Well, as they say…
“I’ll be fucked!”
Many many moons ago I used to have a Raisong A10 which was a natty little point to point wired simple intergraded amp that lured me into the ruinous yet delicious quicksand of valve amp ownership.
As the disease took hold of me I sought out rarer and rarer, more and more unobtainable and the more peculiar or esoteric the bottle powered loud boxes the better, even still if they consisted of multiple boxes for inexplicable reasons, hell I wasn’t just down with it, I was all in.
Happy I was, pondering how the hell i was about to raise the ten or so grand to buy the very lovely BorderPatrol S20 with its dual PSU’s and 300b’s.
Then a nationwide hifi nonsense hunter pal rocked up to collect some BBC debris I’d stored for him for longer than some cheeses are aged. Being a far shrewder negotiator than I, he’d managed to convince me that I should have a go with something not that left field but also from far further away than Brighton, or Canada for that matter.
Now I couldn’t give a bollocks where somethings made as long as no children have been minced or folk pressed into illicit activities, I’m not really a fan of that. But loads of great stuff comes via the silk road and I figured I’d open it up and check just to be sure.
After discovering no “rescue me” notes or secret listening/mind control devices I figured what the hell, lets plug the beast in and see how it sings.
Being familiar with the KT88, and liking the grip it has not only upon the highs & mids but also its clamp like grasp of the bass (it is in my opinion about the best for rendering bass notes out of ALL tubes) I had a feeling it might sound pretty cool, even with its own branded bottles.
I was delighted to see 16ohm taps, because as the unhinged lunatic I am of course I was going straight to plugging it into my Ocellias (a snip at about fourty grand for a new pair) which are also incredibly sensitive, so crappy valves are exposed the second the switches are thrown.
Now what I did not expect was just how bloody good this thing is. The soundstage may as well be poured of concrete, the highs are full and in no way sharp or brittle. The mids whilst losing out a touch of that sexy silks of 300b’s are not at all short on emotion or energy and the bass, well it’s enough to pull the hairs out your backside.
Its gaudy, brash, it has a giant font that would bring Neville Brody out in hives and it’s name reads like “Arsefun3000”, the valve cage is more suited to toasting crumpets or containing chicken/bats/etc but there is absolutely zero complaining to be had over the job it does. It sounds utterly compelling, detailed, fast and quiet dead quiet when it should be.
This isn’t just a good amplifier, this is a serious amplifier that has negated my concerns about raising the funds to secure the lovely BorderPatrol, This is the amp that has earned it’s place in the main system for the foreseeable.
If my pal has any left, I don’t think he has, but he might be bringing in more? (from the land of the Dragon, that’s Taiwan not Wales) and if he is, then I suggest you have both his arms off!! Drop me a line and I’ll pass on your details.
It REALLY is that good.
(It’s also not a copy of the new McIntosh 275 because they, Orsefon, apparently got fed up with McIntosh saying they we’re shoddy shitebags whilst they were making stuff for them decided to beat McIntosh to market with this, possibly their own, amplifier design* nb: this is hearsay and quite possibly bollocks)
Currently listening to NDE by Haruomi Hosono which is a double album that REALLY sorts the men from the boys when it comes to dealing with both complex and bass heavy music and I can honestly say this ugly duckling is taking it in its very determined broad strides with an undeniable testicular heft that could make a shire horse blush!
Its bloody great!!
Three minutes, nine bolts and three nuts later and its 110% easier on the old peepers, no longer will i be inadvertently reading ArseFan3000 every time i glance in its general direction.
However simple testament to the overall quality of the build: the somewhat over the top gothic calligraphy is actually made of (cast?) metal which I’ll be honest pleasantly surprised me, perhaps i could sell it separately as a tramp stamp for a trashy robot?
Now listening to Dry Cleaning and yep, it sounds bloody good.
[this was originally posted on social media but i figured you lot might like to digest it]
