Now presenting the amazing, outstanding,
one of a kind, highly regarded Audio Note Ongaku. Totally hand-made using over 22
lbs. of silver wire, this baby takes literally hundreds of hours to make! Using the
military grade GE VT4C (211) vacuum tube running in zero feedback single-ended Class A
mode (one tube per channel), this stereo integrated unit produces around 26 watts
per channel. The unit seen here is the old, original front RCA jacked Ongaku.
The later rendition has the RCA inputs on the left side while the top-mounted preamplifier
tubes get hidden under the chassis. Ok, i better come clean, i had one of these
babies here for a few years.
Audio Note Co Ltd
1-9-2 Koyama
Shinagawa-ku
Tokyo 142-0062
Japan
www.audionote.co.jp
Made in France, this $20,000 monoblock amplifier uses the VT4C and 813 output
tube to produce a claimed 40 wpc. The Audio Aero Prestige monoblocks use the TRAC
(Tube relay Amplification Concept) system. Although the larger photo is great, they
looked really awesome at the WCES '99.
Audio Aero
2, rue Louis Breguet
31700 Cornebarrieu
France
www.audioaero.com
The new Jota stereo amplifier by
Art Audio uses one KR VV32B per channel for 20wpc output. NOS Amperex 6922 gold pin
for the driver stage, 12BH7A's for the cathode follower and the second gain stage are used
as well. The power supply is a solid state design with a soft start using NOS
Mullard CV 378's in series, two pi-filters and a choke filter. The output
transformers are a modified split core type to achieve wider bandwidth at the frequency
extremes. To reduce microphonics from effecting the high performance of the Jota,
the VV 32B's are mounted on a special isolation plate assembled with vibration dampers to
acoustically isolate them from any chassis vibration. It is a pure class 'A',
triode, zero-feedback design.
Seen here is a powerful Italian-made SE
tube integrated amplifier by Master Sound. Using two 845 tubes paralleled per channel,
this unit produces 40 wpc with only 0.5% distortion. Zero negative feedback is used
of course. The claimed frequency response is 15Hz - 40kHz. This integrated
unit has five inputs via gold-plated RCA jacks and speaker outputs use very impressive
heavy-duty gold-plated binding posts. Of course there's the ever so beautiful wood
side panels that look yummyliciously tasty and makes me want to become a native Italian!
Master Sound S.A.S
Via Cima XII n. 14 - 36051
Olmo di Creazo (Vicenza) Italia
voice +39 (0) 444 521733
fax +39 (0) 444 279525
Italy has many great things to
offer. One of them is the Nightingale AMD-30 integrated tube amplifier. Using
eight 6L6 tubes for power output, this unit is rated at 30 wpc. The preamplifier
stage uses four E88CC tubes as two E82CC tubes are used for phase inversion. Signal
to noise is claimed to be <85db while the frequency response is 10Hz - 40kHz (+/-
1.5db). Operation is pure "Class A" and the entire circuit is pure dual
mono. Bias for the tubes is automatically maintained to .1% precision! There
is also a standby function to keep the heaters on while the unit is not being used.
Nightengale by Simetel S.p.A.
Via Pieve Torina
42-00156
Roma (Italia)
voice +39 6 4110546
fax +39 6 4110557
High-Performance Audio Reviews
