A lot of detail, holographic soundstage and dynamics combined with sweet overall sound.

25W can only do so much.

I´ve suspected that I could bring more life into my gear and now I know it´s true. This little amp has really brought life and joy into my room. It manages to drive my difficult speakers (Gradient E MK II) into suprisingly loud levels in my small room. Room information is very clear in a broad soundstage. Dynamics is very true and fast. It´s full frequency but the top is never bright or hard.
Build quality is fantastic for this pricerange.

A steal.

Michael y

True, natural sound. Music just comes alive.

As expected, class A runs hot.

I recently took a risk buying 2 of those amps on-line with no auditioning, and I have absolutely no regrets!

I enjoy lively sound with precise detail, magnificient dynamics, and deep soundstage.
Very true natural performance, strong linearity, and no coloration.
Fast tight bass, wide-open liquid mids, and highs that seem just being engraved on air!
Studio recordings sound more like live ones, with all sublime nuances surfacing through.

Taking into consideration their realistically low cost,
they are definitely the cornerstones for a down-to-earth audiophile.
I will try to build the rest of my modest hi-end system around them.

If you are ready for an affordable sonic celebration, look no further!

Similar Products Used:

NAD, Rotel etc etc

Harmonic accuracy, transparency, versatility, size

Run pretty warm.

I have owned a pair of these little beauties for about 6 months; used them with Meadowlark Kestrels (perfect match!),
and am using them now with a pair of Hales Concept 2s (an AMAZING speaker!!).

They make music superbly; harmonic integrity is first on my list of sonically important audio equipment traits, and the Monarchy SM-70s do this extremely well.

The "sonic temperature" is a little on the tube-like end of things, and in the best ways - not euphonic or muddled at all, and not too cool or warm. The clarity and focus seem to be entirely dependent on upstream and downstream components; any change to my system is fully expressed.

Their size allows easy placement in a typical equipment rack, and their 25W stereo/70W mono (mono has RCA or balanced in, stereo offers RCA input) makes them very versatile indeed.

A true high-end product at extremely reasonable price; yet another Monarchy quality/value success.

If your power needs match up with these amps, they are a must-listen product - I can't imagine anybody who values natural, transparent sound being disappointed.

5 sharply defined stars!!!

My system:

Meridian 508.20 with Discovery Signature balanced;
Project 6.9 with Cardas Neutral Ref phono, Discovery Signature RCA, Black Cube phono amp;
Magnam Dynalab FT101A with DIY 22-gauge magnet wire;
Adcom GFP-750 (another excellent product value);
Magnan Type VI balanced;
Monarchy SM-70 amps used in mono configuration
Nordost Flatlines or Cardas Quadlink
Meadowlark Kestrels or Hales Concept 2s.

Similar Products Used:

Sonic Frontiers SFC-1

Enough heat to keep an eskimo warm in winter

I'm posting this about the Deluxe version, because I seem to have sent my review into limbo.

The best comparison I can make with these amps (using Von Schweikert VR-4s) is to a live organ performance at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. The similarities were breath-taking: just incredible imaging and pleasure of sound. It's the closest to God I'll ever get.

This is everyman's piece of sonic paradise.

Similar Products Used:

McCormack DNA, Krell

Can provide adequate heat for four when ice fishing.

To tell the truth, I first I didn't like the sound of the first system that I auditioned them with, but, alas, this was my B-system. I was using the Monarchys along with the XLO cable and Goertz speaker cable into a standard Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble II speaker system. It sounded strident and clangy with a lot of false separating. Eventually, I eliminated and switched pieces one by one until I switched the Goertz for a DH Labs and then the system sounded pretty good.

On my fourth go-around, I hooked up my Von Schweikert VR-4s with the XLO and a Kimber KCAG. The result: astonishing. I played a lot of Back Orgenwerks through this system and would have sworn I was live!!! I once stood next to the organist at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in DC and this experience was VERY comparable.

Kudos to Mr. Poon and company for bringing music (not Muzak) back to the masses.

Monarchy will be able to reach a large audience with its products. You can start with one SM-70($540 or $680 Pro) or purchase one used ($400-$500), tack on a Creek Pre-amp ($250) and you've got the amplification system for under $900.

Do not pass up these fine amps. Buy 'em while they're still hot.

Similar Products Used:

McCormack DNA, Parasound, ATI, Nikko A-230

To put things in a nutshell: the Monarchy SM-70s are fine amplifiers, and though it should be said that they are a great value for the money (I paid roughly 1400$ for a pair), I believe that perhaps more importantly the SM-70s offer a marked degree of real quality to audiophile diehards as well as casual listeners.

Some personal background: I'm a lifelong music lover (and concert-goer), and have very slowly and deliberately put together a collection of 2000+ cds and roughly 1000 albums. Probably 90% of this is classical music, with the rest divided between jazz, folk and pop. Until something like a year or so ago I spent my money on music, and lived happily with relatively lower-priced audio equipment. I've always been distressed by the idea of assembling expensive high-end systems--even assuming money would not be a barrier--around a tiny collection of "audiophile" vinyl and/or compacts. I fully accept someone's decision to focus primarily on the quality of sound and sophistication of equipment, but for me my audio budget went towards putting together what I consider to be a good and comprehensive music library.

