Factory Refurbished CLASSEModel 25 Amplifier in Superb ConditionusedFactory Refurbished CLASSE Model 25 Amplifier in Superb Condition Stereophile Class A RatedFully Factory Refurbished!!! World Class Stereophile Class A Rated CLASSE Audio Model 25 Amplifier with Balanced (XLR) and Unbalanced (RCA) inputs and 250 Watts of Pure, Refined Power – Bidgeable ...2985.00

Factory Refurbished CLASSE Model 25 Amplifier in Superb Condition Stereophile Class A Rated

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Ships fromLarkspur, CA, 94977
Ships toUnited States
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Fully Factory Refurbished!!! World Class Stereophile Class A Rated CLASSE Audio Model 25 Amplifier with Balanced (XLR) and Unbalanced (RCA) inputs and 250 Watts of Pure, Refined Power – Bidgeable to Mono at 1,000 Watts – Finished in Beautiful Satin Black & Made in Canada – MSRP $4,000!

By any measure, this is an exceptional amplifier. It’s hard to put a finger on why this Classe is so good, but it just is. In my opinion, this company’s products rank ahead of McIntosh, Krell, Audio Research, and a lot of other high end audio manufacturers when you consider price, value and build quality. This is an amplifier for purists – very musical, very clean, and with a delicate, smooth and grain free sound that enhances any audio set up.

Note that there are two versions of the Classe 25 amp – the original Classe DR-25 and the refined Classe 25 which is the one that I am selling. David Reich was the founder of Classe, and the designer of all the original (with a DR prefix) versions of their amplifiers. After Reich left the company, Glen Grue and his team made some subtle improvements to the 25, and the overwhelming consensus of this later Glen Grue version is that it was a major improvement.

This amp has everything that you want in a power amp. It is incredibly smooth and clean. It is also very fast and musical. It is a touch on the warm side, with a marvelous finish on the high end. It gives you the detail but has a sweetness that tames even the harshest of the new era of metal tweeters. It also is incredibly stable. It doubles its output from 250 watts to 500 going from 8 ohms to 4 ohms. When this amp was released in 1994, Stereophile absolutely raved about it and gave it its coveted “Stereophile Class A Rating” and described the amp as having a very "tube like" smoothness, but with the dynamics of a solid state amp.

Please note that in July, 2014 this amplifier was completely refurbished by the Classe factory in Canada to the tune of $1,350. I wanted it to be “as new”, and this refurbishment process included replacing all of the very expensive filter capacitors. Every single aspect of the amplifiers performance was evaluated and optimized by the service technicians at Classe. It is now, in essence, a brand new amplifier that is so new that it has yet to even have the 300 hours “burn in” time on the new electronics. While this amp retailed for $4,000 when new in 1992, the actual retail cost of this amp as a new product today would be much closer to the current Classe C2300 amplifier which is $7,000.

This amplifier functions flawlessly, and comes complete with a detachable IEC power cable. Cosmetically it looks exceptional with a clean face, all fins perfectly straight with no dents or impacted corners or edges, and virtually no scrapes or scratches. There is one small but deep ding a little larger than a grain of rice on top that is clearly visible. Also on the top there is a series of very tiny mark near the right side. One of the heat sink fins has a ding on top, but the factory paint is over it and it looks like this was there from the beginning. The front edge has very light rubbing at several points. There is some wear on the incredibly heavy duty gold lug bolt terminations. While the initial top ding is easily visible, every other blemish described is extraordinarily small and not at all prominent. This is a beautiful and meticulously well cared for amplifier as you can see in the photos.

The owners manual is available as a PDF download for free at HiFi Engine web site.

Note that this amplifier has both Unbalanced / RCA inputs (referred to as “regular” by the manual) and Balanced / XLR inputs. On earlier versions of this Classe Twenty Five amp, if you want to change the input in order to use the balanced option you would have needed to open the top lid and flip the internal toggle switch to balanced. However, this is a newer version that has an easily accessible externally mounted toggle switch.

Also please note the polarity configuration for the Balanced input terminations, because not all manufacturers use the same polarity. On this Classe amp it is:

Pin 1: Ground

Pin 2: Positive (Non-Inverted) Signal

Pin 3: Negative (Inverted) Signal

Classe Twenty Five Amplifier Specifications:

* Features: 250 Watts stereo, high current design, sleek curved slim line chassis with dual heat sinks at rear, both regular and fully balanced operation switchable.

* Power Output:
… 250 Watts per Channel into 8 Ohms
… 500 Watts per Channel into 4 Ohms
… 1,000 Watts per Channel Mono 8 Ohms
* Frequency Response : 20Hz to 20KHz +/- 0.1 dB

* Input Sensitivity : 1,600 mV in for rated output

* Input Impedance : 70,000 Ohms
* Total Harmonic Distortion: 0.1%
* Signal to Noise Ratio : More than 100 dB

* Dimensions:
… Width: 24.5"
… Depth: 24.5"
… Height: 12.5"

* Weight : 65 lbs

This Classe Twenty Five Amplifier retailed for $3,995 in 1992, and is considered one of the all time best solid state amplifiers ever built. These do not come up for sale very often, in particular in such fantastic functional and cosmetic condition. This is a very rare opportunity to buy one of the world’s premiere amplifiers that has been factory refurbished and is in perfect operating condition. I do not have the original factory boxes, but I will create bullet-proof packaging for shipment. Note that this is a very large and extremely heavy amplifier – shipping will not be cheap. I am happy to deliver for free if you are close to me in San Francisco, Berkeley or Marin County.

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