Integrated Amplifiers

When Marantz's Ken Ishiwata suggested that we try the new PM-94 through the Apogee Scintillas [HFN Sep '85], I managed to stifle thoughts of 'Oh, no, here we go again'. Ken's confidence in a product is vastly removed from the kind of bravado I expect of British amplifier manufacturers, with pipe-dream tales about driving Krell into the sea. What Ken promised is an amplifier that would deliver the best of both possible worlds: sound quality (and bypassable facilities) for audiophile credibility, alongside ergonomics, styling, and perceived value to make it appealing to more than lunatic-fringe-type consumers.

When Italian hi-fi manufacturer Pathos was established in 1994, its first product was an integrated amplifier showcasing co-founder Gianni Borinato’s bespoke ‘InPoL’ circuit design. Named the Twin Towers, because of its large, vertically aligned heatsinks, the amp claimed 2x30W/8ohm and sold for £3250. Skip ahead some 30-odd years and the model remains a mainstay of the company catalogue, albeit with important running production changes.

The maturing design of amplifiers in the late 1970s created a problem for the marketing departments of large hi-fi manufacturers. Selling hi-fi was a technology-led process with new features and improved performance being the hooks upon which new sales were hung. But with solid-state circuitry, low-noise integrated circuits and complementary output stages already in place, the basic problems of amplification had been solved – so what was to be next?.

Two disparate thoughts crossed my mind after a mere two minutes with Aavik’s I-188 integrated amplifier. The first was a whiff of familiarity when I saw that Flemming E. Rasmussen, the semi-retired founder of Gryphon Audio, was involved in Aavik. The other was seeing reports from the AXPONA show in Chicago suggesting there was a discernible boom in high-end integrated amps, especially among older audiophiles who are downsizing, rather than post-Gen-Xers who shun clutte.

Flying in the face of received hi-fi wisdom that presumes absolute sonic purity is best achieved with separate pre/power amplifiers, integrated amplifiers are having something of a renaissance. Aside from the entry-level and mid-market, where one-box amplification has always been the go-to choice, there’s now a good selection of high-end models from the likes of Rotel’s Michi X3 S2 [HFN Jan ’24], starting from just under £6000, to the massive Dan D’Agostino Momentum MxV [also HFN Jan ’24], yours for just short of £100k when fully loaded with DAC and phono modules.

While not a household name in the UK, the Warsaw-based Unitra brand caused quite a stir in its native Poland when revived in 2021. Its storied past played a role in this, but so did the reimagined products themselves, thanks to their nostalgia-inducing 1970s aesthetic. Moreover, while the new Unitra designs are predictably more up-to-date under the hood, they sport some idiosyncratic features. The monochrome E ink display of the CSH-801 CD player is an illustration of this, as are the remote-actuated lever switches on the £4499 WSH-805 auditioned here.