![]() ![]() At first, I thought the AHB2 sounded less bright, and less full in the bass, than the other amps I had on hand, but after only a few days of listening I began to accept that it sounded more "right" than any of them. Lots of real-world factors might account for this, including interaction of an amplifier's output stage with the complex input impedance of a loudspeaker. Careful listeners often hear what sounds like an uneven or tilted frequency balance, even when measurements taken under lab conditions show it to be flat. Tonal balance is a curious audio parameter. I also, very briefly, ran the AHB2 as a bridged monoblock into a single loudspeaker it sounded the same, but I thought it would be pointless to try to get it to clip if I wanted to avoid annoying my neighbors. Both recordings are remarkably clean and spacious, with powerful bass the AHB2 rose to the occasion, driving the two 800 Diamonds (sans subwoofer) to volumes louder than I ever hope to hear from them again (though it's nice to know I can). For this I used "Jazz Variants," from the O-Zone Percussion Group's La Bamba (CD, Klavier KD 77017), and the glorious conclusion of Saint-Saâns's Symphony 3, with organist Olivier Latry, Christoph Eschenbach, and the Philadelphia Orchestra (SACD/CD, Ondine ODE-1094-5). In practice, I had to push the AHB2 to unreasonable and personally uncomfortable volume levels to get the least blink from one of its Clip LEDs. That seemed to present no problem for the AHB2, which, Benchmark claims, can pump out nearly 200Wpc into 4 ohms or 240Wpc into 3 ohms. Given that there are current-hungry combinations of 4 ohms and ≥2° electrical phase angle at 62Hz and 5.3 ohms and ≣9° phase angle at 8.6kHz, I believe this speaker should be rated as a 4 ohm load rather than the specified 8 ohms." "There are minima of 3.15 ohms at 91Hz, 3.1 ohms at 620Hz, and 3.67 ohms at 21kHz. At an SPL of 90dB, the B&Ws are of neither particularly high nor low efficiency, but JA has told us what makes them difficult to drive: It was clear that this 100Wpc (into 8 ohms) stereo amp had all the power needed to drive with aplomb my Bowers & Wilkins 800 Diamond speakers to any reasonable level. In addition to quantity of soundstage detail, the AHB2 was also "large" in power output. Or, better, I could just surrender to the warmly touching denouement. I could hear into the ensemble and aurally navigate the soundstage. The resulting impression was one of transparency, neutrality, and liveliness. As the horns enter, the fading strings diminish but remain audible as they continue to provide the tonal foundation. Classical music, of course, benefited from this newfound richness of information, as was clearly demonstrated by the last minute or so of Adám Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra's recording of the Adagio of Bruckner's Symphony 7 (SACD/CD, Channel Classics CCS SA 33714). Similarly, the AHB2 uncovered so many of the little niceties peppering "Ride Across the River," from Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms: 20th Anniversary Edition (SACD/CD, Vertigo 9871498), that it was like savoring the spicy bits in a Xi'an broth for the first time. Yes, this was now audible through my other amps as well, when I returned to thembut until the AHB2, I hadn't heard itor, at least, hadn't noticed it. One example was Hans Theessink's voice at the end of the phrase "as I lay sleeping," in "Late Last Night," from his album Call Me (CD, Blue Groove BG-4020): I could now distinctly hear how his gravelly tone faded off well before the fade of its ambient resonance. These surprising and delicious details were evident from the bass up through the midrange and extreme treble, which nonetheless remained silky and diaphanous. ![]()
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