My search for the ultimate tube amplifier in NYC and India

[essrand]

So, I have been on a long journey to find the perfect stereo tube amplifier.

I thought I would start penning down down my past year's search for my "final" tube amplifier, one amp to rule them all perhaps for entertainment value for other FMs or perhaps it might help someone else who is going down the same rabbit hole.

I will try to post this in bit-chunks so that it's not too long. Here's the part one.

Part-1: Intro, NYC, test music, amp contenders

Intro

My speakers are Devore Orangutans O/96, and my preamp is the M12 with a built in DAC and a streamer. My room is 12 feet wide and 22 feet long. My speakers are very efficient (96dB and 14 ohm impedance) so anything from 8W onwards works. So I can take advantage of SET amps as well as PP amps.

I listen to everything except Western Classical.
My favourite music is Carnatic classical, Hindustani classical, Jazz, Middle Eastern music and African music


My test music



The songs that I played on every amplifier were these six, they test the criterions of sound that are important for me:

1. Mongolian Long Song / Legend of Herlev - Silk Road Ensemble
Played by Yo-yo-ma group, this song has an incredible dynamic range (60-115dB), bass, vocals.

This song tests: Dynamic range, power of the amp (does it lose steam), bass, high-pitched female vocals

2. Between the Heaven and Me - Kayhan Kalhor

This song tests: Strings, string decay, alive-ness, woodiness of the kaminacheh

3. When the Soul is settled - Rahim Al Haj

This song tests: Strings, string decay

4. Sophisticated Lady - Charles Mingus

This song tests: Upper bass


5. Pancham - Zakir Hussein/Masters of Percussion

This song tests: Bottom end, drums, tabla, bass energy

6. M’Bifa - Rokia Traore

This song tests: Female vocals, separation of music, space, sound stage



7. From Inspiration to Ecstasy - Vish-Namo (Shujat Hussein Khan/Lalgudi etc)

This song tests: Bass, violin, space and sound stage and instrument separation


NYC

All the brands I ever want to listen to are available in the high-end audio stores of NYC. It is an audiophile heaven, and the dealers seem very helpful and without too many airs.

So I planned my visit via email beforehand and set up appointments. I decided to listen the best brands out there. Based on my prior listening experience and things I have read and hear about I selected these top brands. Shindo Labs, Luxman, Air Tight, Kondo, Engstrom.

I had 5 days in NYC and for that five days, every day at 4pm I set up an appointment to listen to one amplifier.
The goal was to purchase an amplifier that I can live with at least the next ten years.
Only stereo or integrated amplifiers were considered (I am looking to downsize wrt # of pieces, so no monoblocks)

The particular stereo/integrated amplifier contenders were:

1. Engstrom & Engstrom Arne

2. Shindo Cortese 300b

3. Air Tight ATM-300R

4. Luxman MQ-300

5. Kondo Overture Mk1



To be continued .....
Coming up in part-2 : Day 1 - Engstrom Arne vs Shindo

 

[SBE-Audio]

How about Tim De Paravincini's EAR range.... he's reputed to be a great audio tube amplifier designer.

 

[ONEMANARMY]

Tim is a great designer indeed and his amps are some of the finest but from personal experience if you're looking for the lush warmth of tubes, EARs will not give you that, in my humble opinion.

You might want to look at these two boutique firms:
Decware
Mapletree Audio Design.
I have used their products and these guys know what they are doing.
Their pricing is also not as bad as the big league players.

Just saw that the impedance of your speakers is quite high so you can even look into OTL amps from Atma-Sphere and David Berning.

Now that you're getting into tubes do let us know how you roll

 

[SBE-Audio]

The TU-8200DX from EK Japan is very good too....and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg...

 

[prem]

Onemanarmy, David Berning amps are very comfortable handling impedance was low as 2 ohms also if required. They don’t break a sweat. Many with Maggies and Quad 57 use Berning amps

 

[AVM]

How about Tim De Paravincini's EAR range.... he's reputed to be a great audio tube amplifier designer.

I have had the pleasure of listening to most his offerings here in Delhi. Super stuff

 

[SBE-Audio]

Lucky guy !

 

[ONEMANARMY]

Onemanarmy, David Berning amps are very comfortable handling impedance was low as 2 ohms also if required. They don’t break a sweat. Many with Maggies and Quad 57 use Berning amps

That's great to know, Prem.
I always thought OTLs couldn't do low impedance.

 

[prem]

I think only Berning handles low impedance. Others I am not sure of.

 

[SBE-Audio]

Well, ability to drive low impedance loads isn't necessarily the most important aspect of an amplifier.... especially since this is usually achieved by using Negative Feedback, which can then become excessive - leading to a flat, unlively effect...

 

[SBE-Audio]

With valve amps, one can glean superb results from low power units, by using appropriately matching loudspeakers. It's the loudspeaker & cable matching that is crucial to bringing out the best from any valve amplifier.

 

[prem]

Berning uses very little or no negative feedback