Belles VT-Ol/SA-30 (£8500)

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Belles VT-Ol/SA-30
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(£8500)
It's billed as an alternative to quality valve designs, but can this big-ticket pairing of
valve-hybrid preamp with solid-state Class A power amplifier deliver on the promise?
Review: Ken Kessler Lab: Paul Miller
C
lass A operation has a noble
history. Thanks to the
always-on nature of the
topology and the removal
of an entire type of distortion, allied to
sound that excels in low-level detail,
superb dynamics and transparency, its
devotees are more than happy to put
up with low efficiency and heat. From
Sugden to Levinson to Krell, and here to
Belles, it's a choice for connoisseurs.
Should the escape of all that heat
come to the attention of Brussels,the
EU might then outlaw Class A amps as
they have light bulbs. But if you're not
feeling so green that it affects your hi-fi
purchases, the Belles SA-30 could be an
ideal guilty pleasure. It is an absolutely
perfect example of the genre, able to
remind crusties like me of the sweetness
of the Levinson ML2, the bass and slam
of a Krell KSA-50and the delicacy of
the Sugden A21. What Class A always
seemed to offer above everything
else was valve-like sound without the
maintenance of tubes. Nice irony: you
still got the heat.
Belles admits that the SA-30 'has been
purely designed as a genuine alternative
to quality valve designs.' It certainly
has the natural bass of valves without
the ridiculous vice-like damping (only
suitable for synth music) of most tranny
amps, the treble is silky and sweet, it's
open and transparent, and - for those so
inclined - it has no internal glassware.
Belles amps adhere to a couple of
rules: the company eschews op-arnps
and balanced operation, the latter
because it feels that the technology
adds too much to costs, complexity
and size, while bringing nothing to the
performance unless you're talking pro
sector and huge cable runs. The amp is
shorn of frills, other than special pointed
feet, nice gold phonos and decent
speaker binding posts at the back, and
an on/off switch on the front with pilot
light. Its perceived value comes from the
stunning styling and finish.
Packed into the beautifully-sculpted,
chunky 432x133x342mm (whd),
22kg chassis is a new circuit with a
complementary differential input stage.
It employs bipolar transistors instead of
JFETtransistors, while the output stage
uses MOSFETs.
It may be rated at only 30W
into Bohrn, but in practice it's
far beefier [see Lab Report]. It
certainly had no trouble driving
my resident Wilson Sophias.
of phonos, and its purposefulness plus
Bauhaus hygiene reminded me of other
non-showy, superbly-constructed highend classics like Klyne phono stages and
Sutherland preamps.
Sharing real estate with the 12AU7
valve differential amplifier is a solid-state
gain stage, while the output is a dualcathode follower. Belles employs global
feedback to improve stability and lower
noise, and I can confirm that the VT-O1
VALVE PREAMP
is remarkably quiet and free of spits or
crackles. Still, it possessed more than a
hint of valve lushness, as I found when
comparing it with the all-valve Quad
QC-twentyfour and Mclntosh's C2200.
Measuring 432x88.9x330mm
(whd),
it accepts four sources. A weight of
12.5kg attests to its robust cabinet
"Maiestic' is the word that keeps
popping into my head ...from the
Pixies indie crunch to Billyjoel'
Despite the all-transistor nature of the
SA-30. Dave Belles employed four 12AU7
valves in the VT-O1 hybrid preamp. It's
a line level unit with motorised volume
control and remote. tiny toggle switches
choosing power on/off. monitor and
source. The back features a soldierly row
RIGHT: The vr-o 1 sportstoggle switchesfor
.'
power on/off, monitor and source beneath a
row of five tiny lights, four of which indicate the
line input currently selectedin blue;the fifth
turns red when the amp hasbeen muted
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work, and the unit is simply a joy to use
- once you get used to its extended
warm up period. The remote does all it
should, but I wish the remote's on/off
button was less prominent. That, and
viscious heatsinks on the SA-30, are my
only complaints about their physical
presence. Other than that, they're
nigh on perfect: compact, luxurious,
aesthetically faultless and totally free
of the shabbiness that marks too much
audio equipment.
