Powerful and musical

None in my system

I bought the Muse Model One power amplifier (serial number 95 9600 with RCA input) approximately 6 months ago. It's in mint condition and I have had no hum or other noise problems with it. I bought it because of it's musicality and ability to drive loudspeakers with a low effectiviness. The power amplifier has a warm and powerful sound, and I don't recommend to use it together with a tube preamplifier. I use it together with a Rotel RC-1090 preamplifier which is very neutral in the upper/mid frequences and very tight in the low frequences. This is a very good match. My turntable combo, CD-player, cables and loudspeakers are all neutral in their sound.

Similar Products Used:

Electrocompaniet AW-100DMB, Musical Fidelity A3CR

liquid mids, crystalline highs,well built

mine has captive cord and no balance input.

Greatest strenght I admire from this amp is its midrange neutrality. Reviewer's comments on liquidity is well founded and its tendency to soften the bass is easily addressed with interconnect swapping.I settled with straightwire. It has 6 mosfets per channel and powered by a huge toroidal and the caps are like milk cans in size. Binding posts are from cardas and internal wiring by kimber. More importantly reasonably price. Its unfortunate it has been discontinued but they made it again because of demand for its return up to year 2000. It is very stable driving my thiels.

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classe', bryston,quad

I owned a Muse Model 100 for over four years. At the time, it was a good amp, but the competition has overtaken it.
Images were flat, two-dimensional, like cardboard cut-outs. As such, the Model 100 mated well with Kimber KCAG or XLO Ref2 Type 1. The Model 100 was also lacking in transparency, deep bass, and air. Unlike other posted reviews, I could not get the Muse to sound bright.

I had some other quibbles, as well. It ran too warm. Beware of the heatsinks and sharp edges. The copper binding posts dulled and tarnished over time. The powercord is not detachable, and in many systems, the Model 100 has that ground loop hum.

Associated Equipment:
Theta Data Basic II; Pro Prime IIa; Cobalt 307
Illuminations D-60; Kimber KS-2020; MIT Digital Reference and T3
Sumiko Projects 1 and 6; Blue Point Special
B&K Pro10 MC and Classe' 30
Singet SL280; NHT SuperZero; Paradigm 5SE
Audioquest F-14, Type 4, and Indigo; Kimber 4TC and 8TC

Can play loud with little effort. Good rear RCA connections.

Not a great value. Modifcation, a waste of money. Did not change the sound quality. Not a very quiet amp; has hum problem, lots of pops, clicks, snaps.A lot better amps out there. Customer service is abysmal, unhelpfull, unfriendly, sometimes even hostile. Barbara the receptionist once hung up on me, because I questioned the price for a repair. Though Kevin, when available, is pleasant.

The Muse 100 plus the $350 modification, which I undrestand is now around $500 or $600, is not bad; but it is not that good either. The bass is fine. But the overall sound lacks transparency. Even with this overprized mod, there persisted a thick smoggy veil that sucked the richness and life out of music. Adding to this aural insult, the Muse 100 had a substantial hum which I tried to fix, but never could. Brooks Bredan, who was extremely helpful, found some faulty grounding and fixed it, which helped some but did elimate the hum completely. Other problems were irritating pops and clicks which disappeared after replacing the Muse 100 with another non-Muse amp.

Adding to all this is the additude of indifference, and sometimes hostility, to all the above when I tried to talk about it with the Muse people. When every I brought up the problem, they always tried to lay the blame on another non-Muse component in my system.

I have hesitated a long time before writing this, but I want to warn others about way you may be treated if you have a problem with the unit. Before I mentioned the problem everyone was quite friendly, especially Kevin, the designer. But you may encounter another attitude if things go bad.

Needless to say, I would not buy another Muse product.

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Accurus, Aragon

Airy, clear, great vocals, good soundstage, confident.

A little quite at very low volumes (on my speakes -maggy 1.5 QR)

The MUSE 100 has driven my Magnepan 1.5 QR loudspeakers for 5 years splendidly, and these are not easy speakers to drive. They would drive more efficient speakers with great ease I think. The MUSE is clean, airy, throws out a big soundastage and is impeccable with vocals.

I recently tried an Acurus A200 and thought it not nearly as good as the MUSE. The Acurus's sound was so much smaller, muddier and confined.

I think the reason for the mixed reviews has to do with the fact that some amps work better with some speakers (and some systems). The only true test is to listen to it with our system, but if this amp can drive my Maggy's I suspect it will do wonderful things with many other speakers.

Similar Products Used:

Acurus A200

IT is clean, detailed without sounding etched, fast and has avery smooth midrange.The model I have was upgraded at the factory and at the time I had Kevin Halverson repalce the internal wirings with Kimber silver interconnects. I think this amp gives you an accurate rendition of the signal sent to it. The funny thing about this amp is that you have to turn it up abit to for critical listening.One thought to keep in mind is that you have to leave this amp on all the time!!! This amp sounds bright, harsh and scratchy when first turned on. So don't even think of unpluggging this amp.

Could have a better sound stage and better resolution at lower levels. This amp is a good match with Magneplanar 1.6's. And I have tried them with Vandersteen 2ci's. They worked pretty well with those speakers.

