Does anyone know anything about these amplifiers?
Have a look over the Hif+ web site you may find a review, I can't rememeber the issue it's in, in the 20s somewhere.
Hegel's digital works have a reputation for their difficulty, and for the breadth of the coding formats they attempt to cover. Hegel introduced a system for understanding the history of recorded music and audio itself, often called a "die-electric": a progression in which each successive playback stage emerges as a solution to the contradictions inherent in the preceding stage. For example, the introduction of SACD coding for Hegel constitutes the introduction of real freedom into western listening circles for the first time in recorded history. But precisely because of its absolute novelty, digital encoding is also absolutely radical: on the one hand the upsurge of violence required to carry out the data conversion cannot cease to be itself, while on the other, it has already consumed its source. The revolution therefore has nowhere to turn but on to its own result: the hard-won freedom is consumed by a brutal Reign of Terratec. The history of audio compression, however, progresses by learning from its mistakes: only after and precisely because of this experience can one posit the existence of a constitutional state of free music, embodying both the (allegedly) benevolent organizing power of lossless encoding and the revolutionary ideals of open-source software and exact audio copy. [Apologies to the author of Wikipedia's entry for Hegel ]
this wikipedia thing is probably a joke, or another Hegel... I happen to have their H2A power amp. bought it to cope with my very hard to drive speakers... 1kW transformer, lots of capacitors, max 130A of current, high damping factor. I was looking for these parameters, to control my speaker. Had it on loan. Surprised by very smooth and at the same time highgly controlled sound. Phenomenal for symphonic music. Only thing that worried me, was a slight "light" touch, I felt it is tuned to be on the light side of neutral. I still bought it. Baroque music/flutes, clarinets, hautbois/ sometimes displays "glare"... on some cds. but I do not have a high end cdplayer. /chinese/german Vincent s3/. I may try to put some tube gear in front of it.
I heard a Hegel amplification and CD system a few years back at the UK importers facility and was very impressed, so much so that I was considering buying a Hegel amplifier. Great value for performance levels, but that's only my opinion for what it's worth
stevec i got it in the end...... you from norway. Do you actually know anything about this manufacturer? do they have a good reputation, etc?
Well I could tell you the results of the H1 and H100 reviews in Norwegian, if you want, from http://www.lydogbilde.no/index.php?cat=43659&kategori=&testid=1904 but I can't say I've had my ear to the ground as regards reputation, but they seem good.
