Bantam Gold Mono's

[Haselsh1]

Hello all, does anyone have any nice snippets of information or opinions of the Bantam Gold Monoblocks...? I would be using them with a Fidelity Audio PRE-120 preamplifier and KEF Q500 loudspeakers that are I think, around 87 db/W/m. Any information you may have would be very gratefully received.

[Haselsh1]

How might these compare to the Project Mono box DS amplifier at around twice the price...? Also of course, more than twice the output...?

[brian2957]

Hi Shaun , I use a Bantam Gold and it's very good indeed . I use it powered by a 12v car battery which provides me with an audible improvement over the supplies PSU . At 25w per channel they drive my Rega EL8s no problem at all . The amp has a higher gain setting which provides more volume but the SQ suffers slightly. I know Ali Tait uses a pair of Bantam Golds to drive his open baffle speakers without any problem . A couple of months ago Tony ( wee tee cee ) brought his Temple Audio monoblocks over to mine . He uses them with a pair of Quad speakers ( EL 63s I think ) and a pair of Spendor SP1s and both sound absolutely fantastic . Again better when powered by 12v battery I believe. Anyway, in my system the result was more of everything . Very clean , powerful sound with better bass , mids and top end . My only concern was that they didn't sound quite as sweet ( read pipe and slippers ) as the Bantam Gold . This little amp is as good , if not better than , most of the amps which I've had in my system over the years . Buy with confidence Shaun . There's an excellent returns policy if they don't suit. I kept mine and am listening to it as I write this . :)
Incidentally the monoblocks have 6 different gain settings I believe , so very flexible indeed . I'm sure Tony and Ali will be along soon to give you their opinions on these amps.

[tpbholm]

Hi Shaun, I took delivery of a pair of Monoblocks yesterday. It's early days but I would agree with the comment that you get 'more of everything'. I'm powering them with a Custom Hifi Company DC2 linear power supply. and my speakers are Opus3 Credo's. I haven't had to alter the gain on the mono blocks, although it's very straightforward to do this if needed. Incidentally they have 8 gain settings not 6.
I also use a Temple Audio Bantam in my living room hooked up to a Sonos Connect and B&W 685 speakers. It sounds superb and is equal to any previous amplifier I've used including a Rokson Kandy, Cyrus 2 + PSX and NAD 3130. The Bantam definitely benefits from an upgraded power supply. I'm using a Custom Hifi Company DC1 linear supply. I haven't tried a 12 volt supply.
John at Temple Audio is very helpful and you can't really go wrong with a 60 day trial period.

[brian2957]

Hi Trevor , I'm interested in the Custom Hifi DC1 . How does it compare to the supplied PSU ? Ta.

[tpbholm]

Hi Brian, the DC1 is a definite improvement. It opens up the soundstage and bass is tighter and more extended. Subjectively, I'm finding that listening is just more involving. I wasn't expecting the scale of the improvement. Money well spent! Sean is also very helpful and he offers a 30 day money back period.
Each unit is built to order so they can be customised to suit. The DC2 I am using with the Bantam Monoblocks was customised to feed both amps rather having two separate power supplies. I use his PP10 Passive Pre-amp with the mono blocks and it is again very good indeed, particularly when you consider its low cost (£75!).
Sean's interconnects and IEC leads are also very high quality. I'm using his Blue interconnects with the Monoblocks and they are excellent - better than any interconnect I've used. His Powerblack IEC is also excellent.

[Ali Tait]

I'd echo Brian's comments - more power with the monos, but you lose a little sweetness, the monos being a little more incisive. Depends which is to your taste I guess, I wouldn't say one is not as good as the other. Also would depend on how your speakers are voiced too..

[Ali Tait]

BTW, the Gold stereo will take up to 18v, the more voltage, the more power out.

[brian2957]

Hi Brian, the DC1 is a definite improvement. It opens up the soundstage and bass is tighter and more extended. Subjectively, I'm finding that listening is just more involving. I wasn't expecting the scale of the improvement. Money well spent! Sean is also very helpful and he offers a 30 day money back period.
Each unit is built to order so they can be customised to suit. The DC2 I am using with the Bantam Monoblocks was customised to feed both amps rather having two separate power supplies. I use his PP10 Passive Pre-amp with the mono blocks and it is again very good indeed, particularly when you consider its low cost (£75!).
Sean's interconnects and IEC leads are also very high quality. I'm using his Blue interconnects with the Monoblocks and they are excellent - better than any interconnect I've used. His Powerblack IEC is also excellent.
Thanks Trevor , definetely interested .

[wee tee cee]

I run two pairs of monos. Both are velcroed to the rear of the respective speakers 63s and spendor sp1s. In conjunction with a temple audio passive pre I set each amp via the impedance to suit the speaker.I run short jumper length speaker cables and long interconnects. I run my set up dac/amps on a car battery this to my ears in my room sounds the best.
I ran the monos quad amped on kef iq50s and tannoy floorstanders (f3 I think) to great effect but pretty unforgiving. My current set ups are very enjoyable and non fatiguing.
I have the uprated temple psu and run balanced mains but battery power as mentioned by Ali and Brian does give a noticeable improvement.
The Temple amps are keepers,along with my original bantum.
The comparison at Brians place was very interesting his summation was spot on-his speakers are voiced nearer the kefs.

Both my speakers are pipe and slippers but create a lovely synergy with the monos.

Matched up with suitable cables and ancillaries they provide some amazing bang for buck hi fi.

[John]

The Bantams are also capable of scale and dynamics with my speakers My system can really shift air and in no way can be considered pipe and slippers so a lot will depend on the rest of your system I also like using the extra gain as not using this in my system everything is a bit to polite for me
The battery used with the Bantams just seem to get the best out of them I used linear power supply before with balanced power and no longer need to use this approach

[Haselsh1]

I hear that Musical Fidelity are making a similar stereo amplifier these days with a truly massive power supply...? It costs £500 which is not that much more than the Temple Audio Monoblocks so I might have a look at the MF design in preference. The only snag is that I am suspicious of Musical Fidelity's long term reliability.