Audiophilepure

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/2014-anthem-mca-225-gen-2-stereo-power-amplifier

Turning to music composed several centuries earlier, I then listened to Josquin Masses (CD, Gimell CDGIM 051), an album by The Tallis Scholars, a British vocal ensemble focused on sacred vocal music. On the entrancing “Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie,” I could pick out each voice distinctly—from the trio of sopranos on the left to the pair of baritones on the right. The deep baritone that opens the “Gloria” sounded as if it were emanating from the end of a long hallway. The soprano vocals, in contrast, sounded as if they were ascending to a great height, as though sung beneath the domed ceiling of a grand cathedral. These impressions closely reflect the geometry of the space in which this album was recorded, the long and tall Merton College Chapel at Oxford University. My Gold 300 5G speakers are capable of delivering a high level of detail, and that’s exactly what I heard through the MCA 225. It left no sonic footprint of its own, which is perhaps its most praiseworthy attribute.

During my audition period with the MCA 225, I received the Arendal Sound 1528 Monitor 8 speakers for review. I’ve been eager to hear these big standmounts since I learned I’d be writing about them, so I decided to connect them to the MCA 225 rather than wait to finish its audition and then connect them to my Bryston-based system.

Mazzy Star’s So Tonight That I Might See (CD, Capitol Records CDP 598253) opens with “Fade into You,” a breezy tune with a lively cadence centered on Hope Sandoval’s ethereal voice. The added vocal reverb creates a sense of spaciousness in this recording, an emptiness that befits the mood of the song. Here again, the MCA 225’s low noise floor made it easy to hear everything across the soundstage and to easily tease sonic images apart.

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