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Friday, March 21, 2014

Pure 45 Bliss, Part 2

Hi!

In the first part about the all silver 45/45 amplifiers I showed the assembly. In this part I will show photos of the finished amplifiers and give some sound impressions.





The complete set of 4 chassis consisting of two independent power supplies and two mono amplifiers:










Front view of one of the power amps:






Side views:






The amps in operation:




So how do these silver 45 amps sound? I have reported about the impact of silver in transformers in an earlier post. In these power amps the silver brings the biggest improvement so far. The silver wire transforms these transformers into something new.





The 45/45 amps shown earlier are already stunning performers. But the silver 45 amps caught me by surprise. Especially when equipped with globe tubes the sound becomes frighteningly real. EllaFitzgerald’s Let No Man Write My Epitaph looses it’s vintage character and just sounds ‘there’. The voice is crystal clear and full of emotional impact.




Also modern electronic records are reproduced at a new level. When I listened to my favorite track ‘Scandalous’ on the Faithless album The Dance, I heard sounds which I didn’t hear before. Electronic sounds are projected into space and seem touchable. Every sound has a shape, surface and color.




Especially remarkable are the qualities in the bass department. Lows are extended and extremely well defined showing nuances which I haven’t heard with other amps before.




These amps are like time machines in several ways. No matter how old a recording is they just beam it into the present or put you back there. The combination of the modern silver transformers playing in conjunction with ultra vintage 80+ year old globe tubes brings together the best of the old and new times.




The previously shown 45 amps with Tango transformers are already on a very high sound quality level. But these silver amps are in another league.





Please forgive me if my enthusiasm seems to be getting out of hand. I am usually more reluctant with superlative sound descriptions. But these amps deserve it. Too bad they will be leaving to their new home.


Best regards

Thomas



10 comments:

  1. It must be encouraging to find such a performance level with available iron rather than soon to be unobtanium Tango iron.

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  2. How do they compare and differ from your 211/211 amp sonically?
    What does the silver IT and OPT iron cost? Thank You for another great post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi!
      Only one channel of the 211/211 has been finished so far. So I did not compare them. Contact me by email for prices

      Best regards

      Thomas

      Delete
  3. What is gain of the 45/45 amp compared to 801a driving 45 amp before step up transformer is taken into account in both amps?

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  4. Now I am so sad I was sick and did not pass by just for a short listen of this beauties :( I am so jalous of the future proud owner :)

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  5. How much are these amps and where can I buy them ?

    Kind regards
    Ronald Neale

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ronald,

      you can buy them from me directly. Unless you are in the UK, where I have a representative. Drop me an email for details. My address can be found under the Impressum / Contact link on the top left of the blog

      Best regards

      Thomas

      Delete
  6. Hi Thomas,
    Have you tried 46 as driver tube for 45 or other power tube?
    Would it provide enough gain to forgo the input transformer?
    Did you try ac filaments with this design prior to settling on DC?
    Thanks, Jason

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jason, The answer to all these questions is 'no'...

      Thomas

      Delete