Who Was That Masked Man?
Fyller på med litt mer om David Belles
https://www.hifichoice.com/content/belles-aria
David Belles has been behind a host of sensibly priced, high-quality amplifiers since 1978, both under the Belles brand and as a talented hired gun for other leading hi-fi companies. His prowess with electronics even played a part in the space race at mission control a little while ago, so he knows all about important signals getting through correctly.
SoundStage! Belles 150A
Who Was That Masked Man?
Belles (pronounced Bel-less) may not be a familiar name/manufacturer to everybody. Dave Belles has been designing and building amplifiers in Rochester, NY since 1978. His first amp, the Belles A, was a solid state class A design. The Belles 150 amplifier of the late 80s was named one of the 10-best used high-end audio components in The Absolute Sound magazine in the early 1990s for good reason. The 150 was a classic moderate cost (list $795 during the final year or so of production) 75w/ch amplifier. Musicality, lack of common solid state amp artifacts, and solid overall performance set it apart from other solid state amplifiers near its price. In the late 80s, Dave Belles joined forces with the Magnum-Dynalab people. Dave designed and built the amplifiers under the OCM brand. The OCM-200 ($1,600, 100w) and OCM-500 ($2,800, 200+w) were initially a little "slow out of the blocks" but a few running production changes early-on transformed the OCM amps to "best in class" levels of performance. Later on Dave Belles-designed OCM preamps appeared along with the brute force OCM-1600 (around 800w and almost $10,000) monoblock amps. All of Dave Belles's products have received positive reviews in the worldwide high-end press.
In the early 1990s I found myself in need of "the perfect $3,000 amplifier." I went on an amp rampage trying everything I could lay my hands on, new and used, that would not set me back more than $3,000. This included a number of more expensive amps offered at prices low enough to get under the limit. The OCM-500 won the search by a pretty fair margin.
Time passes and the OCM-500 now finds a number of worthy competitors in its price range. Dave Belles is no longer working with the Magnum-Dynalab/OCM folks. He's back on his own, designing and building overachieving cost effective high end electronics. The 150A amplifier is the first product in the new Power Modules, Inc. lineup. I've had 2 brief listens to a prototype of a $1,500 (target list price) line stage that uses rechargeable battery power. This could be an awesome value if the final product sounds as good as what I heard. There was a clarity that exceeded every preamp I've heard so far. Watch SoundStage! for a full review when production units are available. Other new components coming in the near future will be:
a $1,000 battery powered phono stage to go with the line stage for us vinyl lovers
a $1,000 AC powered version of the battery preamp/line stage
a $1700 high-powered amp in the "hundreds" of watts per channel range with fully balanced circuitry
Power Modules, Inc. will focus on products in the under $2,000 price range. This is a different and welcome philosophy that will benefit those of us who want the best sound possible but have to worry about all the things in life that limit "discretionary funds." Now that you know a bit about Dave Belles and Power Modules, Inc., let's get on with the review of the 150A amplifier.
https://www.hifinews.com/content/belles-28a150a-£3750£2750
But if LP playback is a priority, the 28A must go on your shortlist.
Fyller på med litt mer om David Belles
https://www.hifichoice.com/content/belles-aria
David Belles has been behind a host of sensibly priced, high-quality amplifiers since 1978, both under the Belles brand and as a talented hired gun for other leading hi-fi companies. His prowess with electronics even played a part in the space race at mission control a little while ago, so he knows all about important signals getting through correctly.
SoundStage! Belles 150A
Who Was That Masked Man?
Belles (pronounced Bel-less) may not be a familiar name/manufacturer to everybody. Dave Belles has been designing and building amplifiers in Rochester, NY since 1978. His first amp, the Belles A, was a solid state class A design. The Belles 150 amplifier of the late 80s was named one of the 10-best used high-end audio components in The Absolute Sound magazine in the early 1990s for good reason. The 150 was a classic moderate cost (list $795 during the final year or so of production) 75w/ch amplifier. Musicality, lack of common solid state amp artifacts, and solid overall performance set it apart from other solid state amplifiers near its price. In the late 80s, Dave Belles joined forces with the Magnum-Dynalab people. Dave designed and built the amplifiers under the OCM brand. The OCM-200 ($1,600, 100w) and OCM-500 ($2,800, 200+w) were initially a little "slow out of the blocks" but a few running production changes early-on transformed the OCM amps to "best in class" levels of performance. Later on Dave Belles-designed OCM preamps appeared along with the brute force OCM-1600 (around 800w and almost $10,000) monoblock amps. All of Dave Belles's products have received positive reviews in the worldwide high-end press.
In the early 1990s I found myself in need of "the perfect $3,000 amplifier." I went on an amp rampage trying everything I could lay my hands on, new and used, that would not set me back more than $3,000. This included a number of more expensive amps offered at prices low enough to get under the limit. The OCM-500 won the search by a pretty fair margin.
Time passes and the OCM-500 now finds a number of worthy competitors in its price range. Dave Belles is no longer working with the Magnum-Dynalab/OCM folks. He's back on his own, designing and building overachieving cost effective high end electronics. The 150A amplifier is the first product in the new Power Modules, Inc. lineup. I've had 2 brief listens to a prototype of a $1,500 (target list price) line stage that uses rechargeable battery power. This could be an awesome value if the final product sounds as good as what I heard. There was a clarity that exceeded every preamp I've heard so far. Watch SoundStage! for a full review when production units are available. Other new components coming in the near future will be:
a $1,000 battery powered phono stage to go with the line stage for us vinyl lovers
a $1,000 AC powered version of the battery preamp/line stage
a $1700 high-powered amp in the "hundreds" of watts per channel range with fully balanced circuitry
Power Modules, Inc. will focus on products in the under $2,000 price range. This is a different and welcome philosophy that will benefit those of us who want the best sound possible but have to worry about all the things in life that limit "discretionary funds." Now that you know a bit about Dave Belles and Power Modules, Inc., let's get on with the review of the 150A amplifier.
https://www.hifinews.com/content/belles-28a150a-£3750£2750
But if LP playback is a priority, the 28A must go on your shortlist.