TASTE OF BASS
Nith absolutely no qualms about power,
I fed the system with Kimber cables to
the aforementioned Sophias; sources
wired via Yter included the Marantz
CD12/DA 12 and Musical Fidelity kW25
CD players. Quite why I was drawn to
a bass-bustlnq first taste I don't know,
but Hall & Oates' Looking Back was
already in the player, and I just stabbed
'3' randomly. 'Rich Girl's percussive kicks
22 seconds in threw out such mass, such
musical weight that the tambourine and
vocals floated over a foundation which
suggested 300W, not 30.
Something was afoot. The last track,
'Starting All Over Again', was one of the
best cover versions H&O ever delivered,
and it, too, had a rich lower sector,
some tasteful strings and truly powerful
percussion. Majesty? If the wee Belles
could fill the room with this track, then I
knew I was on to something special.
And it did, with only one teensy
proviso. Speed, transient attack, dynamic
RIGHT AT HOME ...
Dave Belles has been producing high-end audio for over 30 years, and what
.makes him worth watching is a refusal to be pigeon-holed: he uses whatever
technology works for a given design. Here we have a Class A solid-state power
amp working with a valve·hybrid prearnp, while Belles also makes Class A/B
transistor amps and solid-state preamps.
Part of the Statement range, the SA-30 in particular seems ideal for the UK
listener. Forty years ago, English manufacturer Sugden created one of the first
viable Class A transistor amps, and the home market quickly embraced the
topology. A decade later, UK audiophiles helped put Krell on the map. With the
VT-Ol preamp being minimalist in the British fashion, the Belles pair should feel
r~ght at home, though 3000 miles away from New York.
ABOVE: What the Bellespairing givesup in frills
it more than makesup in elegant design- the
preamp features 12AU7triodes and the power
amp hasa robust, ClassA MOSFET
output stage
swings - the Belles pair behaved
precisely as one would expect of a
pre/power combination with a combined
price tag of £8500. That is no small sum,
and a reviewer is forced to consider
what else is out there for the money.
Now the world isn't awash with pure
Class A power amps, but you could fill
a 40ft container with £4000·5000
preamps - valve, tranny or hybrid. Mixing
and matching with Quad, GRAAFand
Mclntosh preamps and Quad, Mclntosh
power amps allowed me to isolate the
sound of the two from each other.
Voiced so closely and in so truly
complementary a manner, the two Belles
pieces form a natural pair. For a listener
who owned one but not the other,
matching either with a product from
another brand would reveal immediately
a change in character. Returning to
an all-Belles system would restore the
whole. So, if pressed, I would say that
the SA·30 provides the command, the
presence and the scale. This is one
rock-solid performer. The VT·O1 is
neutral, erring toward the dry despite its
tube complement, but less revealing of
its presence, which is as it should be. G>
AUGUST2009
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LAB
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REPORT
BELLES VT-OI/SA-30 (£8500)
SEU:€S VT0 I UNE: PREAMPl!FIER
BELLES SA30 STEREO ClASS A POWER AMPUFIER
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ABOVE: Both Bellesunits offer a traditional set of unbalanced inputs and outputs.
Twin outputs on the the preamp allow the useof a second stereo power amp
But back to the listening ... After
swapping components, I could
isolate only one characteristic
where the Belles pair offered less
than my preferred reference:
absolute soundstage width. That's
it. And for some, that's no sacrifice
at all, when you consider that the
rest is stunningly good. Alii could
think of was the circa·1980s Krell
KSA·50,as wonderful an amp
as I have ever let slip though
my fingers. And what showed
me how good this is was Mel &
Tim's superior original version of
'Starting All Over Again'.
TIME TO BOOGIE
From the album of the same
name, it possesses some of
the most liquid, rhythmic, lush
bass Donald 'Duck' Dunn ever
produced. It is proof-positive that
he is the finest electric bass player
God ever allowed us to savour,
and the album itself is the best
record that Sam & Dave didn't
record. As I played it to death
when my system consisted of
Sonus faber Extremas driven by
Krell Class-A monoblocks, I knew
how that music could flow. I knew
how the two voices had to mesh Mel & Tim really were 'Sam & Dave
lite', but in a good way - and the
guitar picking was a note-perfect
facsimile of Steve Cropper.
