Steve, you almost brought me to tears! I used to listen to FIP when I was a student in Paris 40 years ago: well chosen music, broadcast in high quality without interruption. I had forgotten about it until you mentioned it in your video. I told my son about it as he lives there now. 40 years on, the formula is the same. Just perfect !
@@Nenikikamen13 Totally. Yes, I see OuiFM is still around. Both were wonderful, quiet, eclectic. Thanks for pointing the way to a fond memory lane! I lived in the 1st in 1989-1991; one of the most wonderful times of my life ;-)
Sounds like a special product for audiophiles. Couple the FELIKS 300B integrated amplifier and the single driver CUBE Nenuphar 8" Mini or the 10" Driver (90+ efficiency) and you have a very musical and phase coherent system. Products made in Poland. Very positive reviews on You Tube. 😊
That Feliks amp really does look like a truly special piece of gear. I’m a sucker for 300B and SET amps anyway, and the build quality of it looks absolutely stunning. I love the P to P wiring and quality parts. Great review, Steve. I’m very curious to hear one of these.
The polish make some of the best electronics. I'd love to hear it. Paul Klipsch always said all his speakers need was a good quality 5 watt amp. So I guess you beat it by 60%. LOL. Since Klipsch have usually have low impedance woofers even though they are rated at 8 ohms. So the 4 ohm taps, make sense. Review more stuff from Poland.
I have the Feliks Audio Euforia Headphone amp. Lusted after it for a couple of years, finally got it! I can only imagine how this sounds in a fully fledged system.
Thanks for your great music suggestions, Steve. I dug out my CD of Holly Cole's "Temptation" and Amber Rubarth's "Sessions From The 17th Ward", and was totally wowed again by them. Your reviews and passion for good music and sound are inspiring.
I just flashed on why I like Steve’s reviews! He’s a sane Woody Allen (whose movies I love) with a music obsession! Oddly I enjoy those Brooklyn street sounds. Steve remains my goto reviewer. Although I know listening to Steve is bound to cost me money.
A midwestern friend of mine moved to Manhattan. In 1988, he told me that he'd lie in bed at night and start counting when he heard a car horn. He said he never got past 10 before he'd have to start over.
Very first Stones gig I ever went to see was the Still life tour in Rotterdam '81. I was 16 and word at the time was that 'this will probably be the very very last chance to ever see the Stones live, you gotta go for it'. Yeah right, so here we are 40 years and many gigs later and they're still at it. Kept that first ticket though, must be in some box in the attic.
There is nothing like the glow of a tube at night. I ran quite a bit of tube gear when I had my HAM radio station up. Spent many a late night chasing static and basking in the glow of the tubes...
It reminds me of the Audion Silver Night i have,its a power amp with volume control,no soft sound here,it has indeed speed and deep bass and dynamics.love this amp!
Get yer ya ya’s out is the great live Stones record . The entire band smokes, Mick Taylor’s leads with Keith’s rhythm playing are outstanding. Check out the love disc on the recent Goats Head Soup reissue. A great band at their height
Thank you for your Music suggestions. I love finding new music that I have not heard before. I have really been enjoying "Dark Dark Dark" you introduced a few days ago.
Your passion when you talk about your favorite artists and albums is contagious! ❤️ It might be detrimental to your channel as sometimes I Pause the video, search and stream the album and get lost for a hour. 😂
Here was a perspective I got from working with Shunyata Research in the late 90’s. The Power cord isn’t the last 6 feet you hear, it’s the first 6 feet you hear in your system. The reason there is a focus of putting the power cord at the source or up front, is simply because if you get a better sound at the source, it improves every component after that. However, equipment has changed a lot since the late 90’s, and what worked in power cords at that time, and this is also true of interconnects and speaker cables, may not be as versatile today. So it is not uncommon to find that certain power cords work better on one component than another. Not all cable changes address every aspect of your sound, so we need to be careful of getting 8 upgrades and 2 downgrades that end up making the music less musically satisfying, while if appears to being some much on a higher level. Reminds me of a lyric, smoking more, enjoying it less.
