Κώστας Φ.
Truth hurts. Here's a teddy bear.
- Μηνύματα
- 8.978
- Reaction score
- 895
Το 6moons φιλοξενεί review των 300Β μονομπλόκ της Fi, διά χειρός Don Garber. Στα $5900 το ζευγάρι.
Δεν αμφιβάλλω ότι θα παίζουν πολύ καλά αλλά αυτό το "The Fi 300B mono amplifiers are really stunning to look at..." μπορούσε να λείπει...
Κάτι τέτοια διαβάζει ο σκύλος του Κωστέτσου και έχει ψυχολογικά προβλήματα μετά. :happy_9:
Αντιγράφω απο 6moons, λίγα λόγια για τον Don Garber:
"If anyone personifies the craftsman area of audio in the USA, it would have to be Don Garber and his made-to-order hand-crafted Fi electronics. While Don's designs are often associated with the direct-heated 2A3 triode that has been made famous through his Fi 2A3 amplifier line, in the beginning it was actually the classic Western Electric 300B that got Don hooked on the benefits of SET amplification. In the late 1980s a friend of Don's -- John -- told him about the musical merits of his 'new' Western Electric 91-A amps using 300B tubes that had come from an old movie theater system. Intrigued, Don paid John a visit. They were "nice and scabby looking," recalls Don, "like they'd been strapped onto projectors for 30 years - and probably had been." When they fired up John's system with the Western Electrics, it sounded great and more importantly, played music superbly. Nobody was building SETs in America at that time. Rescuing old vintage gear like the Western Electric 91As and putting them back into service was really the only option then.
In what would become a pivotal moment of the SET movement in the States, in 1992 Don opened up a little storefront at 30 Watts Street in Manhattan which he called Fi. There Don started selling vintage gear and some of the first American-made SET amplifiers like Herb Reichert's 300B amp, JC Morrison's 6B4G amp
(similar to a 2A3) and Gordon Rankin's 845 amplifier. Don then developed his own amplifier, the Fi 2A3 Stereo, whose fame quickly spread. While Fi the store has now passed as a footnote into the history of the SET movement, Don still offers his own handcrafted preamplifiers (phono and line stage) and single-ended triode integrated, stereo and mono amplifiers based on the 45, 2A3 and 300B DHTs and the 421A under his Fi banner. A while back I received a message from Don asking if I would be interested in hearing his newly re-designed Fi 300B mono amps. Would I? You bet!"
Kαι μερικές πληροφορίες για τους συγκεκριμένους ενισχυτές, απο τον ίδιο τον Garber:
"The new design is three-stage, all direct-coupled. There are two stacked power supplies, which make the direct coupling possible. It's a little simplified from the previous version but there are a few little additions. I also took a long time auditioning parts and there were a few surprises. As it stands now, there's no cathode bypass cap on the 300B where previously there was (I may still be out on this - I almost wish I'd sent you a pair with a switchable cathode bypass. It greatly affects placement in the soundstage, particularly voices). So it's a little closer to your 2A3 monos, which have never been bypassed in this respect. The price of the new amps is $5,900/pair with Electro-Harmonix 300Bs. I'm tempted to supply them with WE tubes, which I think are the best but everyone seems to have their own opinion. I also like the TJ (or Sophia) mesh globe tubes; they sound good and are beautiful to look at. And reasonably priced, too. Since the prototype, I've had the plates for the chassis laser cut, which speeds up the process quite a bit. Putting a pair together takes me a little over a week (it was three times that when I did all the chassis work like I used to). Orders are backed up so at the moment any order will have a lead time of about four months. And that's hoping that we can keep Mike LaFevre off his motorcycle so he can make some trannies for me. My new Fi preamp is up and running in prototype form too and sonically there are a few tweaks to be done but it's everything I've hoped for. I've also got a direct-coupled push-pull amp in the works that holds a few surprises."
...και η άποψη του reviewer:
"Summing Up
The Fi 300B mono amplifiers are beautifully hand-crafted amplifiers by Don Garber that represent the very best of what 300B tubes are cable of musically and sonically. At $5,900/pr, they're priced well below other state-of-art 300B mono amplifiers, making them good value for the money. The Western Electric 300B tubes are a must to realize their full musical potential. The Fis are the most even-handed 300B amplifiers I have yet come across. They are clean and extended on top, with bass that can go deep while still maintaining a very articulate feel to never ever sound flabby or boomy while possessing an ever so slightly warm midrange that is possessed of elegance and life-like articulation. The Fis are dynamic amplifiers that deliver a solid sense of beat and a convincing portrayal of musical tempi that faithfully capture the way live music flows over time. Sonically the Fis recover a lot of detail, provide very good articulation of vocals, give a large sense of space and soundstage and build on rock-solid imaging. Highly recommended to 300B-loving HiFi nuts everywhere!"
Full Review
