The Absolute Sound
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- Apr 19, 2013
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<p>
B.M.C. (Balanced Music Concept) is a relatively new company with an old soul. It was founded in 2009 by a team of accomplished designers and managers who have produced quality components for a variety of well-known brands since the mid-1980s. led by the articulate and gregarious Carlos Candeias (who studied electronic engineering at the Berlin Technical university), B.M.C. is a truly cosmopolitan effort which designs and markets in Germany and manufactures and assembles in its own purpose-built dedicated factory in China.</p>
<p>
With the $8390 CS2 stereo amplifier there’s more than meets the eye. It’s a hybrid of sorts, adaptable for multiple roles at the user’s discretion. As with an integrated amp or preamp there is input-switching and a volume control. But there is no conventional preamp stage. Thus, it can be used purely as a stand-alone stereo amp or slaved to a preamp or processor. In the ultimate expression of the CS2’s synergy it connects with the B.M.C. DAC 1—a high-resolution DAC also available with an analog preamp option. Complete with digital (including USB) and analog inputs and B.M.C.’s unique DIGM compatibility (see Tech Highlights), the DAC 1 effectively becomes the command center for input-switching and volume, basically bypassing all but the CS2 amplifier section. In a nutshell this is what the B.M.C. philosophy is all about—short signal chains, bypassing extraneous circuitry where possible and, chameleon like, creating component flexibility.</p>
<p>
The CS2 is visually striking—an 88-pound, retro-brawny component that imprints on the memory long after the system is powered down. The execution of the aluminum casework is stunning, massively constructed with deeply finned wraparound heat-sinking and an equally thick faceplate. As the CS2 can run fairly hot, a pair of silent fans underneath the chassis maintains thermal equilibrium. Everything about the CS2 creates an impression of strength, resonance rejection, and permanence. Its power output is rated at 200Wpc into 8 ohms and 350Wpc into 4 ohms—a spec that places it near the top of its category. It has a fully regulated power supply with a huge 2kW toroidal transformer and a small battalion of specially designed and produced current capacitors.</p>
<p>
The front panel centers around a whimsically large, circular analog Vu (as in volume units) meter. It displays right and left channel signal level, while volume level and input-selection are numerically displayed. The display is well lighted and dimmable and, depending on your point of view, highly entertaining as you watch the red signal needles whipping back and forth. Equally arresting are power and volume knobs the size of hockey pucks that require a firm hand to ratchet up and down. The back panel is spacious and, befitting the amp’s dual-mono circuitry, features a mirror-matched input/output setup. There are three sets of RCA inputs, a pair of XLR inputs, plus an Opto control-loop for DIGM compatibility. A full-featured machined-aluminum remote, the RC-1, handles multiple functions including B.M.C.’s own CD and DAC-1 separates.</p>
<p>
Sonically the CS2 plays big. There’s nothing bashful or withdrawn about the personality of this amp. And dynamically it just flat-out brings it on. As I listened to Solti’s reading of the Beethoven Ninth [Decca], the full percussion and brass batteries of the Chicago symphony blazing, I couldn’t help but shake my head at the CS2’s potency and the steady grip and control it exerted on the music—traits that infuse a system with a firmer foundation and denser hall ambience. Coupled with its unflagging dynamic thrust these were qualities that exemplified the long reach of a robust power supply and transformer. Even loudspeakers that I was very familiar with (some of them compacts) benefited from this weightier, more stable sound. These are characteristics we assume come as standard equipment on high-power-rated amplifiers, but this doesn’t always prove out in practice. As I was listening to the 24-bit WAV file of “Mercy street” from Peter Gabriel’s <em>New Blood </em>album, I became increasingly aware of the dynamics gathering behind the vocal like a harmonic storm, and welling up from below the orchestra during the second chorus of the song.</p>
<p>
The CS2’s tonal balance is modern solid-state. It doesn’t suggest the kind of brazen personality that once defined tubed or early transistor electronics. There’s not a hint of the grain, forwardness, golden bloom, and slightly tubby bass of early valves. It doesn’t tilt to the rose-complected side of the tonal spectrum, either, although orchestral string sections do have an authentic sense of harmonic richness. Nor does the amp suggest icy stridency whether it’s engaging the Hamburg Steinway beneath the fingertips of piano virtuoso Minoru Nojima [Reference] or the aggressive bowing of Arturo Delmoni [John Marks Records]. Throughout my evaluation the word “control” kept resurfacing.</p>