You should try FEZZ AUDIO from Poland also. They have something special that nobody have. Custom made toroidal transformers to output for the speakers ;-)
In the 1950s and 60s the McIntosh amplifiers were so overly warm and round that it did not sound like the real thing to me. Seemed to be targeted to older wealthy people in the financial district who had beautiful apartments in New York City and the music was always playing while they were having their evening cocktail before dinner. When I was 15 years old, my uncle bought me Fisher integrated amp and tuner kits with Goodman speakers and a Garad turntable with a Pickering cartridge that sounded right to me. Even then I knew.
Hey Steve. I'm in line for my second dose also. I was told that it takes a month after the second injection before one can assume immunity. Take care .
Great call on Wyman. You are right. One of the best rock bassists ever. And, Charlie, as you said, is also one of the best rock drummers ever because he swings, like jazz. Great rhythm section. But, then you asked if the Stones have ever topped "this" as a live recorded performance, referring to the "Still Life" record, and you said..."I think not". Really? Have you forgotten "Ya Ya's"? "Still Life" is embarrassingly bad in relative terms.
Steve I enjoy your reviews. Funny thing we used to be competitors in the 90’s.. I owned a place in NJ. We knew some of the same people. John Chen from B&W, Bob Rulow, Doug Federation and so on. You and I met once many moons ago. Keep up the good work.
@@ronaldmitro3182 Philly boy in exile in Jasper GA. ... Nobody special, just a guy who's been listening to audio equipment as a little kid since the early 60's. Steve has recommended the Zu Omen MKII's ... DW, Cambridge Audio CXS CD transport and Schiit Modi3 DAC ... all have worked out great in my Decware/CJ based system.
Thanks for great review and especially the tip of music. Holly Coles album Temptation is awsome! With my new Ohm Walsh 2000 (and Denafrips Ares2 and Accuphase E405) the album is life like! Great music!
@bcdhifi Are you talking about the 300B? It was designed by Western Electric as a power amp tube for theater sound systems. It was more powerful than the 2A3 so, when married with the Altec VOTT is could generate enough sound to fill a movie theater.
A bunch of those Paul McCartney CCCP LPs showed up in Minneapolis/St. Paul record stores when Gorbachev came to Minnesota in 1990. I've got two of the Russian pressings. Apparently the KGB also hit all the garage sales they had time for. They filled up a cargo plane with stuff to take back to Russia.
The drawback I find in any ( unless someone is able to show the contrary ) tube-amp is lack of a REC-out . Besides digital , I still use a reVox for recording . And with such an amp it is impossible to hook up the revox for recording - just only for playback. Even modern transistor amps such as the Kinki don't have REC-out . You'll have to go to f.i. a Denon 2500ne or equivalent Marantz to find Rec-out on the back. So the other option is having a separate pre-amp which has rec-out . But then your amp needs to have a pre-out . And so , like with this amp , you are stuck with 3 inputs . And a phono amp will also be needed for vinyl playback. Also something the Denon will have , even for MM and MC and A&B speaker set-up. So in short , bying this amp will result in bying a lot of other units if you want only 1 system.
Radio Shack made a nice little switch box that included tape out connectors. You just hookup between source and amp and you had tape capabilities. I have a couple. Can be fond on ePay for around $10.
’My only criticism of the Feliks Arioso was: It never took acid and rolled naked in the Woodstock mud. It played even the raunchiest 1920s blues wearing a crisply pressed Sunday-go-to-meeting shirt‘ = sounds like a dose of MSG？
Glad you finally paired the Cornwall's with a decent tube amp. I have mine paired with a heavily modified GTA-SE40 and PL Prologue Premium Pre. Going from $500 AQ spk. cables to $750 WireWorld made a HUGE difference. The CW's are more high-rez than most reviewers say. What speaker cables are you using?
