Κώστας Φ.
Truth hurts. Here's a teddy bear.
- Μηνύματα
- 8.978
- Reaction score
- 895
"At the time of this writing, Mactone's Mr. Kenjiro Matsumoto is 75 years young. Born in Tokyo, he started in the audio business with his father's support when he opened an electronics retail shop. He was selling TVs, refrigerators and such while at the same time building original phonographs of his own design - turntables as they are called today. He graduated from Tokyo Denki Daigaku University of Electricity where he mastered the basics of electricity and electronics to fortify his audio design hobby and move it into the direction of an eventual career. In 1964 during both the Tokyo Olympics and a period of economic growth, he founded Mactone. This was also a time when the large Japanese manufacturers were entering mass production of transistor amplifiers and abandoned the vacuum tube. Mactone was destined to buck this trend and concentrate its efforts on valve gear.
...
Like most tube designers, Mr. Matsumoto places paramount importance on the power transformers and often refers to them as the engines. Kenjiro-San designs and renders transformer prototypes himself before outsourcing manufacture to his favorite iron specialist. Kenjiro-San designs for his domestic market first which specifies smaller listening rooms for city dwellers where space is at a premium. He therefore prefers to eschew pentode operation with its higher power yields yet without the "soft transparency" of the triodes he prefers. A regular at live concerts, Kenjiro-San equates tubes with 'live" music. His favorite piece of music is Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major, a composition he first heard upon the conclusion of World War II. He is of the opinion that greater appreciation of classical music would go a long way toward curing certain social ills today.
...
As its name would imply, the MA-300B under review is a 23wpc stereo amplifier utilizing the 300B output valve. More specifically, it uses four of them, two per channel configured for push-pull operation. It features an input sensitivity of 0.5V/23W/8ohms, a frequency response of 10Hz to 50kHz -1dB and a power requirement of 115/230 VAC at 50/60Hz. Those are all the performance specifications one gets on the MA-300B. A pair of 12BH7 drivers and a single 5814A tube round out the glowing bits.
...
Conclusion
With a street price of $7500 (including tubes), the Mactone MA-300B isn't cheap but considering its musical attributes as well as the price of the competition, it represents very good value. If one only uses a single source and is prepared to deal with dual volume controls, the MA-300B could be used as a single-input integrated of sorts to increase the value equation. I didn't try it but it's an obvious option. Twenty-three 300B push-pull watts may not sound like a lot of power in this day 'n' age but it would surprise many and certainly beats the 6 or 7 watts most 300B SETs put out. I liked the fact that it's a relatively compact unit that doesn't weigh a ton. In the flesh, it's uniquely if not esoterically handsome and will therefore be appreciated by most. Of course it will be those musical attributes that one should find most important and the MA-300B won't disappoint on those grounds either. If it was designed as an artistically adept amplifier that emphasizes musicality to afford its owners the opportunity to listen for hours on end without fatigue, then Kenjiro-San has achieved his goal admirably. The MA-300B is an accomplished amplifier that maintains a high degree of neutrality while avoiding the edge of some amplifiers. It's warm and full-bodied but not to the point of overt coloration. Its push-pull operation and output power make it compatible into a wider range of speakers and within the context of available power, if it has any weaknesses, I never did spot them. This is one great amplifier, period."
Full Review: 6moons.com
c: το stereophile