Not to say that quality of sound was entirely unimportant to the equation: my pre-"major-upgrade" system consisted of a nice Rotel integrated, an old, workhorse Pioneer cd player, and a pair of B+W CDM1-SE speakers (no accessories, and generic cabling). Pleasurable music listening was more than possible with this, and I did have many opportunities to listen to high and super high-end solid state and tube-based systems, which opened my ears to the potentials of audio reproduction (and sometimes to the potential lunacies of audio gear-o-philia).

In any case, when I decided it was time to put together my own modestly high-end system, the first component I looked for was an amplifier. I set approx. 2500/3000$ as a price limit. I did lots of shopping around and listening, within the constraints of what was available here in Holland. On the new and used market this search led to Bryston, Musical Fidelity, Duson, Krell, Pass, Densen, and a few others. My interest was in a solid-state design (valves perhaps in a few years from now). But solid state without electronic glare, with the ability to offer detail, delicacy, and the wonderful sense that notes and voices hang in space. Also dynamic headroom, ability to produce palpable bass, high frequencies without harshness, and the capability of driving a wide array of speakers (this last being one main reason, along with price, that I chose not to take the valve route). Also: I'm not enamoured of highly analytical systems, which to my mind is not the same as neutrality (this said from my live-performance experiences).

While I found much to recommend the Bryston and Pass amps to my tastes (and to a lesser degree the Densen), parallel research in audio magazines, on-line magazines, email conversations and word-of-mouth sources brought Monarchy audio to my attention. What I put together was this: the Monarchys seemed, at least via reviews and discussion, to fit the bill, a solid state design offering dynamics, delicacy, articulation and glare-free sonic operation. And at a price that would allow me more money available to spend on the rest of my system upgrade.

Going the Monarchy route involved two big risks however. First, of course, buying equipment I'd never heard first-hand. But I figured that such a risk is sometimes worth taking in the context of a global marketplace, where expanded options and possibilities have to be balanced against direct contact with locally available equipment. And second of all, buying from a small company at the distance of an ocean and a continent was a daunting prospect. But I'd heard very positive things from people who'd done business with Monarchy, and then I gave a telephone call to Mr CC Poon, the man behind the company--in numerous phonecalls and emails before and after I bought the SM-70s, he was unfailingly courteous, straightforward and informative. And always modest (though confident in his equipment) and low-key: I never got the feeling that he was doing any kind of hard-sell.

So I bought the amps, dealt with European custom tariffs (the overall price still remained comparatively low), and set them up. No shipping damage. After only a little break-in time my impression was this: a real and expansive soundstage, an effortless ferreting out of detail, a sense of coherent presentation of instruments and voices, and perhaps best of all, a liquid sound, that offered up, with vivid clarity, the flow of complex orchestral passages (eg the Scherzo of Mahler's 5th, conducted by John Barbirolli) in a way that made me lose awareness of sound mediated by plastic, wires, cones and circuits.

The Monarchys anchored my system upgrade. Next better cabling (including Harmonic Tech Pro-9 speaker cables, and interconnects by Van den Hul and Monarchy). And then, selling off my Rotel, which I'd been using for some weeks as a pre-amp, after lots of comparison shopping and some in-house tryouts, I again went the sight-unseen/sound-unheard route and mail-ordered the Morrison ELAD. This is another subject altogether, but once again, anchored to the Monarchys, I experienced a very tangible expansion of soundstage and detail-retrieval (the ELAD promises no sound coloration, at which I believe it succeeds eminently), all the while the system maintaining its liquid character.

With one dissatisfaction however: though I much liked the precision of my B+Ws, I'd always found them on the overly analytical side, occasionally producing a degree of what I take as artificial-sounding separations and insistent emphases, and at times a harshness that undermined my much-cherished liquid sound. (And I do recognize the contribution of cd-based music reproduction to certain sonic unpleasantries).

Next, I moved from my Pioneer cd player to the AhTjoeb, with a pair of NOS Philips E288CC Gold Pins. Again, another story, but another system improvement and at a very modest cost, an improvement particularly in the area of increased frequency range, and cd glare reduction.

The next and biggest hurdle for me was a pair of new speakers. Given the SM-70s' roughly 75w rms capabilities in bridged mode, I worried about their ability to drive a wide range of speakers, which was one of the reasons I opted for a solid state design in the first place. I have a listening area of roughly 11' w x 17' l, not enormous, but given the fact that I will listen to large-scale orchestral and choral works at substantial volume levels, the power abilities of the amps offered potentially significant constraints on my speaker choices.

