January 2024

Lejonklou Boazu Stereo Integrated Amplifier Review
Enjoying music presented intact, in balance, and fully rendered.
Review By Jules Coleman

  A while ago, I was on a call with Don Better, an audio industry veteran, proprietor of Don Better Audio in Cleveland, and accomplished musician. Don has a great ear. When Don Better talks, I listen. During the conversation, I asked if he had heard anything new and impressive. Without hesitation, he mentioned Lejonklou electronics, at the time a brand entirely unknown to me. Don is not prone to hyperbole, and so my interest was piqued when he characterized Lejonklou as 'solid-state Shindo.' Having previously owned full Shindo systems for over a decade, I put Lejonklou on my short list of components to look into.

Just prior to the 2021 global health event, during what is euphemistically referred to as 'downsizing,' I had settled into listening to the Auditorium 23 Solovox open baffle speaker as the centerpiece of my go-to listening system. The Solovox is quite discerning, favoring some amplifier pairings while turning a blind eye to others that I thought would have made for a good partnership, if not a life-long relationship. In addition, even with its high sensitivity, Solovox springs to life when fed tube power somewhere between 18 and 35 Watts, making push-pull EL84 and EL34 amps among its preferred dance partners. Adequately driven, the Solovox displays a dynamic realism and consistent density across its effective frequency range that was unparalleled in my experience.

Having had no previous luck in pairing the Solovox with solid-state amps, I was reminded of my conversation with Don and determined that I should contact Thomas O'Keefe of Nokturne Audio, Lejonklou's North American distributor to explore his interest in having me review of one of Lejonklou's solid-state offerings.

Who Is Fredrik Lejonklou?
My conversation with Thomas focused primarily on Fredrik Lejonklou's design philosophy, which I had researched after my call with Don. Fredrik follows one basic design principle and employs one basic voicing test.

The design principle is easy to grasp but hard to implement. In audio design, the most important 'distance' comes immediately after the source. The system will never have more information in it than is inputted at the source. The main design imperative, therefore, is to retrieve all the relevant musical information at the source. The corollary is that the design must then preserve as much as is originally captured since all information will naturally degrade some amount as it works its way through the system.

The voicing test is not original to Fredrik, having been introduced decades ago by Linn. Dubbed the Tune Method and offered up originally as a recommendation for listeners to employ especially when auditioning Linn turntables and speakers, the idea is to focus on whether the component or system can render the tune faithfully. Linn turntables were especially known for their way with the rhythm and flow of the music and the Tune Method captures this important element of the music presentation that contributes substantially to its persuasiveness. Those, like Fredrik, who follow the Tune Method also believe that the other musically significant elements, e.g. tone, timbre, dynamics, coherence, come along with tunefulness, that in effect, one secures them as a consequence of getting the tune right. I am skeptical of the additional claim, but there is something to be said for the Tune Method and that is, to put it bluntly, if it doesn't play tunes, it doesn't play music.

Thomas set up a series of listening opportunities that were to include several of Lejonklou's top-tier electronics: the Sagatun Mono Preamplifiers, Tundra Mono amplifiers, and the Entity low output moving coil phono preamp. We agreed that it would make sense for me to listen to the very best Lejonklou was capable of, to get a sense of its distinctive voice or way with music before reviewing equipment that would be especially appropriate for my current setup: namely, the 40 Watts per channel at 8 Ohms Boazu stereo integrated amplifier (70 Watts at 4 Ohms). This would provide an opportunity not just to review the Boazu on its own terms but to see how close this rather modestly priced integrated could come to the performance of the very best Fredrik has on offer.

Soon thereafter, I received all three pieces and set about listening to them, which I had the pleasure of doing for a bit over a month when life suddenly intervened (as it is wont to do), and I was compelled to turn away from reviewing to attend to pressing health issues. And so I returned the components to Thomas unable to complete the review process as originally planned, and for a time feared that my temporary leave from reviewing might become permanent. Fortunately, blessed with exceptional medical attention and good luck, I was able to regain my health, and, after a couple of years away from reviewing returned afresh, resolved as our beloved editor, Steve Rochlin, reminds us 'to enjoy the music' and, to be frank, to find meaning in anything else life has to offer.

