For the discerning
audio enthusiast

Hey Alan

In my view, the Sointuva are on par with or exceed my KEF Reference 1, and when factoring in price, it’s no contest. I’ve been thrilled with them. 

They’re excellent for critical listening. Detailed and tonally neutral. The dispersion is wide, but they still retain good imaging. I also love their dynamics. I expected that from Erin’s compression measurements, but it’s stunning in person.

Hi Alan

I just received my Sointuva’s today and I’m extremely pleased with them. The build quality is extremely high.

Versus my Tannoy’s the Sointuva’s definitely sound more linear to me across the whole frequency range, this stands out more in the bass frequencies. Higher frequencies appear to be more extended too, with drum symbols standing out more.

Bass goes low and is well controlled, they go as low as my Tannoy’s (or perhaps lower) but are half the size. Clarity seems improved versus the Tannoy’s too, perhaps this is down the low distortion of the Purifi drivers used.

The Sointuva’s are the best sounding speaker I’ve personally heard, and I think a lot of that comes down to the bass. It’s a big step up from my old speakers and go down very low without boominess of my old speakers

Overall very happy.

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In sharing my thoughts on the March Audio P452 amplifier I’d like to first explain my background as a professional classical musician.  So I know better than most how musical instruments actually sound.  I Listen with a capital L! My HiFi system for the last 40 years has included high-end US made pre and power valve amplifiers. When yet another 6550 valve went out with a flash & a bang I began looking for an alternative. Reading favourable reviews of the March Audio P452, I followed up with a purchase. I couldn’t be more thrilled with its performance! I hear with the P452:

A lifelike fullness to the sound with extreme purity, detail, and clarity in the highs. I hear gentle dings from a triangle which were previously completely obscured in a tutti, and very clear piccolo / violin highs with a total absence of roughness or shrillness. Bass is very much clearer, solid and precise – I hear much more strength & melody in the deep and mid bass than previously. I know what it sounds like to be directly in front of a trumpet or a grand piano – this amp brings it a lot closer to reality in my living room than I’ve heard from my sound system previously. The P452 more clearly reproduces the low level sound decay of a performance venue – that is, the reverberation. Normally we hear this at the end of a piece, leading into silence, but of course this gentle reverb is present the whole time contributing to the “warmth” of the sound.

As for value for money, the P452 costs less than a set of replacement valves for my previous (now superseded in my system) power amplifier. Thank you, Alan, for making this superb amplifier, and at such a reasonable price!

Hi Alan,

Amps are hooked up. Put simply, these babies are awesome!! Driving my ATC SCM19s this is what I notice:

• At 100% with empty signal, there’s no hiss I can notice, with my ear to the tweeter!
• Playing loud, it sounds super clean with complete control of the speaker – and so rhythmic. My old one must have been distorting like crazy as I pushed it. I never went that loud because that made it not pleasurable to listen to. This actually makes me want to keep pushing it even louder! But my ears give up before the amp does and I have to back off the volume.
• It’s also way better at handling huge dynamic shifts in a vocal track. It’s sometimes scary when it ramps from a quiet first word to the singer belting out the next word. Haha.
• Micro details in the music jump out at me – like a singers low level humming alongside louder instruments. Wonder if this is due to the snr?
• Build quality is superb

Thanks again Alan 😊

The P452 arrived yesterday! I’ve eagerly plugged it in and listened to some familiar tracks. My initial concern of “will it drive my electrostatic speakers” was answered swiftly in the affirmative.

There’s absolutely no sign of any struggle by the amplifier. While more critical listening is in order, the immediate feeling of super tight and deep bass is mighty impressive compared to previous amplifiers I’ve used on these same speakers, indicating that it’s got good control of the load and plenty of oomph.

At the top-end, which is the more difficult part of the spectrum to drive, it’s just nice, relaxed and smooth.

Other amplifiers have presented quite harsh treble, especially in louder passages. So, in terms of match to the speakers, it looks like a winner! And from a listening perspective, the sound is very nice. I’m looking forward to finding a few hours to just sit and listen.

Alan,

Just a quick note to thank you for the amazing amplifier.  It has now been a little over three months since I received the P452. Since then, I have spent hundreds of hours listening to it, and I couldn’t be happier. This is my “holy grail” amplifier. I absolutely love it.

The power, punch, clarity, silence and transparency are a wonder to behold, to say nothing of the amp’s appearance and build quality. It is truly exceptional. I spend hours every night re-discovering albums I have loved for decades, hearing subtle details and transients I never noticed before. It is hard to wipe the grin off of my face when these new musical nuggets reveal themselves.

My P452 is fed by a MiniDSP SHD and a Technics SL-1500C, and drives Wharfedale EVO 4.4 towers. The bass is deep, controlled, musical, tight and punchy. Snare drums and toms, pianos, horns and cymbals have never sounded more life-like. The P452 is a dream come true in terms of my listening enjoyment, whether I am lost in jazz, classical, rock, metal or pop…My FLAC, CD and vinyl collection have never sounded better.

