McLaren 701 (standard 401)
Hooked up the amp to a streaming preamp and the Bolands and your pixie dust has certainly made for an impressive result. Will add the 401 and record player to see how that rolls.
Roger
Perreaux 3150
We’ve had the amp back for over 2 months now and am still blown away with what you have managed to achieve. We have spent many Saturdays and Sundays now just listening. We get up with plans to do a few things but just get drawn into the music and end up playing album after album. That’s something we haven’t done in a very long time.
I think I’d describe it by saying you just get so drawn into the mix. There is no emphasis on anything, the music literally just flows. Incredible vocals, tuneful driving rhythmic bass, snare drums that rattle, delicate top end and all this with uncanny timing. When music stops mid track for a split moment it just stops. Silence. No overhang. followed by immediate playing again.
The amp sounded beautiful due to the previous standard upgrades you had done for the previous owner some 20 years ago. The premium plus upgrade this time around is seriously next level, and then some. And that all this was achieved for a hifi pittance is nothing short of astonishing.
Listening to ACDC you can hear Phil’s stick actually tapping the hi hat, not just a cymbal. Then you start hearing the bass as the cymbal fades into distance. Then Mal’s rhythm guitar etc. Everything is laid out in front of you. I start focusing on bits here and there, things that just weren’t there before. Only to realise the tapping cymbal is right at the back of the mix, no emphasis, but more of an awareness that there’s more to music than you think. This amp reveals the craft of music.
I also mentioned to Liz that I think a good high-quality DAC might be next on the list. After telling her that yes, i think it will sound better than the cheap tuner with a dac we have now, she replied with “if it can sound even better again, we should probably get one”. One’s coming….
Liz just yelled out to send the email, you been sitting there for ages. Followed up with “tell Bruce we’ll be using his services again”. That says it all!
Blair
Plinius SA50 Class A power amp and M16 Preamplifier
I flippen love what u have done to the amps, it’s so beautiful and track after track I hear more than ever before, it’s delicate and tuneful with such great dynamic range.
Thank u so, so much.
Yes, do put up a testimonial as they r a lot better than I would ever think, superior in every way including power usage.
Jason
I would agree, its a great upgrade, added new life to my 30year old ampler McLaren A150, I was about to scratch the itch and by another second hand amplifier made in Aotearoa, that name rimes with Phineas.
I wasn’t going to sell my McLaren, (that is my sons inheritance) for the last 6 years I have been using a Chines made Valve amp that sounded better that the McLaren A150 74w A/B solid state vs 50w Valve class A Chinese made nice smooth analogue sound that I love.
the A150 was only used for the TV not my Turntable in this time.
Now I am playing the turntable and streamer through the A150 and loving it the Valve is different slightly smoother and slower that I still prefer, but post upgrade I would not say the valve sound’s better, just different.
Steve
McLaren 602/902
I spent the entire evening home alone getting to know the new sound of the amps. I found myself laughing out loud several times due to hearing more detail than ever before. I asked ‘what have you done to my amps?’ (in a good way) several times. They are so responsive. I could hear the pluck of strings so clearly, the impact of drums, and the clarity of vocals. The staging is so precise. I am so impressed with what you have done here. Thank you so much.
Stefan
Mclaren 702
The amp is sounding better every time I listen to it. Vocals are so much clearer and the response at the low end is something I have not experienced through my Es 14 speakers before.
I find around 2 to 3 volume is great for general listening and anything more than that is starting to move some air.
McLaren A150 (standard modification)
Friday night I had a session playing records and was so engrossed in the experience that I never realized it was the wee hours of the following day before I turned in.
As you suspected from the outset, I believe this amp will be with me for many listening years to come.
Account has been paid in full and funds should be processed Monday.
Thanks again Bruce for the great job done.
Phillip
McLaren 401,501,301 and ARCAM Cd player.
The 301 Equaliser has just arrived and once again I’m blown away by the clarity of sound from the McLaren system
I am hearing instruments in my albums that I have never heard before!!Hard to believe the system was built in the 1980s!
I dropped the payment for your work on the 501 amplifier at the couriers this morning so should arrive at your new property about the middle of next week?
I returned from work on Thursday and was having a coffee and listening to Miles Davis on the McLaren and wow the music was just so clear and precise the more I listen the sound just gets better!!!!
Arcam CD player: Being at work for a couple of weeks and listening to mp3 then coming home and getting the McLaren going it’s like chalk and cheese!! I don’t know any of the correct adjectives but the sound is crystal clear with each instrument standing out!!!I’m very happy with the results Bruce
Kevin
The combination of the 702 with the Magnepan 1.7i’s is incredible and getting better with use. They fill the house (not small) with natural sound such that when in another room it sounds as if we have a live band or orchestra playing in the house instead of music coming from speakers. Yet they do not seem loud in the room that they are in. The imaging is spectacular and while they do not rattle your internal organs the bass is clear and natural. We have heard things that we never heard before. I always thought that the tubular bells rang with a ‘clang’ (on “Tubular Bells”) but with this combination they ring. As everyone always comments, piano’s sound unbelievable.
Richard
McLaren 101 standard: Many thanks for this. I connected it up on the weekend. It sounds amazing especially now that I have sorted the hum out.
I have a borrowed $1600.00 dollar step up transformer out of Germany to compare. Very little in it. Perhaps a bit more detail at top and bottom.
Don’t know what the head amps cost new but certainly not over a thousand dollars worth of difference.
Robert
McLaren Audio 