Upon returning, I resolved to restrict most of my reviewing to components designed to express a particular approach to communicating with the listener, components informed (preferably explicitly) by what I refer to as a musical point of view, that is, a reasoned account of what matters musically – what contributes to the musical persuasiveness of a listening experience, how it does so and in what ways. The musical point of view informs the voice in which a designer's components speak, and thus the manner in which they communicate with the listener.

For all the simple pleasures and enjoyment it provides, music, like the arts in general, challenges the mind, touches the soul and warms the heart. Music is central to virtually every culture, figures in the most emotionally meaningful celebrations, and holidays, and helps us face the most painful losses. It possesses the gift of expressing in its language emotions and beliefs that many of us find difficult to express in our native tongues. Little else I am aware of can so easily allow us to escape the moment or to immerse ourselves completely and without embarrassment in it, sometimes simultaneously. I am interested in components created by those whose design goals reflect an understanding of the personal and social significance and meaning of music, whose products reveal that understanding and embodies their musical point of view.

My brief time with the Lejonklou separates convinced me that the components from his audio atelier were as good a place for me to begin this journey as I was aware of. I didn't have it in me to ask Thomas to consider letting me have another go at the Sagatun and Tundra monos, so when I contacted him again, I asked if he might be willing to part with a Boazu integrated. He concurred and I anxiously looked forward to its arrival.

Lejonklou's Boazu Stereo Integrated Amplifier Arrival
All Lejonklou products are plain black boxes of relatively modest size. The Boazu comes in at roughly 14" x 3" x 14" and weighs in at just under 10 lbs. The front panel has the name Lejonklou written elegantly across the front panel, above which sits a light that indicates the volume setting. Volume is controlled either by the perfectly serviceable remote or by the only three buttons that appear on the front panel: mute, increase, or reduce volume.

The rear of Lejonklou's Boazu continues the minimalist theme. There are four unbalanced RCA inputs, no pre-out and no provisions for balanced XLR interconnects. The inputs are not identified by their potential use, and all are on all the time. In an early prototype of the Boazu a switch was provided to identify which source was being actively engaged. Fredrik found that this approach had a deleterious impact on the sound of the Boazu and the current approach found its way into all production Boazu solid-state stereo integrated amplifiers. You can place whatever source into whichever inputs you like and only the input you are actively playing will produce sound through the system. Problems emerge only if you play two or more components at once, for example, a turntable and streamer. Since one would hope this would happen only in error, the approach works just fine.

Besides the four inputs, the back panel was graced with the power switch, input for a non-dedicated power cord plus one set of loudspeaker outputs that can work with banana plugs or with special connectors available through Lejonklou. Banana plugs are prohibited in the European Union, but not elsewhere, and since Connecticut has not yet applied for membership in the EU I used loudspeaker cables terminated with banana plugs. Though the power cord connection is non-dedicated, the Boazu comes with Lejonklou's preferred power cord you are strongly encouraged to employ – again Fredrik having tested many alternatives, and to this point, the one provided prevails sonically within my stereo sound system. The cord is not dedicated, I presume, because testing is ongoing in all models, each of which is designed to be fully upgradeable and so should Fredrik find a better power cord (sonically speaking), the owner of any model will be able to upgrade to the new cord without other physical changes having to be made to the unit.

The absence of a pre-out means that there is no way of easily using the preamplifier section of the Boazu with another amplifier, even one driving active (sub)woofers. Finally, the Lejonklou Boazu inverts phase, which it resolves for at the speaker output where the black plug is live and the red ground.

Turning the power switch on sets the light above the name aflutter. After flashing for six seconds, a green light goes on and the volume is set to default of 40dB. Thereafter volume can be controlled by either the buttons or by the serviceable remote.