Steve, I would love you to do a video on your thoughts as to why desired sound style has changed over the years, when you got to the part about the sound style of this amp and compared it to the old MacIntosh Amp you described in the Mac the qualities most people think of as tube and its a quality you either love or don´t. Why then have a tube amp that sounds similar to solid state but more importantly what do you think has changed over the years as to the desires of sound a listener prefers? Why did people back then love the warmer richer sound and now people seem far more focused on detail over warmth and richness. I used to be in the latter camp but as I have gotten older I find myself much preferring the warmer cosier sound over the last every ounce of detail which my ears initially love but soon tire of. I would trade that detail for a warmer more relaxed delivery any day of the week now. I listen to my semi portable system ( the head unit is an old AK120/Glove audio portable with a HiFiman with a HiFiman EF5 tube amp and Grado SR325e´s which is lovely but oddly, I seem to prefer the sound now of the head unit with my BOSE in ear NC earphones as its richer and warmer and when listening I seem to be more involved with the music even though there is no where near the amount of detail with the other set up. As an audiophile it makes no sense to me but as a music lover my ears and senses love the Bose´s! I would love to hear your thoughts why over the years how music is delivered has changed from the old days to now, why do people now love detail above a more warmer richer relaxed less detailed sound, is it down to solid state and digital listening changing the consumers perceptions of what good sound delivery is or is it something else? Thanks Steve, you and Herb I love and basically are the only people I like to hear about audio from, it was three when dear Art was here, rest his soul, hard to believe its been a year!
Comparison with the XA25 that I've owned for a few years, is a telling comparison. Need more watts on hand, as well as the tube transparency to gain depth. Decware has a number of higher watt options...
Feliks Arioso vs Decware Zen Triode? Since this one is being reviewed after the Decware, which was your overwhelming choice, it would be good to know your comparison/opinion.
I know just enough to be confused at times .... looks like there are a pair of diode rectifiers and transistors in this unit. Must be some sort of hybrid I guess. Maybe its .... "The output tubes use a stabilized DC current heater supply and a special system that separates the tube heating circuit from the stabilizer system."
We need some perspective... Contrast/Compare with Decware SE84UFO 25th Anniversary that Herb was supposed to be reviewing and ... Why not go over to Herb's place and listen to the amp on his Zu's(101 db sensitivity 1watt/meter)? Why not listen to Stone's BEST live performance on record .... Get Yer Ya Yas Out? "Inquiring minds want to know" ... Your Don!
I'm going crazy and Insane I think I need a psychiatrist we are being bombarded by so much expensive gear guys let's be happy And enjoy music with down to earth music systems like the one you have at home
Are you completely unaware of automobile prices? There is a 3 million dollar sports car. Should everyone take your advice for audio & apply it to autos? Only driving Chevys*? hahaha * nothing against Chevys, drive a Chevy, that doesn't mean I think everyone should! Duh.
Hallo Steve it od possibile to have test one od chinese tube amplifire for example Muzishear X9 300 B or one of more expensive Muzishear ampifires like 845 od 805 ?
I have the CODA No 8 and man O man is it a great amp. Got Bill Frisell on right now listening to it through a pair of B&W 804 D3s and liquid silk presentation, one of the best under 10K SS amp out there that almost no one knows anything about. Thank god actually as I'd pay double what I did for this amp lol!
Hi Steve I really enjoy your stuff have you ever heard Paul Kelly and the coloured girls album gossip on of my all time favourites Sooo good ,look forward to seeing you tomorrow all the best from downunder.
Hi im new to all this, but wondering if you need a preamp for this setup? Can you shed some light on the hardware setup - from the source (record player) to the amp to the speakers? What record player do you have/recommend? Do you recommend any digital streaming source?
Very intriguing. I think I'd like that amp. By the way, I understand your position on tube rolling, but...if the amp is going be around for a while, get Sophia Electric tubes. I own EH and Psvane tubes and in my opinion the Sophias are more than worthy replacements.
Looks wise, really nice, like the glow of a warm fire, BUT, the thing that makes 300B sound this good is also its Achilles Heel (lack of authority). The latest versions of class D and GaN are likely solid (NPI) replacements
