Needles & fins

Classé is back, and we are very happy to celebrate its return. We’ve long used a Classé stereo AV amplifier amongst our reference products, a model from the period when Classé was the stablemate to and go-to amplifier brand for Bowers & Wilkins. By then production had already moved from Classé’s home in Montreal, Canada, over to China, but worse was to come when B&W was in turn purchased by EVA Automation in 2016. Classé was put into hibernation, and the brand seemed destined to disappear amid much mourning and wringing of hands.

But in 2020 Bowers & Wilkins changed hands again, joining the increasingly extensive Sound United stable, and Classé was revived, with its former President reinstalled and tasked with finalising the previously terminated development of a new Delta Series. Better still, Sound United decided that the Delta Series deserved production in Japan, in that country’s famous Shirakawa Audio Works indeed, where Sound United was already manufacturing the highest-end Denon and Marantz products.

Equipment

So here they are, or at least two of the three models so far available from the revived brand, which are a preamplifier and a choice of stereo or mono power amps; we have reviewed the stereo version, the Classé Delta Stereo power amplifier. This operates in Class-A up to a power output of 12.5W, while the Delta Pre also operates completely in Class-A, which is appropriate to Classé’s origins — the company name is pronounced Class-A not merely