Classé

There is something appealing and yet disconcerting about the Classe Sigma (Σ) series. In industrial design and business, Sigma (σ) is something akin to MTBF - Mean Time Between Failures.

The most common representation used is Six Sigma (6σ) and just look at the wonderful view of today's Classé.

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/classe-launches-sigma-series/

What's wrong with the picture?

1. Is it the gentle white curve, mirrored in the front face?

2. Is it the missing E in the final design of the Classé logo? Is is disconcerting, how part is missing, to signify the digital placement of the acute accent in the realm of bit-limited music through digital art.

3. Is it the haze of the small blue LED power status lights, on the upper left of every Classé Sigma Component? The way they resemble the headphone jack of the FiiO 2.0 Olympus unit in composition, but have a reflective sheen, which leads to the haze in the photo.

4. To our eye, the screen printing of the units is too white, but that isn't the primary cosmetic compositional issue.

5. What is to our eyes, off with the design, is the choice of white text on a dark blue background for the LED display. When a Windows PC would crash, the resultant screen (Blue Screen of Death) would use this exact same colour combination.

6. Perhaps it is Hubris that lead Classé to both use the Sigma moniker and choose this particular colour combination for this series. We are fans of Classé and their "Canadian" clear sound in their CT-M600 amplifiers ($13,000.00 USD), and CP-800 preamplifier ($5000 USD). Their Omega (Ω) series is legendary. [link].

We heard that they hired-away Madrigal / Mark Levinson Engineers to work on their products, just as Jura hired away Philips engineers for a better cappuccino.

Note:

With a solid 200 watts per channel for their AMP2 and AMP5, Classé seems to have taken a page out of Madrigal's Proceed marketing book- Proceed by Mark Levinson had both an AMP2 and AMP5 model in their range - and given them specs approaching the Proceed HPA-2 (250w/channel @ 8 ohms).

These amps were particularly known for their bass-extension and control amoung the price conscious, and were designed for a home-theater setting as opposed to their Mark Levinson ML more-reference counterparts, so perhaps the choice of Classe to power their AMP2 and AMP5 today with a Class D circuit is telling.

Jeff Rowland has been doing this for ages, in his lower priced (though fantastically looking) amplification components, as has Mark Levinson in their contemporary N°53 replament for their landmark N°33.

Now that Classé has come out with their Sigma series to compliment their Omega, CT, and Delta components, we'll see if we are indeed "flying the friendly skies" with 6σ hi-fi.