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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

801A Drives 801A, Part 2

Hi!

Part 1 about the 801A/801A amps showed the construction of amplifier and power supply. In this post I will show photos of the finished amps and describe their sound.




The amp consists of a set of 4 chassis. Two mono blocks and two power supplies. To celebrate the whiht light from the bright emitter 801As, white color has been chosen for the transformer covers and capacitors.

One of the mono blocks:




The front:




Side views:





The tube at the front is the driver and the one between the two transformer covers is the output triode.




The power supply:




The front:




Side view:




One channel, amp and PSU:




The entire amplifier set:




Side views:






So what about their sound? I have always liked the 801A as output tube for it's very clean and neutral sound. Not as forgiving as the 45 and not as (overly) romantic. A very nice transparent sound with ultimate resolution. For some this could even be too much, especially if the front end of the system is not up to it. These amps are unforgiving.




But with a preamp and sources which are at the same level, these amps are stunning. Not quite as good as the all silver 45/45 amps though.





With their power output of almost 4W, they can provide quite a bit of punch with suitable speakers. The bass is well controlled and matches the overall resolution capability of the amps.




I had some concerns that such 801A/801A amps driven by a 801A preamp could be a bit much of the same thing. But it's not. In fact it mates very well with the 10Y preamp (which can be equipped with 801A as well).




I wonder how this amp would sound like with all silver transformers.





Another shot of the amps at nicht:




Top view of the amp:





Stay tuned for more updates on new amps. The final part about the 300B amp will be posted soon!

Best regards

Thomas




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