Volume on the Boazu is not identified by steps or numbers, but through a color-coding system. Each incremental change in volume represents a 1dB change allowing for fine-tuning. Colors change at 10dB intervals, i.e. 30dB / 40dB / 50dB, and so on. The instruction manual translates the color coordinates into volume ranges. After a short period of adjustment, I found it quite easy to employ. The colored light was easier to see from a distance than numbers typically are, and I came to view the approach to changing volume as a net positive from a user perspective.

Fredrik designed the Boazu with no fail-safe protections against shorting the unit at the speaker terminals and without protections against damage owing to playing the Boazu at volumes beyond clipping. Protection comes from a governor that limits volume in much the same way that golf cart governors limit tours for frolic on the golf course. The governor can be overridden rather easily but one would be well served in most circumstances to heed its restrictions. If a choice is to be made between sonic fidelity and safety, the burden of safety will fall to the owner and not to Lejonklou who sees their task as optimizing performance.

Fredrik proudly refers to the Lejonklou Boazu as 'no frills,' and that seems about right. No frills, as plane jane a casement as imaginable from an aesthetic point of view, the potential purchaser simply must buy into the claim that everything in the design has been tested repeatedly to determine its impact on sound in service of a persuasive musical experience. I admire how transparent Lejonklou is about its design choices.

The Lejonklou Boazu Is That Good
Lejonklou's Boazu stereo integrated amplifier arrived while I was in the middle of reviewing the newest version of the truly special Eminent Technology LFT VIIIc (ET) loudspeaker. The ET is a hybrid magnetic planar speaker: hybrid in that it mates the planar midrange and tweeter with a dynamic woofer. Unlike the most famous of all planar magnetic speakers, Magnepans, all ET speakers are push-pull designs (magnets on both sides of the panel). I had previously owned an early iteration of the LFT VIIIs which I preferred overall to both Magnepans and Apogees. The best Apogees presented far too demanding a load and though at their best were extraordinary, invariably proved unreliable, much like my late 1960s model Jaguar XKE. In contrast, all Maggies were a bit too relaxed for my taste and over time invariably lost some of their punch, something I attributed to cost savings in the construction of the inner frame. I eventually abandoned the ET because of the discontinuity between the driver types, which was noticeable and distracting.

I agreed to review the most recent iteration of the VIIIs because Bruce Thigpen, the designer, had for the first time matched the dipole panel with a dipole dynamic woofer configuration that he felt would do a much better job of integrating the bass with the dipole midrange and tweeter. He wanted to know if I agreed. (Find out if I agreed in next month's review of the speaker.)

The ET dipole woofers were powered by their own amps, and so I asked Bruce whether the 70 or so Watts available through the Boazu into a 4 Ohm load would be sufficient to drive the mid/woofer and tweeter of his speaker. He was keen that I give it a go. The fact that the Boazu lacked a pre-out made the setup a bit complex, but with Bruce's help I was able to complete the task and set about listening to the Lejonklou Boazu integrated amplifier / Eminent Technology loudspeaker combination for a couple of weeks. I quite enjoyed what invariably felt like an intimate or private portrayal of the musical message through the combo, though I sensed that I was asking more of the Boazu than it would be comfortable providing over the long run. I retired the ET / Lejonklou combination once satisfied of the sonic excellence of the combination but also of its real limitations.

Turning My Attention To The Boazu And Solovox Combination
Like many reviewers, I have had the good fortune of listening to wonderful music played through very good audio systems. It is a pleasure I wish many more individuals could enjoy. Even so, I have only three times experienced the special joy of listening to nearly entire audio systems expressing a singular voice of a particular designer: once with a fully designed Audio Note (Kondo-san system) including step-up transformer, preamplifier, and Ongaku amp; one and a half times with complete Shindo system – once with the Monbrison preamp and Sinhonia amps, and a second time with the Arome step-up MC phono cartridge transformer, Catherine preamp and 300B Ltd amplifiers; and once with the largely Lejonklou system, including the Entity, Boazu and the full complement of recommended Linn interconnects and speaker cables.