Thank you for making a giant-killer of an amplifier that runs cool, is ultra-transparent, and punches far above its price point….it has made every other amp I own (Bryston, Rotel, Yamaha) obsolete, and I intend to deploy another P452 (or 2) in my home theater re-design.     Keep up the great work!

Hi Alan

I am using your P452 with a tube phonostage (mainly) and a balanced solid state preamp, and it sounds great. Very good separation, holographic, hyper detailed, wide, deep and tall soundstage, very low noise floor. It gives me everything I was hoping for.

Hey Alan,

I am very happy with the P451s. Fabulous amps. Thank you.

Using them to drive Acoustic Energy AE520s. Work really well together.

Regards,

Hi Alan

It’s Gary again. I love my three monoblock p701s

Many Thanks

Hi Alan

I can tell you I’ve been listening to the amp for an hour now. Sounds great out of the box. Forget the old hearing things I never heard before cliche.

This is absolute next level!

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Hi Alan,

Absolutely fantastic.

A really beautiful sound.

Thank you

Hi Alan,

The amps arrived Monday.  I am impressed with the sound and build quality; they are well worth the money.

I will probably upgrade the streamer/DAC but right now I’m extremely happy with the NanoSound, the 803s and your excellent P451 monoblocks.

Alan M., ​

This amp is wonderful. I’m listening to Jeff Buckley’s “Grace.” My wife walked by and said, “That’s nice.” She sang in choir and small groups through college and med school, and that’s high praise from her. The clarity is obvious. I have been running mono Schiit Aegirs here, through a Freya plus preamp, into Zu Audio Soul Supremes. Minus monos, plus P122, and it’s the best I have enjoyed this system.

So, I might be buying another. I think a P252.  We’ll see, but wow! This is so clear, so sweet and clear!

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Hi Alan

First off, the amps were well packed and in excellent cosmetic condition – they are also quite a compact and very neat unit.

Plugged the amps into my VAF i93 and my NAD C268 into the amps and used the trigger option – powered up on command straight away.

These amps have some serious grip, not the sort of amps you mix with alcohol where you confuse your speakers capabilities with your inability not to select 11 on the volume control.

There is stone cold silence where there needs to be – these are stunningly quiet units at the speaker end.

My neighbours and I listened to Jon Lord, Randy Bachman, Cowboy Junkies, Van Halen, Harry Connick Jnr, Jake E Lee, Shelby Lynne, Steely Dan, Boston, Nils Lofgren, Vanessa Fernandez and Amanda McBroom – all handled very easily with no fuss on behalf of the little mono blocks.

Do not let the lack of weight of the little machined aluminium boxes fool you – these little units bring a weight of their own, they had the i93s fairly belting out the sound – seriously impressed.

Thank you!

Got the 451’s this past Monday afternoon, and I’m one VERY Happy Chappy!

I popped them into my higher than average sensitivity set-up and they just sing perfectly. And are super quiet when not fed anything. 

Wonderful, that no-noise floor to hear into ALL the magic of new & old jazz & classics.

Proper tight, clean, natural bass, & lovely mids to match. Playing with cables for the highs-though your Mogamis seem as good as anything without fiddling.

Really can’t thank you enough, for such a superb performing (& tidy looking) bit of kit.

Thanks HUGE Again,

Hi Alan,

This is some feedback on my purchase of the P452.

P452 amplifier replaced my Class A/B monoblocks of 240W into 8ohms. The result is stunning. Clarity, space and musicality have all improved drastically. I have heard monoblocks that are several times the price and yet not as good. Thank you for building such a wonderful amplifier.

Kind regards,

G’day

I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know the P701’s arrived perfectly! They are so nice, I hear more bass response from my Magnepan 3.7 than I have with all of the other amps I have tried! Having the extra headroom has definitely made a difference!

Hi guys,

Since I received all my devices by Thursday, I took the opportunity of a rainy afternoon to quickly set-up my HC / Hifi system to check that everything was fine.
And it was much more than fine! The set-up went smoothly, everything worked as expected. Triggers allowed a perfect power on/off of the power amps simultaneously with the Denon AVR. I tried the REL high level connection with the P452 as you suggested as well as the RCA to XLR connection you provided: no hum, no click, no noise just an excellent sound from the loudspeakers and the sub! I spent at least 2 hours to enjoy my favorite songs! There is still a lot to do to fine tune the 5.1 sound but I can already tell you that you have already gain another happy customer!Thanks again for your support and for the amazing quality of your products.  

The customer service was awesome. The design and the product’s finish are top notch.

A last compliment: my wife, who is completely insensitive to hifi devices, told me that my new « toys » (= your amps) look really nice!

Hi Alan

Just got the P252 amplifier, it looks and sounds excellent. I haven’t heard the Elsinore speakers play with such punchy bass.