![]() However, after extended listening I did start to notice a brightness that tended to push images forward and cause a little listener’s fatigue. With only thirty minutes of warm-up, I was enjoying the music, bopping along to my favorite tunes. Out of the box, the Reference 3.1 is an excellent sounding unit. The transformers are large, and while I don’t knowing what’s inside the potting enclosures, they give the impression of being well built units. From the heft of the thing, you can tell it’s not a metal box full of air. The Audio Space Reference 3.1 is one.įirst of all, the build quality of the Audio Space Reference 3.1 is excellent. Because there are relatively few PP triode amps available, it takes more looking. Your choices are limited when you look for push-pull triode amps. There is a historical precedence, not just in the Western Electric amps, but in offerings like the Brook 10C, McIntosh MI200 and triode connected pentodes like the Williamson. Unlike single-ended amps, you don’t have to choose between parafeed (with a nasty coupling cap between the plate and primary winding) or a large, compromised, air-gapped, output transformer. Last time I checked, those were all good things. What do you get when using push-pull triodes? Very low distortion without the use of big feedback, healthy output, and immunity from noise. Western Electric’s high-end designs used push-pull triodes. ![]() One of the first amplifier patents was for a push-pull triode circuit. ![]() The solution is obvious: push-pull triodes, preferably class A. Old fashioned PP pentodes/beam tetrodes definitely kick out the jams, but lack the nuance and subtleties we like with SE triodes. Good singled-ended output transformers are large, expensive, and take a lot of skill to build. Actually, output transformers are the problem. The big 845 and 211 single-ended amps have the power, but the complicated output transformers kill frequency response, introduce phase errors and coloration. The resulting bias complications of parallel devices cause audible problems. From my experience with ordinary parallel-push-pull amplifiers, it’s better to forego parallel devices because tubes are impossible to match. Because single-ended amplifiers have an eastern-metaphysical-guru-God-like-cultish-hype surrounding them, most companies offer single-ended or parallel single-ended offerings. Many tube gurus have decided that single-endedness is next to Godliness. Are you guys really excited by boring music? Do you prefer Mozart to Shostakovich? Diana Krall to Big Brother and the Holding Company (Janis)? Three Blind Mice to Duke Ellington? What’s with the homogenated, boring music, folks? My goal is to find gear that can play as much music as possible, and the little flea-powered single-ended amps just don’t cut it. I don’t know how to say it, but it’s just wrong. One of the problems for the high-end is the dumbing-down of music, trying to set a list of criteria for music before it can be played on a system. Can it sound good? Sure it can, but only with a limited number of recordings. To make a speaker work with five watts means you’re maximizing efficiency at the expense of something else. To date, I haven’t heard a system with 5-7 watts that had full frequency response or full dynamics. I’m also a Full Dynamic Response Recording guy too. I’m a “Full Frequency Response Recording” kind of guy, to borrow from Decca. As much as I would love to go along with the crowd and embrace 5-watt triode amps, they just don’t work for me. I love the relative strengths of tubes and transistors, and am constantly looking for products that bridge the gap. My tastes in amplification run counter to most. It’s the loneliest number since the number one” “One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do
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