Attentive readers may recall that I had my first encounter with Margules Audio at California Audio Show in 2013, and came away impressed. I was delighted to have opportunity to hear more from this company, which is well-established in Mexico, but has not reached wide popularity in the US.
The Margules U280SC amps ($4,599 each) and SF-220 preamplifier collaborated beautifully with Dynaudio‘s Focus 260 speakers ($4,999). The Margules U280SC is a pretty versatile bit of class-A kit: one amplifier can be used as a stereo amp, or (as was the case in the show room) two can be used as monoblocks. The amp can be switched between triode operation at 40 watts per channel, or ultralinear mode at 70 watts per channel. It’s also self-biasing, which is pretty appealing after having spent an awful lot of time hovering over hot tubes with a multimeter and a biasing tool.
When I visited the room, we were listening to a digital blues track through the Audio Research CD 6 CD/DAC ($9,000), although analog was also present in the form of a Pro-JecT Xtension 10 Turntable ($2,999) with a Sumiko Palos Santos Celebration Cartridge ($4,000). I was immediately struck by how coherent and musical everything sounded. I’d previously heard a Margules-only system, so it was interesting to hear how well the gear mated with the Dynaudio speakers. My overall impression was that it sounded exceptionally well-balanced and precise, with just a hint of tubey warmth.
Thanks for your observations Kirsten. We at Sunny’s are proud to carry Mr Julian’s Products in our store.
http://www.sunnyaudiovideo.com
626-966-6259.