To my ears Kondo-san's Audio Note Japan voicing was the most arresting and forceful of the three. The elements of every musical presentation were more finely etched, individually discernible but never distractingly so. Of the three, the Kondo Audio Note voicing was the most demanding. I wouldn't call it captivating or beguiling. Forthright and arresting, the Audio Note combination calls for fully attentive listening that is correspondingly rewarded.

In contrast to Audio Note, the Shindo voicing is designed to leave more choices about how to engage with the musical presentation to the listener. If the Audio Note's strength is that it challenges one's capacity to grasp and appreciate a performance, the Shindo's strength is that it offers doorways into avenues of potential exploration. Shindo voicing is, without question, the most fully developed of any I have heard. Never arresting, always inviting; never tiring, always exploratory. Shindo provides more color, texture, and micro-shading than any other I have experienced. If the Audio Note presentation is Jimi Hendrix-like, the Shindo presentation is Jeff Beck-like, able to convey more emotion through more shifts in dynamics and tonal shadings in the course of a single musical line than would seem physically possible.

The Lejonklou voicing was neither arresting, nor beguiling or mysterious. It was without pretense or hidden meanings. Nevertheless, Lejonklou speaks with conviction and modesty. The first impression is of all the musical elements holistically presented, yet available for closer examination if called for. I heard everything and each part of it, as the Shaker saying goes, 'in its proper place.' Rather than vivid or immediate as was the Audio Note, or beguiling and seductive as was the Shindo, it was immediately available and invitingly accessible. I experienced it as sincere, genuine, rich, dense, and coherent. Keeping the analogy with guitarists, more in the vein of Larry Carlton, seductive almost entirely in virtue of the sheer pleasure of listening to it.

Like Larry Carlton's playing, you are first aware of how natural and appropriate the presentation is (I invite anyone to listen to both of his solos on Steely Dan's, "Kid Charlamagne," each created and executed on the spot) and only aware afterwards of how many distinct parts have been woven together seamlessly to create the stylish 'rightness' of it all.

The striking feature of the Lejonklou voicing is that the music filled the soundstage without ever once making it feel cluttered, busy, or crowded. (This too is so Larry Carlton-like, I'm beginning to think I really nailed that analogy.) I don't recall ever listening to components that made everything seem just right – in size, weight, shape, tone, timbre, and dynamics. The music just sounded totally believable and entirely of a piece. You could hear the integration of the players; you could sense, when appropriate, the players playing off one another. I was never aware of details in any sense of the word other than to the extent they meshed with one another. At the same time, there was no absence of detail at all. If you wanted to follow a theme or a melody, you could. But the music kept asking you to explain why you would want to?

I did most of my listening to the Boazu via vinyl. The source was the very musical Well Tempered Labs Amadeus Jr. turntable fitted with a Dynavector low output moving coil cartridge, the remarkable Lejonklou Entity moving coil (MC) phono preamplifier, Boazu integrated and Auditorium 23 Solovox with all connections through recommended Linn interconnects and speaker cables. The choice of vinyl had more to do with the Solovox's presence in the system than with anything else, though I would not underestimate the impact of the wonderful Entity on my decision.

As I've mentioned, Solovox favors vinyl; and if I could explain why I would. I have no scientifically acceptable explanation. On the other hand, I had never expected Linn interconnects or speaker cables to be part of the glue that would hold this system together, but they did. The Linn speaker cable, which had been unspectacular in other settings, made my baseline reference Auditorium 23 speaker cables seem unsure of themselves by comparison. I have no better explanation of that than I do of why the Solovox comes alive with vinyl and seems to take pleasure in flattening out digital recordings. In audio, one sometimes must simply embrace what works and leave it to others to explain why. Better still if the fact that some partnerships worked so well were left inexplicable. Music should have a touch of mystery to match its majesty.

Speaking of mysteries: why does so much music sound great through a car radio, especially when one is driving a tad above the speed limit with the windows down, only to disappoint when played on a home sound system? I can listen to Jonathan Richman's, 'Roadrunner' all the way from Memphis or, more likely, from New Haven to New York City on the Merritt Parkway and never once feel the urge to switch stations, and certainly not if doing so means listening to Sports Radio. Yet, once home in either place, I rarely, if ever, feel the urge to spin the vinyl version.

