Pre/Power Amplifiers

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Review: Andrew Everard, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Oct 01, 2018
hfnoutstanding.pngThe Norwegian brand’s latest amp is not just its most powerful integrated, but comes complete with network audio capability. Is this the ultimate one-box amp solution?

Obviously not afraid of a spot of (Russell?) crowing, Oslo-based Hegel describes its new Reference H590 integrated amp, just going on sale at £9000, as ‘Master and Commander’. Apparently it’s ‘A master at musicality’ and ‘The commander of any set of speakers’. Mind you, you might be tempted to forgive the company for its exuberance – after all, the new arrival is something of a monster, standing an AV-receiver-challenging 17.1cm tall, tipping the scales at 22kg and delivering over 300W per channel. Well, 301W a side actually, according to Hegel, making it at least 50% more powerful than its previous top integrated, the H360.

Martin Colloms  |  Dec 30, 2019  |  First Published: Oct 01, 1983
Martin Colloms takes a listen to four new designs costing £250 plus

Following last month's batch of integrated amplifiers costing under the £200 mark, more advanced models have been chosen for this project. The new Mission 778 (Mission Cambridge) represents the UK contribution (£240). The Harman Kardon PM650 combines Japanese and American design (£250), while the European contender is the Revox B251 (£900 plus £45 for the remote controller). All three models are integrated amps with MC and MM input facilities. I also look at another new UK model, the powerhouse P128 from Sugden, which is a dual 'monoblock' power amp (£395).

Review: Tim Jarman, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Feb 01, 2018
hfnvintage.pngIt wasn't a budget buy, but this late '70s integrated from the masters of the MOSFET spearheaded fresh thinking on amplifier design. But how does it sound today?

The advantages of using separate pre and power amplifiers over an integrated is a discussion that can still occupy audiophiles for hours. What was almost a necessity in the valve era became less technically significant once transistors were established, a quality solid-state preamp circuit being undemanding in terms of space and power.

Ken Kessler & Paul Miller  |  Aug 06, 2009
John Howes has been tweaking, modifying and restoring vintage hi-fi equipment long enough to have a healthy approach to the purity of spot-on restorations. It’s a philosophy he applies to the customising of Quad’s classic II mono valve power amplifier. Because he’s also a realist, he also knows how to recognise if a product is a basket-case, useful only as a donor for spares. As the original sold well over many years, there are sufficient beyond salvation.
Ed Selley  |  Nov 20, 2011
The appearance might be retro but the performance is right up to date Deliciously retro in appearance, Icon’s huge flagship power amps began life in 2009 as the MB845s: so-called because they utilise a pair of the mighty 845 direct heated triodes. Still in production, the MB845s cost just half the price of these latest MkII versions, designer David Shaw significantly reworking an original design rated at 65W and ‘repositioning’ the model as a more prestigious high-end product. The MkII also employs an improved high current driver circuit employing two 6SN7 dual-triodes. High power output from the two 845 valves requires a truly massive power supply design too, so the MkII’s mains transformer has grown in size compared with that of the original MB845.
Hi-Fi News Staff  |  Jan 20, 2015
Like the hardy perennials of audio horticulture, the standard valve amplifier circuits keep coming up fresh year after every year. And there’s been a new flowering in the family of beam tetrode tubes that started with the venerable KT66. This is the new Tung-Sol KT150, and the first manufacturer to feature it is Icon Audio, showing this tube off to good advantage in its MB90 MkIIm monoblock power amp. Built in Icon’s factory in China but finished and tested in Leicester, the MB90 MkIIm looks solid and handsomely-proportioned.
Review: Jamie Biesemans, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Oct 16, 2023
hfnoutstandingPurist 'analogue only' headphone amps have a new champion in the form of iFi Audio's flagship iCAN Phantom, designed for in-ears to electrostatics and all 'phones inbetween

When you state your headphone amplifier is the 'Rolls-Royce of flagships' you must be very confident that it's a clear cut above rival high-end devices. But that's exactly what iFi Audio is doing with the iCAN Phantom, shown for the first time at High End Munich in May '23. This £3749 analogue headphone amplifier is positioned above all its previous efforts, including the erstwhile flagship Pro iCAN Signature headphone amplifier, which remains on sale at £2299.

Review: David Price, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Aug 02, 2019
hfnvintageStep back to the 1980s and this specialist British 'cottage industry' integrated amplifier was a force to be reckoned with. But how will it shape up today? Time to find out...

