Boulder amp from hell...

[amirm]

Man, has anyone looked at these amps close? As I mentioned to the person manning the suite at CES 2011, I don't think there is any stock of aluminum left after these guys are done making one of these animals!

The scale is not visible in this picture. In person, then thing is massive. They were clever in making a lot of the holes using a drill bit but still, there is a ton of aluminum there and a ton shaved off for looks (the sides are not flat).

They are not shipping yet and the unit there not powered (so perhaps empty). Power is 240 and I think output was rated at 1500 watts.

 

[amirm]

This is their networked CD player:

I liked it until he told me how much it was ($25K or so). It is a CD player that had an Ethernet jack so they decided to add UPnP support to it and had themselves a networked player.

 

[Ron Party]

Amir, do you recall what was the weight of the amp?

 

[amirm]

I did ask. I recall a number like 450 pounds or close to it!

 

[amirm]

Oh, they sit on a piece of granite. Forget how much that weighs but probably a lot!

 

[Ron Party]

Oh my!

 

[amirm]

To be fair, they also showed and played their much smaller mono blocks:

 

[amirm]

Those are Westlake speakers by the way. They said that the two owners of the companies are friends and hence the reason they show the gear. I didn't think Westlake was a big going concern in consumer space. Are they?

 

[amirm]

Completing the round with the pre-amp:

 

[MiTT]

I've been fortunate enough to visit and tour the Boulder facility. Their attention to detail and fit and finish is second to none. If you run your finger over the casework you can not feel the transition between the metal facia and the LED power indicators. At RMAF they were showing multiple units with acrylic tops so that you could see the equally impressive attention to interior layout. Simply beautiful stuff IMO.

 

[Randall Smith]

I am currently writing the review for the Boulder 865 integrated and it is every bit as well built and designed as their higher priced stuff.

 

[flez007]

The Boulder integrated amp, 800'series is a nice thing, excellent sonics, build quality and fairly priced.

 

[muralman1]

Amir, those little amps... They look like they could be class D. The reason I think so is what appears to be a completely closed in case.

 

[JackD201]

So are the little amps called Pebbles or Rocks?

Come on Gavin, where's my virtual rimshot!

 

[es347]

So are the little amps called Pebbles or Rocks?

Come on Gavin, where's my virtual rimshot!

..timing is everything eh Jack.. http://www.virtualrimshot.com/media/rimshot1.mp3

Not quite the same after a two week pause....

 

[Steve williams]

Boulder would like to announce the world public debut of the 3050 Mono Amplifier, seen by only a select few prior to the 2011 CES. After more than 25 years, Boulder has engineered and manufactured its largest and most powerful amplifier, the finest amplifier the world has ever seen. Bar none.

There is no turning back: with the 3050, the future of amplification began anew in 2011. Amongst the 3050's design features: Fully-balanced, dual-mono audio circuitry. An all-new gain stage based on the incomparable 993 to achieve vanishing levels of distortion. 120 bipolar output devices, 50% more than the Boulder 2050 Mono Amplifier. Pure Class A operation. 400 lbs. (180 kg). A dedicated carved granite and stainless steel base. Extensive mechanical resonance damping. Four toroidal power transformers. Dedicated 240V operation. And a brilliant new chassis design worthy of the description "modern art." The 3050 is, without a doubt, the most significant amplification development since the groundbreaking release of the 2050. Every 3050 will be built to order and no stock will be kept.

Only a handful of people will see or hear the 3050s. Fewer still will ever own them. For these individuals awaits the world's most sublime and intense music reproduction experience. Ever.

wow and 240V to boot

 

[Steve williams]

well the music was nice but it didn't show anything much except the heat sinks and a brief look at the back of the amp

 

[KeithR]

these amps seem like a direct result of the Solution/Valin madness. i've heard they are like mini refridgerators. insane

 

[amirm]

I hope this doesn't come across the wrong way . But my first thought after talking about how they make those massive heatsinks was "what a waste of natural resources!" They get a huge block of aluminum and drill out and cut away huge chunks of it. I suspect more is thrown away than kept. Yes, yes, buying high-end of anything is about excess . But still, I thought that there would be many ways to utilize that metal that was thrown away to keep the machine cooler and by that, use less material. Alas, form over function has a role here and that is the design we see.

 

[mep]

Is it just me or what? Here we are on a forum entitled ” What's Best” and we have a product designed and built by Boulder to be the best amplifier they know how to make and they would like to think it is the best amplifier on the market, and here some of you are heaping scorn and derision on it. Amir doesn't like it because he thinks it was a waste of a giant billet of valuable aluminum for "form over function." Tom is jumping on the bandwagon saying that people that don't like accuracy won't like the amp and then wondering if Boulder will provide a full set of measurements for the amp which insinuates they have something to hide there. I'm missing the point of Tom's post obviously as it appears to me that Tom is trying to have it both ways (the amp is too clean for the tonality people and yet Boulder probably won't give us a full set of graphs to show how good it really measures).

So yes Amir, it did come across the wrong way for me. The ultra high-end is all about excess and eye candy and the Boulder amp is no exception. Why jump on them because you think they wasted some aluminum? I will never be able to afford this amp and since it's SS, I'm not interested anyway. However, I just find it ironic that on a forum called “What's Best” that people are making fun of an amplifier that was designed to be the best. And based on Boulder's solid reputation, I have little doubt that it is a fine sounding SS amp.