A good but not great amp. I believe that there are probably better amps for the money right now. But this amp works very well with maggies and vandersteens. By the way put the amp on spikes and its clarity through-out the midrange will increase about 20%. Amp also likes goertz speaker cables and sounds muddy with audioquest(midprice speaker cables).

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VAC 100-100 ( A wonderful amp may be one of the best amps I have heard in recent years.) EAD series 2 DAC and EVS attenuators.

Smooth highs, Great Bass

None

As soon As I saw the last review. I had to write mine. I just got the Muse 100 less then a month ago. Coupled w/ a Anthem Preamp. The sound has absolutely no Veil over it at all. It is wide open and very Musical. This unit is 1st Gen. Around 1994-95. And I have never heard any hum at all. For the price I paid it's the audiophile bargin of the Century. Hums in systems are terrible things.They can be caused by many factors.I think the last person just got fed up.But as for the sound just look at the other reviews. I feel the same way. For him to hear that kind of sound, it must have been another component in his system affecting the Sound.The Muse Absolutley does not sound like that!

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Mccormack DNA 5

Wonderful Tube like sound. With Power too!

Not a One!

I stop by this area every once and a while to check other peoples experiences w/ the Model 100.I've owned mine for over 7 yrs. I pay a grand back in 1994. I thought It was a good deal then. The List was 1350.00 at the time. No internet to speak of then.This time I had to write my own comment.Because of Richard's experience detailed below.It must have been a Bad amp in the Bunch and that's it. I've never had a Problem w/ mine ever. Never had any feedback problems at all.As far as the sound. You have to match this amp very carefully or you could have problems. Richard, you should have demoed some other equipment or cables in your system. Your comments never mention if you Did. Because when you get the right match. The Goosebump factor is very high.I love my Model 100 and will never sell it and long as it keeps performing like it has in the past. Well, that's my 2 cents worth. Equip:Sonus Faber -Concertos ,Ah'99 cd player,and Aud. ill. m-3 pre-amp.

powerful, excellent midrange, deep bass, smooth (non-fatiguing)

a tad forward....slightly bloaty in the bass

I upgraded to this amplifier after having traded in a kav300i integrated for a bel canto preamp/muse 100 setup. The krell was harsh and grainy on my dunlavy IV/a's......a bad match indeed.........the new combo provided a much smoother, more natural sound...and a deep, broad soundstage. Vocals are extremely realistic and you get a real sense of "presence".
The muse is every bit as powerful as the Krell 300i (150w) I had been using, and yet the Muse rates at only 100 watts. An A/B comparison with an $1100 rotel 991 (a 200w amp)showed the muse had more power, deeper bass, a much fuller, richer sound altogether. The rotel sounded thin in comparison. I also demo'd a fpb200c (yes, a $7,000+ amp!). No, the muse 100 is not as powerfull (however, I actually use 2 of the Muse 100 amps vertically biamped and YES, the two 100w muse amps play several decibels louder than the krell at the same volume...watt vs watt, the Muse is the winner)The FPB200c isn't bad, it's just that midrange/top end of the Muse is so good. Depth of soundstage, 3 dimensional imaging, HF extension, depth and power of bass are also very good...the bass slightly bloated, but the overall presentation of the amp is very natural, smooth and pleasing. The bass of the muse might even extend an octave lower than the krell, although it's not as tight. Excellent dynamics. Incredible vocals. Almost eerie on some cd's (Tori Amos "into the pink"). I would take the muse 100 over the FPB200C any day. (the krell does have a cool blue light though!) Even my non audiophile girlfriend (after listening to Madonna Music on the krell FPB200c for a half hour)...was "wowwed" by the Muse when I hooked it up. I won't say what the Krell dealer said when I returned the 200c and had them audition the muse 100 themselves. "Maybe the krell needs more time to warm up....?"
...No, it isn't the best amp at any price...but it's surely a great amp for it's modest cost.
Hello Hifi has 4 left..they are obsolete.

MY EQUIPMENT:
Bel Canto SEP1 pre
2 Muse 100 amps,
Dunlavy SC-IV/a, biamped
2 sets,kimber monocle xl
cardas golden ref, balanced
Muse 9 cd/dvd
API ultra power wedge
Sidwinder/Black Mamba power cables

Similar Products Used:

Krell KAV300i, Rotel 991, Krell FPB200c

i have a tube based system with neutral speakers. i use this amp for continual play, not critical evaluation of music or components. having said that, this is the only inexpensive solid state amp i have ever enjoyed with out regard to price. tonally it is smooth with out any specific emphasis in bass, mids, or highs. it makes listening to music a very pleasant experience. it lacks somewhat in the ability to produce heighth and depth in the stereo image but excels in width. product has been problem free. it definately doesn't hum!

this amp doesn't have the last word in transparency. while tonally it might sound like tubes, it lacks the air that you get with tubes.

this amp is a fantastic buy in solid state for the prices i see it being offer for on the internet - assuming that this is the sound you are after and that it matches your speakers tonally.

Similar Products Used:

perreaux 2150b, threshold sa3, mesa baron and sonic frontier sf 80 (both tube). speakers are paragon jubilee/jems, a dynaudio speaker based system.