[Source: http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/bmc-cs2-stereo-amplifier-1/]
B.M.C. (Balanced Music Concept) is a relatively new company with an old soul. It was founded in 2009 by a team of accomplished designers and managers who have produced quality components for a variety of well-known brands since the mid-1980s. led by the articulate and gregarious Carlos Candeias (who studied electronic engineering at the Berlin Technical university), B.M.C. is a truly cosmopolitan effort which designs and markets in Germany and manufactures and assembles in its own purpose-built dedicated factory in China.</p>
<p>
With the $8390 CS2 stereo amplifier there’s more than meets the eye. It’s a hybrid of sorts, adaptable for multiple roles at the user’s discretion. As with an integrated amp or preamp there is input-switching and a volume control. But there is no conventional preamp stage. Thus, it can be used purely as a stand-alone stereo amp or slaved to a preamp or processor. In the ultimate expression of the CS2’s synergy it connects with the B.M.C. DAC 1—a high-resolution DAC also available with an analog preamp option. Complete with digital (including USB) and analog inputs and B.M.C.’s unique DIGM compatibility (see Tech Highlights), the DAC 1 effectively becomes the command center for input-switching and volume, basically bypassing all but the CS2 amplifier section. In a nutshell this is what the B.M.C. philosophy is all about—short signal chains, bypassing extraneous circuitry where possible and, chameleon like, creating component flexibility.</p>
<p>
The CS2 is visually striking—an 88-pound, retro-brawny component that imprints on the memory long after the system is powered down. The execution of the aluminum casework is stunning, massively constructed with deeply finned wraparound heat-sinking and an equally thick faceplate. As the CS2 can run fairly hot, a pair of silent fans underneath the chassis maintains thermal equilibrium. Everything about the CS2 creates an impression of strength, resonance rejection, and permanence. Its power output is rated at 200Wpc into 8 ohms and 350Wpc into 4 ohms—a spec that places it near the top of its category. It has a fully regulated power supply with a huge 2kW toroidal transformer and a small battalion of specially designed and produced current capacitors.</p>
<p>
The front panel centers around a whimsically large, circular analog Vu (as in volume units) meter. It displays right and left channel signal level, while volume level and input-selection are numerically displayed. The display is well lighted and dimmable and, depending on your point of view, highly entertaining as you watch the red signal needles whipping back and forth. Equally arresting are power and volume knobs the size of hockey pucks that require a firm hand to ratchet up and down. The back panel is spacious and, befitting the amp’s dual-mono circuitry, features a mirror-matched input/output setup. There are three sets of RCA inputs, a pair of XLR inputs, plus an Opto control-loop for DIGM compatibility. A full-featured machined-aluminum remote, the RC-1, handles multiple functions including B.M.C.’s own CD and DAC-1 separates.</p>
<p>
Sonically the CS2 plays big. There’s nothing bashful or withdrawn about the personality of this amp. And dynamically it just flat-out brings it on. As I listened to Solti’s reading of the Beethoven Ninth [Decca], the full percussion and brass batteries of the Chicago symphony blazing, I couldn’t help but shake my head at the CS2’s potency and the steady grip and control it exerted on the music—traits that infuse a system with a firmer foundation and denser hall ambience. Coupled with its unflagging dynamic thrust these were qualities that exemplified the long reach of a robust power supply and transformer. Even loudspeakers that I was very familiar with (some of them compacts) benefited from this weightier, more stable sound. These are characteristics we assume come as standard equipment on high-power-rated amplifiers, but this doesn’t always prove out in practice. As I was listening to the 24-bit WAV file of “Mercy street” from Peter Gabriel’s <em>New Blood </em>album, I became increasingly aware of the dynamics gathering behind the vocal like a harmonic storm, and welling up from below the orchestra during the second chorus of the song.</p>
<p>
The CS2’s tonal balance is modern solid-state. It doesn’t suggest the kind of brazen personality that once defined tubed or early transistor electronics. There’s not a hint of the grain, forwardness, golden bloom, and slightly tubby bass of early valves. It doesn’t tilt to the rose-complected side of the tonal spectrum, either, although orchestral string sections do have an authentic sense of harmonic richness. Nor does the amp suggest icy stridency whether it’s engaging the Hamburg Steinway beneath the fingertips of piano virtuoso Minoru Nojima [Reference] or the aggressive bowing of Arturo Delmoni [John Marks Records]. Throughout my evaluation the word “control” kept resurfacing.</p>
[Source: http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/bmc-cs2-stereo-amplifier-1/]