Bel Canto amp

[Ade]

Hi, (my apologies for the English)

I'm considering buying a dedicated amp for a center speaker I've recently ordered (B&W HTM3S).

Unfortunately I'm a little limited on width and depth rack space for the amp as I have a Stands Unique compact tower so I can't buy any monster sized monoblocks and I don't really want the amp on the floor - I'd also like to keep the heat down so a D-class amp seems to be ideal.

Midgard amps are nice but are bordering on too deep (40cm and I'd like <38) and this years price increase has eaten into their advantages over other amps IMO.

Bel Canto seems to make aesthetically pleasing amps and I've read that people have favourable impressions of their performance - the e.One Ref1000 and the M300 look perfect for me although I'm a little concerned at Bel Canto's blurb for the M300 which states that it has a minimum load capability of 4ohms (the HTM3S gets down to 3.2 occasionally).

So, after all that waffling my questions;

Has anyone here tried these amps, any impressions to share?

Also where did you buy the amp from? I've tried mailing PS Audio in Denmark that's supposed to be a distributor but got no answer and one dealer I heard about in Norway (roaldmik@online.no) but that mail just bounced.

Any idea on the Norwegian pricing for the M300 and the Ref1000?

Maybe someone can suggest another alternative?

Thanks,

Adrian

 

[Rockefoten]

I havent got any of the amps, but Ive got the dac3 from bel canto. Its very expensive in Norway so I imported it second hand from audiogon. I guess the amps would be just as expensive. (1,5 times us price)

The dac is fantastic if you want to judge by that. Looks lovely to. But I guess Midgards are good to, so why dont you go for those considering price.

 

[Liotheles]

Hi Ade, and welcome to the forum
I'll keep my eyes open and see if I can find an ideal alternative, but are really those two centimeters enough to rule out Midtgard?

 

[Ade]

Hi Ade, and welcome to the forum
I'll keep my eyes open and see if I can find an ideal alternative, but are really those two centimeters enough to rule out Midtgard?

Hi there Terje (I assume it is anyway going by the kit in your sig - what's up with the silly nick? ;D ),

the deepest shelves (top and bottom) are only 42cm and the 3 mid shelves are 33cm deep. I have my 3910 DVD player on one of the mid shelves and at 38.5cm it's overhanging the shelf by some but still looks ok - just. I could move my receiver up and put the Midgard on the bottom shelf of course... but still the Bel Canto at 30cm fits better and looks much cooler to boot - I could also fit 3 on 1 shelf if I ever decide to get 2 more for my front 804S...

I actually don't understand why the Midgard is so deep - I think it and the BC Ref1000 use the same ICEPower module so they should have the same form factor requirements.

And yes, I know you’re thinking that it’s a bit weird to be considering an amp based on physical dimensions, but hey, space constraints are space constraints. ;D