To the Belles, it was an
invitation to, well, boogie. After
the slow. embracing angst of the
title track, the album delivers
high·octane Stax funk, including
a righteous cover of 'Wrap It Up'.
The Belles' sound perfectly placed
a brass section in the room,
punching the air above snapping
bass lines and kicking percussion.
Then I was floored by the whuckawhucka guitar and rolling organl
bass of 'I'm Your Puppet'.
'Majestic' is the word that
keeps popping into my head.
From the Pixies indie crunch via
MoFi CDs to the saccharine (but
admittedly delicious) sweetness of
Billy Joel's 'lust The Way You Are'
to the woody, unplugged acoustic
satin of early Peter, Paul and Mary.
the Belles did something that
the manufacturer may not take
as a compliment. but which is
intended that way: it transported
me back to 1985. For which I am
grateful beyond words .. C9
. 100
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ABOVE:Distortion versus frequency from 5Hz
to 40kHz (10W/8ohm power amp - black trace;
1V/47kohm preamp - blue trace)
HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS
Power
output
Dynamic
Output
«1% THO. 8/40hm)
power
Input
sensitivity
A·wtd
SIN
Distortion
ratio
(20Hz-100kHz)
(for OdBWf30W)
(20Hz·20kHz.
/185W
+0.0 to -0.16dB/+0.0
265mV
/ 291W
o/p)
(WHO. prejpower)
AUGUST2009
to -2.9dB
/ 1450mV
93.1dB (OdBV)
prejpower]
(Idle/Rated
56W /104W
0.004-0.0120hm
(pre/power)
consumption
Dimensions
(20HZ-20kHz)
response
I
54W /98W
«l%THO. 8/4/2/10hm)
impedance
Frequency
Power
.
. sOe
»
ABOVE:Dynamic power output versus distortion into
Bohrn (black trace). 40hm (red), 20hm (blue) and
lohm (green) speaker loads. load tolerance is superb
HI-FI NEWS VERDICT
While the VT·Ol's superb
build, perfect ergonomics and
clean, detailed sound reveal a
winner, there are too many lesscostly rivals. It has so much to
recommend it, but it's not alone.
The SA·30, however, is a little
gem that reminded this listener
of the Krell KSA·50 - as high as
praise can get. Its astonishing
bass and dynamics belie its
power rating; the freedom from
grain marks it a thoroughbred.
As a pair? Truly magical.
I
Claims for Class A operation are not uncommon but few fit
the profile like Belles' SA·30 which draws around 300W from
the wall regardless of whether it's standing idle or pushing out
2x30W/80hm. It gets very hot. very close to permitted limits for
the UK in fact and must always be given adequate ventilation.
The amp's power supply is very 'stiff' offering a full 54W/80hm
and very nearly doubling to 98W/40hm. Under dynamic
conditions this increases to 1B5W/20hm and 291W/10hm
[see graph 1, below] suggesting that. while not an extreme
powerhouse, the SA·30 is still hugely tolerant of tough speaker
loads. Belles also claims a >5000 damping factor which. even
if 2000 seems more likely in practice. promises a vice-like grip
over the speaker. This combination of supreme PSU regulation
and vanishingly low output impedance will help deliver a quick
and potent sound.
As befits a Class A amp. distortion is lowest at low levels
(-0.002% at 1W) and increases gently with output (-0.007% at
lOW and 0.035% at 50W) and also with frequency (0.007% at
1kHz to 0.07% at 20kHz. 1OW/Bohm). The VI·O 1 preamp offers
a uniformly lower distortion [blue versus black trace, graph 2
below] reaching 0.0003% through the mid range. a response flat
to -0.15dB/20kHz.
maximum output of 22V and input overload
margin of 7V. Both units offer a usefully wide Awtd SIN ratio of
93dB (re. OdBV and OdBW. respectively).
Readers are invited to view comprehensive QC Suite test
reports for the Belles VI·01 preamp and SA·30 power amp
by navigating to www.hifinews.co.uk
and clicking on the red
'down load' button. PM
I
93.6dB
(OdBW)
0.0003-0.002%/0.003-0.07:1;
280W/290W
432x89x330/432x133x342mm
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