New deltas are coming...
 

Has anyone seen or heard it yet?

Interestingly, I was just in talking to my dealer last weekend about upgrading from my Sigma AMP5 to either the CA-2300 or CA-M300 monoblocks, and he talked about the Delta refresh. Reports of the current Beta prototypes are that they are a huge sonic improvement over the current line, and they should be displayed at CES in January.

He shared these photos of the Beta models currently on display at CEDIA:
[ATTACH]Attachment 47426[/ATTACH]

Yep that's exactly what I have seen... I wasn't sure you were allowed to post pics of the new deltas yet haha

Many thanks for the pics!

My dealer told the same thing, I was ready to buy ex demo but I will wait... :)

They look like they have plantation shutters.

- Buck

Normally, would the preamps be updated at the same time?

I understood the whole line will be updated at the same time, take a look at the second picture with the speaker, it shows preamp in the same new color.

It's got meters also...

#McIntosh haha

Nice looking. :thumbsup:

On the monos I think first 30w is class A

Dusty plantation shutters

Classé will be shipping the new Delta range in 2017, with amplifier and preamplifiers coming to market first. The Delta Monos that we demonstrated at CEDIA sounded spectacular, and are largely a finished design. The Delta Pre (CP-800) replacement has not yet been finished, and the unit we showed at CEDIA was a CP-800 in the new casework.

Regards,

Patrick
B&W Group North America

One on top looks like guy inside is getting ready to close the blinds so everyone stops looking in at him. He's having a hard time concentrating.

Any chance the CP-800 will be upgradeable?

Hi ylee,

The CP-800 will not be upgradeable to the new Delta Pre. The power supplies, analog circuitry, DAC and DSP are completely different.

Regards,

Patrick
B&W Group North America

That's a bummer, but I understand you have to march forward. Looking forward to auditioning the update next year.

Anyone has specs on these yet? Are these Class A/B amplifiers?

I just hope Classe doesn't jump on the Class-D amplification bandwagon for their Delta Series....

Class A/B. Heard them at CEDIA demo.

Thanks, Kal.

I was about to pull the trigger on a pair of the new Levinson No 536 mono blocks. I guess I'll wait for these to be available and take a listen

I wonder if Classe managed to lower the noise floor and THD for these new units compared to their previous delta offerings, if they have then these new amps would be setting a benchmark for measured performance, but the proof will be in the listening :music:

Kal,

Any (early) thoughts?

Hi silvertone,

I've seen the test data comparing the upcoming Delta Mono versus the CA-M600. Both the noise floor and distortion have been lowered. Have a listen when they become available. After spending two weeks with the new designs I switched back to our trusty CA-M600s (which were thoroughly warmed up and broken in.) The differences were quite apparent.

Regards,

Patrick Butler
B&W Group North America

I listened to it with the new 800D3s in a strange room with many people rustling around and talking in the back, so I cannot say anything useful. Plenty of clarity and impact but, also, an annoying room mode. Nothing negative about the components, though.

Glad Classe is making the move to lower noise floor. Recent products by Ayre, Benchmark, and Audio Research have significantly higher S/N ratios and the difference is audible.

The m600 was already one stellar measuring amp... I look forward to the new delta monos.

Specs
 

Does anyone know the power rating of these new amps?

Specifications
 

Patrick,

Could you share some specs on these units yet? Power rating, current delivery, etc? How soon in 2017 will they be available?

Thanks!!

Hi silvertone,

While unsure about an exact date, my guess is that Classé would be delivering new Delta series components at the end of Q1 2017. That's not an official launch date, but a "guesstimate" based on past experiences.

Given the amount of work that has gone into the new amplifiers, I think it's only fitting to let Classé make their complete announcement (the technical brief will be lengthy) when they are ready. I think you'll be pleased.

Regards,

Patrick
B&W Group North America

Very true. Unless you were in the room early in the morning (like I was to setup the system) there was too much noise from conversations to really have a listen.

Patrick,

Can you say anything about fan noise? In my room, I found that the fan was audible once the amp (CA-2300) heated up a bit. Has it been reduced? It would seem appropriate to handle this, if Classe are working on electronic noise, which is probably 90 or 100 dB down already, even in the old models.

Mike

Thanks for the feedback, Patrick.

Is it too late to request an analogue volume control implementation on the next gen CP-800 (CP-900 ?), i.e. an R2R ladder volume.

ST

Hi ST,

Per Dave Nauber "The CP-800's volume control is an analog attenuator with steps selected digitally."

Regards,

Patrick

I just wanted to comment a bit on the air in-takes of the mono blocks that were shown in the picture. Since this is not a final release of the amps I would like to express my "concerns" that these air in-takes are not very pretty. The former one's were much more sleeky in my opinion. Maybe the designers of Classé want to take this into consideration.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to 2017 to hear and also read about the annoucements and hopefuly the air-intakes have a nicer design by then :)

I've always been interested in the CAM400 & CAM600 amps from Classe but the one thing that has kept me away from purchasing them is the inclusion of a fan.

My concern is not just from the possibility of hearing these fans when the amp gets hot but more so with the possibility of them failing at some point. Having a moving part within a big/heavy component like these amps is not something I can appreciate unless these fans are considered an "End User Replaceable Component". These days its pretty rare for a manufacturer to allow the end user to replace a failed component which is unfortunate.

If I owned one of these amps and the fan failed,and I wasn’t able to replace it myself, I would be HOT! (no pun intended) :)

There is nothing more annoying then having to re-box up a big A$$ amp and take the risk of shipping it back to the manufacturer so they can fix it. Even worse in this case would be if the amp still worked fine minus the moving part that IMO should not be included in the design in the first place.

I would much prefer having the amp include an additional 50lbs worth of heatsink weight added just to avoid the need of the damn fan.

Any replacement for the ssp800?

I second the previous comments on the fans.

a) The intake is just not attractive, this could determine my purchasing decision when these units come out.

b) The risk of hearing a hiss noise coming from the fan during late night listening sessions is also a concern. It'd defeat the purpose of having a low noise floor if you can hear these fans. Why not go out of the box and think of another way to keep the units in thermal stability?

I had the CAM600.

Few thoughts on this.

1. The fan appears to be of good quality. I built many PCs/computers in the past and have had my share of installing fans. Perhaps Patrick can answer this question - what is the size of the fan (is it 80mm, 92mm, or 120mm)? And is it sleeve or ball bearing? If BB, the fan will last approx 50,000-70,000 hours, which is way more than we will every use the amps.

2. I would take fan over overheating the components any day.

3. The fan is not loud, never audible unless at start up.

You wont be able to hear the fans. You have more ambient noise in your room than the fans.

I remember reading they are using Noctua fans or one of those PC fans designed for low noise.

The thing is the fans tend to only run when they are first powered on - and then they stay silent in most instances. The only time I hear them running even if at all is when they were rack mounted in the worst of conditions - no air conditioning in a corner of a study room.

There is a filter which traps the dust - one of the causes for a malfunctioning fan - and the manual tells you to clean it periodically.

I think the fans should be the least of your worries with the Classe.

I agree with you (and with your reasoning, not quoted here). Despite the experience of others, during my trial of the CA-2300 I found that at times, I could hear the fan. That made me sad, because to my ears, otherwise it was a great-sounding amp.

I do agree, also, that it is a big pain (and expense) to pack up a heavy amp and send it off for service. It's especially costly if you don't trust UPS or FedEx and buy insurance for the full value -- this typically costs more than the shipping itself.

I doubt we will see a change in this situation any time soon, as the sensor-controlled fan seems to have become a fixture in Classe's design scheme.