Monarchy Audio Pure Class A amp

Hi ya'll!

You may remeber I asked about valve amps a little while ago but decided it was probably better for me to get a class A solid state.

Well it poped in to my mind that John has a stack of them outside his toilet! I went to see him today and he gave me one which he said was broken.

It is a Monarchy Audio SM-70. Once was broken, but now is fixed...

As my only really good speakers are active I can't really test it for sound quality. What are your thoughts on this amp?

Thanks

 

Bring it around to Ilford and find out for yourself.

 

I just plugged it in to some speakers I DIY'd a few years back. I have to say, now it's warmed up it sounds bloody impressive!!

The bass is ooooh so tight and controlled (despite only pushing 40watts into 4ohms). The treble and midrange are not great on these DIY'd speakers but I can still tell it has a lot of delicacy and finesse. For want of a better way to describe it.. it sounds like each note it plays has had care, attention and love put in to it!

I think this is a good amp for my treble units in my up-coming DIY speaker project!

Hell, if I could get 4 more I'd use them for the bass too!

 

it got a great review in hifi+ when it came out, I remember well.

http://www.hifiplus.com/hi-fi_awards_2001.html

 

Well, not bad for free! It always amazes me how things just fall in to place if you are open.

 

I used one for a year or so, I'd say you summed it up well, it's a sweet sounding amp... very engaging to listen to. It can get pretty hot though, it needs those heatsinks=). My brother described it as a cross between a baby krell and a sugden.