Surely, some of this has to do with the environment. Some songs are made for listening in the front seat of a car. Cars have a special way with movement. When our children were young and could not fall asleep, we lay them on one of our laps in the back seat and drive around the block. Something about the rhythm, flow, and ride of the car put them to sleep. Cars not only put babies to sleep, they also make some performances come alive. Not just Jonathan Richman, either. I have never been moved by Bruce Springsteen as a songwriter, but there is no denying his excellence as a performer or the fit between his best songs and highway driving.

Of course some songs don't need the special environment that a car ride provides. Surely the Steve Hunter intro to Lou Reed's live version of 'Sweet Jane' could wake the dead. On the other hand, Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music could only sound credible with one's head in an MRI machine. Even though I want my home audio system to reveal flaws that my car radio system doesn't or can't, I don't want to enjoy listening to the same tunes on my car radio more than I enjoy listening to them on my home audio system. I am prepared for the experiences to be different, and therefore to be good in different ways. Others may have a different experience or have a different way of describing the same experience, but for me, when it works, listening (at volume) to the car radio puts you in immediate contact with the heartbeat of the music. By 'immediate' I mean something very close to 'not mediated by' anything. It's almost like being able to reach out and touch the music. There is no space between the presentation of it and the experiencing of it. It's all one event. (As the saying goes), 'In Cars.'

I don't expect my home audio system to create the same kind of immediacy, but I do want it to put me in touch with its heartbeat. And this is a demanding task, because on the one hand, we all want our home audio systems to be 'revealing', but on the other, we don't want what it reveals to be distracting. If a home audio system reveals the flaws and the non-musical detail of a recording distracts, making it too difficult or well neigh impossible for me to experience the music's heartbeat, then the system is too much a microscope and too little a stethoscope for my taste.

The Boazu Is A Stethoscope (At Heart)
I played three of my wife's favorite songs for her, three times each: the Allman Brothers featuring Dickie Betts on "Jessica", Jeff Beck playing Stevie Wonder's "'Cause We've Ended as Lovers," and Steely Dan's "Aja." The first time through we just listened with no intention or purpose in mind and at a modest volume level (i.e. the volume we enjoy as we we cooking together but not carrying on a conversation while doing so). The second time, I played the songs at a somewhat louder volume, sufficient to energize the room. The third time I asked her to listen for particular features of each piece; the changes in "Jessica", the ability of Jeff Beck to pull tones from the strings through his touch, the use of the whammy bar, and shifts in microdynamics, and the wonderful but hard to hear, unless you are paying attention to them, guitar fills throughout the horn and piano lead sections of "Aja."

Here's the thing about both the Boazu and the Solovox, especially in concert with one another. No one would be blown away by the combination on the first hearing. And that's exactly as it should be because absolutely nothing in the initial listening stands out. That's a good thing in my book, since, when you think about it, things stand out because they dominate in one way or another. Sometimes to the good; sometimes not. Things rarely stand out when they are both in balance and harmony with one another. The Boazu/Solovox initial presentation of music is primarily holistic and in balance. Not everything sounds good; but everything sounds right.

In my experience, increases in volume often create an imbalance in the way the music is presented. So many systems lose their balance with increased volume. Too often, at volume, the upper midrange gets hard or glassy, the high registers are brittle or too present, or the mid-bass projects a dynamism that can be found nowhere else in the presentation. Or the bass gets heavier and the upper registers get more see-through and less dense. The entire point of my second listening is to illustrate that the Boazu, certainly playing through the Solovox, maintains balance and harmony at volume, both of which are fragile and easily fractured on too many systems. With the Boazu, volume (within reason of course) does not disturb the system's balanced presentation. What starts in balance remains in balance. And like in sports, the only important balance is dynamic balance, balance in motion. And that is what the Boazu / Solovox partnership is based on, and why the musical experience sustains and endures through ongoing listening sessions.

