not bother me but might bother someone else is there is a low level hum that you can hear when the volume is turned all the way down. If I'm turning it down then I'm probably about to turn it off so no problem. Also if your speakers are not extremly efficient then you probably won't hear it.

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SM 70

matched with the correct loudspeakers (essential) this will take your breath away

in the wrong system, very average.

Purchased after reading an extremely positive review in UK magazine HiFi+, where a single sm70 is recommended with high sensitivity speakers. I purchased the unit second hand, without audition for £300 and installed it in an existing system, with oldish mission speakers. And it sounded very average. I located a pair of 92db triangle ZAYS speakers (which sounded terrible in the room I auditioned them on niam equipment) second hand and the transformation is sensational. The best sounding amp I have heard, and Ive owned quite a few.

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all sorts including valves

Limitless musicality. Can be used in a number of configurations. C.C. Poon's most complete product.

Runs quite hot.

This was the second unit that I purchased. This unit was from a person in Mississippi, who claimed that he was selling it because his wife didn't like the clutter. I don't think so. Actually, the unit had an intermittant problem where the unit would simply shutoff after about 30 minutes of play time. I called Mr. Poon to find out if this problem had been reported. He said that I might try to reconfigure the front end switch with new connectors. The ones that he had in this unit were bent. The ones that he sent me were straight-in. I replaced them and that only helped the problem a little. The next thing that I did was to open the case entirely and do an inspection. Lo and behold, the fuse holder had been baked (it was bakelite) to a funny condition, so, I went to RadioShack and bought a simpler replacement. This fixed the problem completely. Just a warning...

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Odyssey Stratos, Aspen AKSA 55, Van Alstine Omega Star

extremely smooth, refined ,very well made,I thought I bought tickets to a live concert !

Not a chance in hell

All I can say about this lovely amp is DITTO ! This is by far the most musical amp I have ever heard . Thats including tube amps . The reviews on this web sight are right on the money . For all those people ready to spend thousands of dollars , do yourself a favor and listen to this eighth wonder of the world and save some money . There are some 5000.00 amps that don't hold a candle to this thing . I have only listen to it for about five hours since I recieved it today ! I can't seem to tear myself away from it . I own a mcintosh which is a world class amp but it can't compete with the monarchy in musicality .I heard things in the music I had never heard before. My 6.3 Soliloquys just sing with this 25 watts per channel . Well enough rambling I am going back to my sound room ! Don't say I didn't warn you .

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mcintosh , dynaco , denon , adcom , cary audio

detailed and revealing sound, true differential(balanced)amplifier, no grit or fatigue just pure music

they run quite warm and have sharp fins

I originally purchased just one SM-70Pro to replace an old ADCOM GFA-535II about a year and a half ago. I later bought another to run them as monoblocks. Again I bought some more to run them as dual monoblocks. SO now I have four SM-70pros all running in balanced mono operation and it has to be the best setup I have ever had in my house. I use them to power a pair of Magnepan 1.6''s and I very happy to have bought these amps. I would recommend anyone buy them. You can pick them up used for around $500 on www.audiogon.com sometimes.

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adcom, classe, sim audio,

Warm; Smooth; Dinamic; Price

They run quite hot

As I’ ve invested more than 5000 $ in CD source (an outstanding Wadia 850 CD), I was intrigued by the chance to connect DIRECTLY the Wadia TO A POWER AMPLIFER (!), taking advantage by the sophisticated “Digital Volume Control” “Direct-Connect Tecnology” implemented by Wadia Digital in its current production; and by its guaranteed True balanced configuration.

The search has been driven by a simple check-list:
 True balanced circuitry configuration
 Round 70-80 Watt per channel
 Class A
 Low NFB ratio.
 Reasonable price

Looking in several magazines; Hi-Fi Stereo guides and Internet Web-sites, I experienced this search really not easy: In fact True Balanced configuration are not so frequent and They are usually reserved to high power and/or high budget dream-brands ( i.e.: Jeff Rowland ; PassLabs ; Threshold; and so on).

Suddenly, visiting the Web-site of Monarchy, I have found quite exactly what I was looking for. And this was Monarchy SM 70 (2 monoblocks).
The reported Reviews was also very positive and informative. So I’ve bought them.

They are small but very well builded (just the top aluminium cover I expect something thicker; the speaker connectors seem also too small); they need also some days to be burned-in. Pay attention to put them NOT stacked and to ensure a good ventilation. Input sensitivity in Balanced-Mode lower than RCA . No problem with Wadia as it has selectable output Voltage via internal dip-switch, but Monarchy should clearly express both data in the Product-Specification.
They sound very good especially with Jazz – Funky - Acoustic music - Voice.
Definitively a good product for the price and probably double of it !
Customer support provided by Monarchy is also 1st Class !
Recommended !!!

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Accuphase E-210

excellent build quality, class A, low distortion, clips cleanly, bridgeable, accepts balanced inputs

could use more power with some speakers

This amp is 25W/ch in stereo mode. I use it to drive a pair of 2way stand-mounted DIY speakers. They're sensitivity is 89dB and have an impedance of 8ohms. The speakers and amp mate wonderfully together.

Something must be said about the power rating. It is 25W of pure class A power. I find that you need to let it warm up for at least 10 minutes before listening to it but it doesn't reach it's full potential till it reaches it's full operating temperature quite some time later. I usually think of 25W as adequate for a lot of tube amps but not for any solid state amps.

The SM70 is solid state but embraces much of the philosophy and characteristics of good tube amps. It runs hot, but plays clean. It has a warm smooth sound, but is very detailed and does not mask the music with 2nd order harmonics. It is also low in higher order harmonic distortion as it causes no listener fatigue and the sound is not harsh even at high volume levels. The amp also clips very cleanly allowing it to play very loud when called to. It will not drive my speakers to volume levels that I would categorize as obscene but it is keeping up with a 150W sub I built that is 3dB down at 25Hz so you can't ask for too much....

Now in stereo mode this amp runs out of steam when you ask it to play very loud. It will play with perfect linearity up until and a little past the point that you exceed it's 25W rating. However, you can also bridge this amp into a 70W monoblock. I have heard the results (unfortunately not in my own living room) and the amp gains some level of authority that it lacked before (and that you didn't realize you were missing). However, with it's new found output capabilities, bridging the amp leaves the power supply unable to keep up with the power gain stage's demands.

OK. Bottom line. This is an amazing amplifier, for the price, and at any price. It is built like a tank, both structurally and at the circuit level. Unless you require or are a fan of hedonistic power, this may be the amp for you. Monarchy Audio is friendly and easy to deal with and they even give you a free (and pretty nice) detachable power cord with the amp.

If you're still listening to your stereo and not the music, you need to rethink your stereo

Check them out: www.monarchyaudio.com

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Coda, Contiuum, Jolida, EAD, Chiro, Adcom.....

I have been using two Rotel RB-970BX power amp in bi-amp mode to feed my JM Lab speakers and replaced the amp by just one small Monarchy SM-70 Power amp. Heaven opened. Using a Sphinx Project Two pre-amp and Van den Hul cables it gives a very open, detailed, crispy sound with lots of inside information and lots of width and depth.
For the first time I experienced at home the feeling of mucisians having fun playing their music instead of just a hifi sound system sounding nice to good.

For his price (or twice this amount of monney) I know no better power amp, it runs hot, but boy what a sound. Start saving up to get number two and bi-amp again.