What is intelligent bias? How does it work? The predecessor, 010, was 40 watts class A. Is the 011 the same?
How does the 011 compare to the 102? I heard the a big stereo amp in Toronto (so did Paul) on Magico S5's and it was incredible.
Bob, have you tried the glorious Absolare tube amps on your new Magico's?
Howdy Mike..... ( I edited this post as it was not clear originally)
The Intelligent class A has a monitoring circuit that increases and decreases operating temperature of the output devices. It is "theoretically" performing in class A most of the time, without constant high temp operation.
From when Hans changed/updated from the 010 to the O11's there were several changes and he then rated the amplifiers with more realistic power ratings.....200W on the 011's. They are very powerful.
As always there is the system synergy/speaker thing going on, but with the Magicos or Kaiser that I have used the 011's and SM102's if you listen to the 102's in AB mode they sound great, UNTIL you hit the button on the remote and then hear the SM102's in Class A mode. For me the SM102's in Class A mode is "the berries".
The SM011's are just so easy to live with size wise and operating temp wise vs. the SM102's running in Class A, which "heat up". The 011's sound different that the 102's in Class A, maybe faster, VERY transparent, very open sounding, but with good body to the images.
The SM011's run in Class A or ICA to 40 Watts, 200 Watts into 8 ohm and 400 Watts into 4 ohm in Class AB, switchable via remote.
The 102's are rich, a little warmer than the 011's, VERY full bodied, authoritative, tube like midrange, world class bass, transparent, but maybe not as transparent as the 011's. When both the 102's and 011's are running in Class A the sound is closer in nature than not, the 011's might not have the "weight" of the 102's.
If you are listening to the 011's on the Magicos you say these are the ones. Then you switch to the 102's and you say no, these are the ones, etc., they both sound REALLY good with Magico especially. That one notch on the warm side vs. totally neutral matches so well with the Magicos.
Have not tried the Absolare SET's yet as they are at a customer's who is waiting for his Kondo Kaguras. I will have them back in a few weeks when his Kaguras are delivered, which will be driving Q7 MKII's. The Absolare SET's drive the Q7II's in a good size room to pretty good levels.
I have tried the Kaguras with the S7's (not the S5II's yet as Myles has my Kaguras at the moment) and they are VERY holographic and sound great, BUT when you put on the Vitus Sm102's in Class A the S7's stand up to attention and roar.
One last point is that like most amps, but especially with the SM102's they take at least an hour playing in Class A mode to really strut their stuff. The SM011's take some time to warm up as well, but not as long as the SM102's. They are both VERY listenable from the get-go but after an hour in Class A with the 102's then you understand what they are all about.
