Tuberoller
Divorced an Orpheus to keep his wife.
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2001
- Posts
- 4,941
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- 15
A few weeks ago myself and fellow Chicago Head-fi member Acidtripwow visited a few audio dealers to audition amps and speakers.I visted one dealer earlier in the week to have some amps set up before we arrived on saturday.One of those amps was the Antique Sound labs Tulip.This is a 3.5 watt SET featuring the fantastic 2A3 tube.I thought it sounded great in the first set-up I heard,when Acid and I heard it later I thought it sounded even better.I decided I had to hear this amp in my main system.I borrowed it over last weekend and auditioned it over a three day period.This amp is so incredible.I think Acid described it as "effortless",that desciption is most accurate.I have never heard sound so sweet and wonderful in my home.this amp defies all previous notion about tube amp sonics.It is not slow or inaccurate and it does not have flabby bass.this amp is so sure-footed and focused I hesitate to harp on the the standard tube amp virtues of sweet midrange and fantastic vocals.Most tube amps get the midrange right and most listeners will forgive all the other things because of the perfection of the midrange sonics.The Tulip requires no such concession to sonic imperfection.It does everything so well.The bass is tight,accurate and very well defined.the treble is crisp and detailed without any sign of harshness and retains the typical tube sweetness without any loss of focus.The Tulip does vocals and mono like no other amp I have had in my system.Everything is right where it supposed to be.Each instrument is placed in it's proper place on a deep soundstage surrounded by a dead-silent backround.I am still amazed at what this $999.00 amp is doing to my music,it has simply never sounded better.I purchased this amp today and I will never part with it.It has found a home in my system(at least until next year).
My system in it's current configuration is as follows and will stay this way for at least the remainder of the year while I focus more on musical enjoyment:
Sources:VPI Scout Turntable w/Dynavector 10X4 Gold cartridge.Marantz SA-14 SACD player and Musical Fidelity 324 DAC.
Preamp:Van Alstine Pas3i.Grado PH-1 Phono stage
Amp:Tulip
Loudspeakers: PSB Image 7PT
Cables:a Mixed but carefully matched bag of Harmonic Tech Truthlink,Acoustic Zen,and Alpha Core.Canare Digital and new Monster power cords.
Headphones:Senn HD600 w/equinox,Grado RS-1
Headamps:Headroom Max.Wheatfield HA2
Excuse me while I go listen to some music.
My system in it's current configuration is as follows and will stay this way for at least the remainder of the year while I focus more on musical enjoyment:
Sources:VPI Scout Turntable w/Dynavector 10X4 Gold cartridge.Marantz SA-14 SACD player and Musical Fidelity 324 DAC.
Preamp:Van Alstine Pas3i.Grado PH-1 Phono stage
Amp:Tulip
Loudspeakers: PSB Image 7PT
Cables:a Mixed but carefully matched bag of Harmonic Tech Truthlink,Acoustic Zen,and Alpha Core.Canare Digital and new Monster power cords.
Headphones:Senn HD600 w/equinox,Grado RS-1
Headamps:Headroom Max.Wheatfield HA2
Excuse me while I go listen to some music.