Displaying items by tag: tube - StereoLife Magazine

The creation of this audio component is the result of years of design experience, in-depth knowledge of electronic tubes, and our passion and desire to make unique pieces of great value, in which traditional craftsmanship is combined and integrated with high electronic technology. The New Simply 845 ranks at the top of Unison Research's line of integrated tube amplifiers, second only to the historic Absolute 845. The Simply 845, like the Absolute 845, also employs the famous 845 direct-heated triodes, tubes well known for remarkable durability and extraordinary sonic qualities. The great advantage of integrated amplifiers is the incorporation in a single chassis of the preamplifier and the power amplifier. This makes it possible to eliminate the need for high-cost interconnect cables that are never truly neutral to sound reproduction. It should be noted that in the renewed production of the Simply 845 its size has been reduced by bringing all input and output connectors, strictly gold-plated and of a new type, to the rear of the amplifier.

If I didn't know what Fezz Audio and Pylon Audio have in common, I would think they share the same owner. The two brands openly support each other, exhibit together at major industry events, hold joint photo shoots, and have the same distributor in some countries. In reality, however, these companies only share what one would call a path to success. Not easy, bumpy, risky, based on ingenuity, diligence, and young energy drawing on the experience of the older generation. Pylon Audio began as a small carpentry shop making loudspeaker cabinets. Later, it began producing its own loudspeakers, raising the bar pretty much every year. Fezz Audio, on the other hand, is a side project of a family-owned company specializing in manufacturing toroidal transformers, or at least that's how it began. Many experts say that toroids are moderately suitable for tube amplifiers, but the Lachowski brothers had a different opinion on the subject. They developed a transformer that performed brilliantly, and since it was a successful project, they decided to follow suit and build a complete amplifier around such transformers.

The amplifier is the interface between your signal sources and loudspeakers - whatever is lost at this point is lost forever and conversely, whatever is introduced is also amplified. Amplifiers are also products for everyday use. Some successfully deviate from the conventional, they remind us of the virtue of striving for excellence through original thinking and a desire to push beyond ‘adequate’ to acheive the exceptional. There is a distinctive mood of luxurious puritanism to be found in the appearance of most Copland amplifiers. However, with the CTA407 tube amplifier we have augmented this simplicity, introducing an intelligent complement of electronics to support the audio stages of the amplifier.

McIntosh announced the MC3500 Mk II vacuum tube amplifier. Originally used to power the sound system for Woodstock '69 amongst other formative music events, the iconic monoblock amp was recreated by McIntosh's expert team of engineers and designers to include modern upgrades that celebrate the brand's rich history of powering pivotal moments in music, while showcasing its commitment to technological innovations and acoustic advancements. The reimagined version can be used with a variety of preamplifiers, turntables, CD players, media streamers, speakers, etc. to form a complete home audio system.

McIntosh announces MHA200 vacuum tube headphone amplifier, designed for discerning headphone enthusiasts who demand the most from their headphones. Its versatile set of connectivity options, including balanced inputs and outputs, allows for nearly all headphone types to be connected to enjoy an extraordinary personal listening experience. A pair of 12AT7 and 12BH7A dual triode vacuum tubes power the compact MHA200. The 12AT7 vacuum tubes amplify the incoming audio signal while the 12BH7A tubes provide the power to drive the output to the headphones with low distortion. The MHA200 uses a pair of McIntosh's Unity Coupled Circuit output transformers to deliver pristine audio. The Unity Coupled Circuit is the same technology McIntosh was founded on in 1949 and is still used in their vaunted full-size home audio vacuum tube amplifiers such as the timeless MC275 and the more recent MC1502. Indeed, the MHA200 shares many physical design traits with the aforementioned vacuum tube amplifiers.

McIntosh introduced the MA12000 Hybrid Integrated Amplifier. This fully loaded, hybrid integrated amplifier is a product of uncompromising audio engineering and expert craftsmanship. McIntosh's most powerful integrated amplifier ever, the feature-rich MA12000 offers 350 Watts per channel of clean, high-performance power that produces a breathtaking home audio experience. You will think your favorite musicians are playing a live, in-person performance in your house.

McIntosh is proud to announce the MC1502 Vacuum Tube Amplifier - a stereo amplifier designed for home audio and home music systems that produces 150 Watts per channel. It is the direct replacement to McIntosh's award-winning MC2152 Limited Edition 70th Anniversary Vacuum Tube Amplifier, which had a limited production run in celebration of their 70th Anniversary that occurred in 2019. The new MC1502 has identical audio specifications and sound reproduction performance of the heralded MC2152 but in a more customary McIntosh design.

New Italian audio brand Pegaso may be just a year old, but already it comes with decades of design expertise and a wealth of hi-fi know-how, thanks to the company's family tree. What's more, it plans to specialize, focusing purely on valve-based electronics. First 'out of the stable' is the P50A integrated amplifier.

After two years in development, the all-new Reference 160M (REF160M) monoblock power amplifier is built like no other, yet it is unmistakably Audio Research. It features a refined audio topology with fewer and better components in the signal-path than in previous designs, switchable ultralinear/triode operation, proprietary auto-bias, output tube monitoring and protection, an advanced power meter, and much more. This array of features has never been offered before in an Audio Research amplifier.

Watching the development of companies representing the audio industry can be very interesting. With time, you can make predictions of certain trends, and after many years check whether they turned out to be true. Today's review is not just another description of an interesting product, but also the continuation of my adventure with Auris Audio, which four years ago provided us with one of the first amplifiers in their history - the Adagio 300B. We didn't expect it to be perfect, but in many ways it was. Considering that the company was founded just a year earlier, it was hard to believe. This elegant and very refined amplifier using famous directly heated triodes wasn't made by accident. In the following years, the Serbian company proved it wants to continue making hi-end gear for true audiophiles, or even go a bit further. The latest Fortissimo integrated amplifier is a good case in point.