The point of the third listening is to illustrate the relationship between the Boazu's holistic and fully rendered presentation with its ability to retrieve an extraordinary amount of musical detail. In fact, the point is to show that the two are fundamentally connected. The presentation's completeness depends on the extent of the detail the Boazu retrieves and preserves and the capacity of the Boazu / Solovox's ability to weave those details together into a seamless whole: a capacity that is surely aided by the fact that the Solovox is a single driver, open baffle design.

The thing that is amazing about the Boazu is that you don't focus on the individual details in normal listening, but you can, by focusing your attention on them, be very aware of their presence. And it is then that you realize that the presence of all these details is part of what makes the whole of the performance so persuasive, dense, and rich. It is also then that you realize that you have until that moment felt no need to focus on the details, in large part because of the extraordinary way in which the Boazu knits them together and presents them as a fully realized whole.

To put it paradoxically, recalling Fredrik's view that above all else the designer's main objective is to retrieve all the musical detail at the source: the genius of the Boazu is that it leaves no musical detail unaccounted for, but counts no detail individually, instead weaving all details together into a musical whole that wouldn't be what it is were it not for all the details, but because it is what it is, leaves you less interested in taking the measure of the details individually and more inclined to become immersed in the experience of being put in touch with the music's heartbeat.

Or as Don Better put it to me nearly two years ago, the Boazu makes music intensely and unapologetically.

I couldn't recommend the Boazu more highly to anyone whose main interest is listening to music presented intact, in balance, fully rendered, and accessible. It's not the only legitimate or valuable way to listen to music. I, for one, enjoy listening to music that is presented to beguile and bemuse; and also to carefully listen to it as challenging my capacity to appreciate it intellectually as well as emotionally. But the voicing that the Lejonklou presents is the one I want to experience most often. And if I had to choose to listen to music presented in only one voice, this is the one I would choose.

Not surprisingly, I bought the Boazu (and the Entity too). Right now, the only 'person' happier than I am with this purchase is the Solovox speakers! Oh, and my wife's pretty happy too.

Manufacturer's Comment
We'd like to thank Jules Coleman and Enjoy the Music.com for the lovely review of the Lejonklou Boazu integrated amplifier. It is always great when people really get what we are all about – the reproduction of music without editorializing but leaving it up to the musicians, engineers, and producers to convey their vision to you. We fully agree on the importance of music in our lives and allowing you to be as fully engaged with it as possible, by getting the electronics out of the way so the music can flow through, is our primary goal.

Another goal is to make the equipment as affordable as possible so the largest number of music lovers can enjoy it. As noted in the review the products are well-built but relatively plain-looking. This is by design as money only goes into making each unit as musical as possible. There isn't much in the way of bling, thick and curvaceous front panels, big knobs, or meters as we want you to thoroughly enjoy listening to them and that is where all the money goes. That the Boazu is being mentioned in such august company in this review (and it's not the first time) is a good indication that we have achieved our goals.

Thanks again, and I'm glad Jules is enjoying his system. Maybe at some point we can demonstrate to him how engaging digital reproduction can be done our way.

Thomas O'Keefe, Owner
Nokturne Audio
Importer of Lejonklou HiFi

Specifications
Type: Solid-state stereo amplifier
Frequency Response: 2 Hz to 130 kHz (-3dB) 
Input Impedance: 10 kOhm 
Output Impedance: 0.05 Ohm / 4 to 16 Ohm speakers 
Power Output: 40 Watt per channel at 8 Ohms, 70 Watts at 4 Ohms 
Dimensions: 14" x 3" x 14" (WxHxD)
Weight 10 lbs. 
Price: $4195

Company Information
Lejonklou HiFi AB
Västra Strandgatan 9
753 11 Uppsala
Sweden 

E-mail: info@lejonklou.com
Website: Lejonklou.com

North America Distributor
Nokturne Audio
8259 Hugh Street
Westland, MI 48185

Voice: (734) 612-4009
E-mail: info@nokturneaudio.com 
Website: NokturneAudio.com