James
Lord of the Erg\o/s
Same here, I replaced my 135s with a pair of Densen B-350s. Then I went the whole hog and got the B-250 and B-400XS to replace the 52 and CDS2. No regrets whatsoever. OK, maybe I miss the 52 a little but the B-250 is a very transparent and musical preamplifier.My Densen B330+ saw off my old olive Nap 135's. It was very obvious. And Im a big fan of the olive 135's. That was my 3rd pair before I sold them. They were late and fully serviced. I so wanted to keep them as I have no immediate plans to change my Nac 52 and CDS3. The speakers were Neat 3is + Rel Storm 3. Used Nac A5. The Densen was amazing. Massive slam. Massive sound. Transparency was superb.Heard more of what the source was offering. Speed and grip. Sense of much more power. More of everything really. One box and only the weight of about one 135. The Nap 135's still sounded very good by the way. But the Densens performance and the thought of a service a few years down the line - decision made.
There are downsides to the Densen. Its not cheap. Last rrp I think was around the £3500 mark. They are rare if your thinking of a used unit.There is no short cct protection. Found out the hard way. Got my speaker leads round the wrong way. Wouldn't normally matter but the Rel is at speaker level with one negative to REL GND. Bang ! Off for repair. Silliness like this not covered by the lifetime warranty. Also, after switching amp off must be left for around 10 minutes before switching on again. Otherwise you'll get the speaker 'switch on' thump/crack from hell. Sounds superb though. Offers serious competition to considerably more expensive amps. Its a cracker - literally .
The 400XS has since given up its ghost and has been replaced (partly under lifetime warranty) by 440XS and I'm relishing the use of a Dynavector HX-1.2mk2 with the B-250 into Yamaha NS-1000Ms. As good as the B-350s are, the HX-1.2mk2 has just a bit more grip and authority. When I reinstate the semi-active Ergo-X, I'll put both Densen and Dynavector amps on duty.