Densen Beat 250 pre and 350 mono blocs

[Emotion Audio]

I got these on a swap just to have a play, and never imagined they would challenge my incumbent 650w mono blocs, but it's got me serious thinking. Lots of testing to go before any definitive decision, but here's my initial impressions.

Detail, separation, dynamics and natural soundstage...all terms I'd have said my current Monster amps had in spades until I listened to the Densens. When they say "air guitar factor" on the Densen website, I get what they mean. The Densens have a fairly forward, brightly lit sound that is truly designed to excite. And, for only 125wpc, there is an amazing grip on the bottom end and overall timing that keeps the whole presentation motoring along at light speed.

I'd say the monsters still have the edge in macro dynamics (how not with all that power on tap), but the thing that is enchanting me is the natural soundstage. I've been working hard for years trying to get my speakers to "disappear" and not once did I believe my amps were the culprit. But, there it is, rock solid imaging right across the room.

I'm not ready to give up on the old Monsters that easily, so will do some serious testing once the Densens have settled in. But, I've not even tried the preamp yet as I'm running things through my Stello dac/pre, so it should only get better!

BTW - any experienced Desnsen people know the One for All remote code for the b-250? And, any experience with the proprietary densen cabling?

 

[T.S.B.]

I'm a big fan of Densen myself. I own the Dm range pre/power .I prefer the warmer sound of the older Densen gear. A huge improvement I found was changing to a Densen cd player (xs) which replaced a Naim 5 and an ARcam cd92t.The high voltage output from the player can upset a lot of amps ,but with an all Densen system it works for me,add to that one of the largest soundstages without the loss of bass or that annoying high frequency brightness that so many suffer from.

I refused point blank to shell out 200 nicker on a remote. So I found a new Harmony 525 on eBay for £40.But you need to plug into your pc register and search for your model.you then upload and press activate on remote and your up and running.

 

[Emotion Audio]

Darn, I knew you could programme a Harmony remote...but I've already got 2 One for All universals! Was hoping to use one of them.

 

[alexxx]

I use just 20 year old coper cable from amp to speaker. and 20 year old 5 euro cable from pre amp to power amb. Well it twinkels all the way. so. I don't know if expensieve cabeling wil be a big improvement. I run a sp33 primare, densen b320+ and a audiovector sr3 super speakers. So beter cable my be even better. Or just different. A few high end shops wil let you try different cables. it is just what you want to here with your ears.