Anyone hear Balabo gear?

I believe Valin called them "dark" and "hi-fi real" - see the review. To me, there are major inconsistencies - yet again - in what TAS claims. It has become a really bad magazine; anyone notice how skinny Hi-Fi+ has become?

Excerpt: "The BAlabo’s midrange is a thing of utter beauty—so sweet, so finely detailed, so rich and fully articulated, so much like the real thing (heard close by). It is also fast, startlingly dynamic in impact (snapped strings or pounded piano chords or rim shots will astonish you), and, yes and for all its virtues, definitely on the dark side. "

and for all its virtues, definitely on the dark side... For a paltry $138K one can't expect much..

I've listened to Balabo equipment for quite a period of time in the recent past. They are big, heavy, have a lot of parts in them, and never ever sounded offensive to me.

The power amp sounds like an improved Forsell Statement amplifier. Dark, sweet, just plain easy to listen to. For my own tastes, the top three power amps today would be the FM Acoustic 1811, Lamm ML 3 and Balabo.

The line stage is the most complex of its kind that I have come across. When I lifted the top cover, the complexity of the volume control alone is a sight to marvel at. This component very naturally brings forth the beauty of a performance. There is simply more body, more bloom and more reach into the listening area when this component is inserted. Just for the heck of it, I once set up a chain composed of the Spectral cd player, the Balabo line stage, the 47 lab gaincard, and the Magico V3 speakers. The sound was so un-fatiguing I listened until the shop had to close.

When one puts together the line stage and the power amp, to get the best sound, one has to use one of three grounding cables that runs from the linestage to the power amp that Balabo offers. One will have to experiment on these three grounding cables as they significantly alter the sonics. The best combination of cabling that I have heard for the Balabos are MIT Oracle interconnects between the line stage and the power amp; and, Sensory Power speaker cables between the power amp and the speakers.

what is MSRP of the amp and linestage

I remember the power amp was 75 thousand. I can't recall the MSRP of the line stage exactly, but I think it was in the 55 to 65 thousand range.

Is that with or without air conditioning .............?

As mullard88 pointed out, it comes with a removable hard top

so someone had a BALABO linestage paired with V3 speakers?

seems odd---the V3 costs 1/3 of the linestage lol....

Sound Chamber in HK has all these goodies in-stock and on display. You can listen to practically any combination in that store as Mullard88 does.

I know of no one that actually privately owns that combo though.

so finely detailed, so rich and fully articulated, so much like the real thing...

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... definitely on the dark side. "

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Pick one.

Tim

Curious if there are any current owners of the BALabo amps and preamp?
Can you shed some light on your experiences ,in terms of sound, reliability ,and joy of usage?