Everyone old enough to remember, talks about the 1970s as the golden age of British hi-fi. That's certainly true in one respect, because what was a niche – often do-it-yourself hobby – went completely mainstream, to the point where the third most expensive consumer item, after a house and a car, was a stereo.

Ken Kessler  |  Feb 14, 2023  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2003
hfnvintageThese purist valve amps from France are still something special, reckons Ken Kessler, but first it's time to put your expectations to one side...

Here beginneth a lesson in audio prejudices – mine and yours. Jadis has created a truly 'high-end' pre/power combination of so narrow a focus that we as audiophiles have to search deep into our hearts before even considering reading about them, let alone owning them. In other words, go no further if you refuse to accept that a manufacturer can (and maybe even should) impose restrictive behavioural practices upon the end user. Forget universality, market savvy commercial appeal, user-friendliness or post-remote control era ergonomics – the JPS8 is aimed at out-of-the-closet masochists.

Review: Andrew Everard, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Aug 30, 2024
hfncommendedWith visuals inspired by JBL’s hi-fi products from the 1960s, the brand’s ‘Classic’ range of separates are populated by technology familiar to audiophiles some 60 years later...

Think JBL and, not unreasonably, you’ll probably think ‘speakers’. The company has been in the loudspeaker business for getting on 80 years, having been founded in California in 1946 by James B Lansing, from whom it takes its name. Lansing himself took his own life just three years later but left an insurance policy to keep the company going, in which form JBL has become an internationally famous audio company and, since 1969, part of what is now Harman International. In 2017 Harman became an independent subsidiary of South Korea’s technology giant, Samsung.

Steve Harris and Paul Miller  |  Aug 08, 2011
Though outwardly unchanged, a serious internal makeover has brought Karan's cool-looking pre/power duo up-to-date. But how do these revised models sound? here must be many audiophiles who are torn between valve and solid-state amplification. If you are attracted to the sound of valves, but hesitate to take the plunge for practical reasons, you’ll be interested in solid-state products which try to offer the best of both worlds. And that’s part of the promise held out by the Karan amplifier line, which is built in the Republic of Serbia and has been gathering a following in several other countries since around 2000.
Hi-Fi News Staff  |  Jan 20, 2015
Krell’s new iBias range is claimed to be more efficient, or less power-hungry, than pure Class A. Paul Miller suggests that iBias is a modern take on the popular sliding bias circuits of the 1980s. So what is the motivation for it? Statements from the company suggest that Krell is doing its part to modernise the high-end, to increase its appeal to audiophiles who are not comfortable with bulky intrusions into their living spaces in a manner acceptable in the past. And yet nothing differentiates the Duo 300, physically, from hundreds of other ball-buster amps.
Review: Andrew Everard, Review and Lab: Paul Miller  |  Nov 20, 2023
hfnoutstandingDeveloped to celebrate Krell's 40th anniversary, the KSA-i400 combines all the brand's proprietary circuit ideas in one very powerful amplifier. We partner it with the Illusion II

Over time, most hi-fi brands develop an image: ask any audiophile and you'll be told this one is warm, that one is all about rhythm and timing, and another is 'bright and detailed, but I could never live with it'. Of such generalisations, myths are born, and I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that most enthusiasts 'know' what Krell is all about – big, heavy, and massively powerful American amps, with the ability to drive just about any speaker to any level you want, or could imagine.

Ed Selley  |  Nov 24, 2010
With the introduction of stereo LPs in 1958, Leak wasted no time in bringing stereo equipment to market. The fi rst public demonstration of the Stereo 20 amp and matching preamp took place in April 1958 at the Audio Fair in London. This must have been quite a coupe for Leak as most rival manufacturers at the show were demonstrating mono equipment. The price of the Stereo 20 was 29 Guineas with its partnering Point One stereo preamp costing 20 Guineas.
Review: Andrew Everard, Lab: Paul Miller  |  May 24, 2024
hfncommendedInspired by Leema Acoustics' flagship Constellation series, this pre/power combination is the first fruit of the Welsh brand's new Quantum range. Does the Graviton have gravitas?

The tone of the announcement of the new Leema Acoustics Quantum range has the air of a Hollywood blockbuster: '25 years in the making…' it begins. But perhaps this hyperbole can be forgiven as this is the Welsh company's first new range in more than ten years and sees the technology of its flagship lineup simplified to reach more affordable prices. Here we have the first two Quantum arrivals, both available in silver or black – the Neutron preamp, with 13 inputs including a built-in DAC, is £1500, as is the Graviton stereo power amp, rated at 150W/8ohm. Buy the two together and you save £200, bringing the package price down to £2800.

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