Hill made some good stuff, some not so good.
For a long time, when H||H S500D amplifiers were failing and sending DC to the loudspeakers, Hill were proudly boasting that they had NEVER had a single amplifier that they'd ever manufactured destroy speakers by sending DC to them.
They couldn't... they all had output transformers in them!!!
Anyhow, eventually, they changed their entire philosophy of manufacture, and in the evolution, the chameleon emerged. It was sneered at because it looked so odd. A "nose" that stuck out at the front, (don't forget to clean the foam filter that lives behind the air intake on the front!) and only 1 rack unit high, but d-e-e-e-e-e-per than any other amplifier made!
The audio circuit was essentially very simple. There was a differential front end, an op-amp gain stage and an enormous high current output buffer. That's about it. Simple and very effective.
It sounded better than anything Hill had ever built. Lighter (just!) and more powerful. Lots of people wouldn't trust it and would not buy it, because it was a Hill. Others thought that it was impossible to have ssuch a lot of power in 1 rack unit. Others thought that it was too deep and touring companies hated that the amplifier 'sagged' down towards the back unless it was supported at the rear... which made quick-changes difficult...
It's a fantastic sounding amplifier. When Roger quested arrived at our studios one day and delivered about eight of them, saying "this is what's going to drive your main monitors" I thought he was finally quite mad. He isn't. He still knows what sounds good. We used Omniphonics amps for the high end, BSS FDS360's for the crossover, and Hill Chameleons for everything else. Quested HD415's have 4x 15" each side... that means that a kick drum panned in the center has 8 x 15" drive units, and four Hill Chameleons all working hard, doing their best to injure you if necessary.
Now that I think about it, perhaps Roger was a little mad... he built some cracking speakers though!!!
Keith