|
- Core amplifiers (archive ) >>>
-
Museum of amplifiers >>>
Exclusive amplifiers
Discontinued Products
A huge role in the implementation of my studies was played by my colleague and friend Mikhail Aleksandrovich Avdeev, who had produced amplifiers before I realized the need for them in a good audio system.
Mikhail have developed a beautiful appearance, design of cabinets and organized the manufacturing of amplifiers, designed by me.
Transformerless (OTL) models (A - 4.03 and A - 2.03) present a rare type of tube amplifiers, only a few firms in the world produce them by small batches . In Russia I was the only, who created suitable to stable operation OTL ( self-adjusted, with repeatable technical and sound characteristics in each copy). These devices sound particularly exciting, capable to keep the attention of listeners for unlimited time
My amplifiers in class A ( SA - 4 and SA - 4 models with 6Ñ33Ñ tubes) are remarkable for the most bright and full transfer of music emotions.
Amplifiers in AB class (SA - 1 and SA - 1C) are only slightly inferior to my devices in class A by transmission of music emotions, but even surpass them by accuracy and rhythm of sound. Among my products they are the most "audiophile" amplifiers, that means that they luxuriously transmit sonic "prettinesses" of audiophile records
 A - 4.03
Balanced transformerless
amplifier.
Output power :
2 x 100 W / 16 Ohm,
2 x 70 watt / 8 Ohm
2 x 43 W/ 4 Ohm.
Tubes - 6Ñ33Ñ (6Ñ18Ñ), ECC88, ECC83.
Output tubes operate in class AB.
Galvanic coupling between output tubes and speakers.
Amplifier is fully symmetrical from input to output.
Setting of output tubes bies is automatic. (!not conventional bies, because it won`t work in AB class!).
Price - 5000 USD
A - 2.03
Full transformerless amplifier.
Output power - 2 x 15 W / 5 Ohms.
Tubes - 6Ñ33Ñ (6Ñ18Ñ), ECC88, ECC83.
Output tubes operate in class AB.
Galvanic coupling between output tubes and speakers.
Setting of output tubes bies is automatic. (!not conventional bies, because it won`t work in AB class!).
Input - 3 pair of RCA connections and direct input, bypassing the internal cables and selector.
Price - 3600 USD.
SA - 4
The full amplifier in an open design.
Output power - 2 x 30 W / 5 Ohms.
Tubes - 6Ñ33Ñ (6Ñ18Ñ), ECC88.
Output tubes operate in class A.
No negative feedback.
Setting of output tubes bies is automatic (!not autobies as for 6Ñ33Ñ chain require dispersion of greater power that cause the violations of thermal conditions in the cabinet of the acceptable size!).
Price - $ 3500
 SA - 4s
The full amplifier in an open design.
Output power - 2 x 30 W / 5 Ohms.
Tubes - 6Ñ33Ñ (6Ñ18Ñ), ECC88.
Output tubes operate in class A.
No negative feedback.
Setting of output tubes bies is automatic (!not autobies as for 6Ñ33Ñ chain require dispersion of greater power that cause the violations of thermal conditions in the cabinet of the acceptable size!).
Price - $ 3500
 SA - 1
The full amplifier in an open design.
Output power - 2 x 60 W / 5 Ohms.
Tubes- 6Ñ33Ñ (6Ñ18Ñ), ECC88.
Output tubes work in class AB.
Setting of output tubes bies is automatic. (!not conventional bies, because it won`t work in AB class!).
Price - $ 3500
 SA - 1s
The full amplifier in a close design.
Output power - 2 x 60 W / 5 Ohms.
Tubes- 6Ñ33Ñ (6Ñ18Ñ), ECC88.
Output tubes work in class AB.
Setting of output tubes bies is automatic. (!not conventional bies, because it won`t work in AB class!).
Price - $ 3500
|
Until 1995, I was convinced that tube amplifiers were made by rogues with the purpose of cheating on naive audiophiles.
It was rather strange, because in 1986 I participated in the technical support of performances and recording songs of the rock group " Apartment 50" and was convinced of the superiority of powerful tube amps over the transistor ones.
Apparently my "righteous anger" was directed to domestic tube amplifiers, most of which presents a single-ended " weaklings" with 5 ... 10 Watts per channel, which react violently to any overload and continue to "cough" for some time, making the impression of even less capacity than actually are..
The matter is that since 1993 the "Natural" loudspekers ("Natural" was a name of a small company, established by me and Yury Gribanov) were sold well.
These speakers were finetuned with transistor amplifiers and for omni-directional sound were fitted out with 4, 6, and sometimes up to 18 tweeter!
Such great heap of speakers consumed large amounts of electric power. Impedance at HF range fell below 2 Ohms!
At medium and low frequencies the radiation of drivers were united and there was no need to connect them in parallel,( to increase volume) therefore, apart from treble those loudspeakers had sufficiently high resistance.
But, amplifiers do not provide a correct frequency response of speakers if these speakers are finetuned to match transistor amps and, furthermore, they have drops of resistance in specific frequency ranges.
It is clear that with tube amplifiers my speakers of those years didn`t sound the way I wanted.
Sure thing, I quickly found that "guilty" there were "bad" amplifiers.
Dislike of mine was so great that at the first exhibition "Russian High - End 95", where I was one of the organizers, I made a secret attempt to discredit amplifiers.
After a demonstration of some tube amplifiers, made by Russian inventors, I announced (as if without a back thought ), that we were going to connect a transistor amp. I was confident in the superiority of the latter.
All turned out exactly the "opposite" : - decent transistor amplifier sounded awfully after the tube one : - lifelessly, syntheticly, dirtily.
This edifying lesson made me resolutely abandon the prejudice and I fervently began to develop my own tube amplifiers.
I was lucky, my first model with 6Ï44 tubes have sounded well, from what I made a false conclusion that I already knew how to create good tube amplifiers.
Encouraged, I developed the following "advanced" model, with such a low level of noise and background, that nobody believed, leaning his ear to the speaker that the amplifier is already running, only loud music in their ears was making them believe me.
Noise was absent, but good sound was absent too.
Here I realized, what a long way of knowledge was ahead of me.
Persistence is my friend, so, already in 1996 I created a transformerless tube amplifier (OTL), in which between output tubes and loudspeakers there weren`t any output transformers and the sound therefore was much more alive and natural.
In 1997, a mighty OTL amplifier was born. It had a form of two monoblocks and preamplifier. Capacity reached 160 Watts per channel. For OTL amplifiers, which are remarkble for their low efficiency, 160 Watt is an enormous power!
In 1996, the first small-scale production of amplifiers with EL34 tubes was launched.
My first amplifiers with 6Ñ33Ñ tubes appeared even in 1995, with 6Ï3Ñ tubes- in 1999.
From year to year, I have perfected all these types of amplifiers, mastering the difficult art of creating models that are able to reproduce music, full of life, not just lifeless, clean sounds.
A huge role in the implementation of my studies was played by my colleague and friend Mikhail Aleksandrovich Avdeev, who had produced amplifiers before I realized the need for them in a good audio system.
Mikhail have developed a beautiful appearance, design of cabinets and organized the manufacturing of amplifiers, designed by me.
I am grateful to him because I always can count on his effective organizational and intellectual assistance - he is the excellent designer and just a wise man.
|