A series of email and telephone conversations with CC Poon followed, and as usual he offered a low-key and confident appraisal of the Monarchys' capabilities in terms of my situation and interests. I dragged my Monarchys with me all over Holland (an advantage of small-sized equipment), and hooked them up to any number of speakers. Finally wound up in one audio shop, and over a number of days, tried them with models of Magnepan, Sonus Faber, ProAc, and Vienna Acoustics. I fixed finally on the ProAc 1.5s, and the Vienna Acoustics Beethovens, and then finally the Beethovens, which offered, with my Monarchys, this indefinable quality of musicality. The Beethovens are marvelous speakers, with a sound at once natural and coherent, a pristine high frequency, detail without over-analysis, a full-bodied middle and a solid, deep bottom end. With my Monarchys, I found myself forgetting that I was auditioning equipment, and the deal was done. Except for one thing: at the shop, I replaced the Monarchys with a Krell 150w amplifier, and gave this a try. Yes, there was an increased sense of "slam" as they say, but I found this aggressive, rather than impressive, and the Monarchys were able to offer, at equal volume, what for me was equivalent detail retrieval, soundstaging, transient response, etc., with a superior liquid and musical sense. The Beethovens are not an exceptionally easy drive--91 dbl sensitivity, 4 ohm nom. impedance dipping to around 2 or so--but in the audio shop, and then in my home, the Monarchys have matched very well with my speakers, and I've never had any problems with clipping.

Of course if my listening area was larger, I couldn't say if the Monarchys would be entirely up to the job--they are 75w amps--and perhaps in another setting at high(ish) listening levels they might slow down, run out of juice. But that's something I can't comment on and am not presently faced with.

The final chapter in this very long story is that as the last element of my system upgrade I got myself a nice "entry level" analog front end, a good price (here in Europe) on a Pro-ject 6.9 tt, a Goldring Eroica LX cartridge, and a Lehmann Black Cube phonostage. I'm spending probably 75% of my listening time now on vinyl (which totals at least a few hours a day), and without wanting to repeat myself on the virtues of the Monarchys, or extol the wonderments of vinyl sound, the amps are excellent partners to records, to the sonic richness and presence of analog sound reproduction, as usual maintaining a striking level of clarity.

My system and sound are far from perfect, and I see areas for improvement, both in terms of components, and room treatment and arrangement (with great effort I just shifted into a long-wall speaker placement, which so far seems pretty interesting). And the upgrade-bug seems unavoidable, with the potential for better performance and equipment lurking around every corner. I don't have any real criticisms of my Monarchys, at least not in my present system, and room setup. I have heard it said that the Monarchys can be somewhat forward in their soundstage presentation, but I've not experienced this. Soundstage certainly is a matter of room/equipment synergy, along with everything else, and though I dream of a concert-hall depth soundstage, I've found that the best first steps one can take to make alterations here involve simple and creative room and system rearrangements.

I do like listening to my music, and I listen very seriously, and a lot. And as it stands the SM-70s have proven to be extremely fine amplifiers, at an exceptional price. And Monarchy is a good company to do business with.

liquid tube like sound

none that i have noticed

This is a great amp. Nice looks, nice sound & nice price.
One of the most liquid sound for a transistor amp i have
heard. i salute the engineer of this product.
it will give you a goose bump.

Similar Products Used:

audio research, spectron, levinson

Good smooth sound, great build quality, switchable between stereo and monoblock configuration. Runs in Class A mode for smooth sound. Made in the USA.

Runs in Class A mode = Hot. Keep the children and pets away from this amplifier!

This is a smooth sounding good amplifier. It has replaced my more expensive Kinergetics Research Chiro C-200 for the time being and there is little difference in the volume between the Chiro (140 Watts@8 ohms Class A/B) and the SM-70 (25 Watts@8 ohms Class A). I, of course, do like my hearing and don't listen over a moderately loud level. I have not tried to determine the volume before dynamic compression sets in. I have 90 db/W/M sensitive speakers and so I really don't wish to find out. This is a lively little amp that does need some warm up time (I wait about 30-45 minutes) before doing any serious listening. I would recommend these amplifiers to anyone with somewhat sensitive speakers. I like how it sounds and may one day purchase another when I have the money and run them as monoblocks. Once they are fully broken in I expect they will sound even sweeter than they do now. I recommend these amplifiers and if you have any questions, just write to Mr. C.C. Poon (owner/manufacturer) www.monarchyaudio.com who will e-mail you back in a few days. He answered all of my questions promptly and thoroughly. I appreciated his quick response when I first got the amp opened and hooked up and I was trying to determine why it sounded out of phase. It was because I was running the amp in monoblock configuration while I had it wired as a stereo amp. One flick of the switch in the back and the problem was solved. Had I read the instruction manual, I could have seen the instructions telling me to change the switches position. Mr. Poon answered me without the, "Can't you read the instructions?" I appreciated his politeness. Excellent value for the money.

Similar Products Used:

Kinergetics Research Chiro C-200, Creek 4330, Rega Mira.