The KillerDAC Audio forum

Hi guys i have just been around to a friends house to listen to his new Audio research Reference 160 M Monoblock Amplifiers running on Harbeth Monitor 40.2 Floorstanding Speakers. The amps had just finished the recommended 500 hour run in period suggested by Audio research and where ready to go. He also owned one of my own full on 1964 leak stereo 20s. So it was time for a shootout, The interest for me was to see how much better was the new technology amplifiers where over the old vintage stuff. He was quite neutral about the result, after all he owned both of these amplifiers, but had not listened to either side by side until the Audio research was ready. Well the time had come, the nagging question was will the Leak cut it. All my work and effort, it was time for the leak to show if it was indeed yesterdays news or tomorrows headline. First on went the Audio research Reference 160 M Monoblock Amplifiers. The sound was very clean ordered and precise, very nice, very modern sound and delivered by one of my favorite audio manufactures, Audio research. Now its the leaks turn, my heart was jumping, i was thinking will it be ordinary, have i been delusional, is it really just an ancient piece of audio history belonging in an old persons home. The time had come. The music started and out popped the timbre, not just timbre but timbre to die for, timbre that makes your hair stand up. Out flowed incredible musicality involvement warmth heart soul. The cello sounded like it was right in front of you with a rich you are there gut wrenching texture that makes you feel you can reach out and touch it. My friend summed it up nicely when he said the Audio research Reference 160 M sounds like he was listening to a good hifi system, but the leak stereo 20 sounded like he was at the concert. Was it that good, no it was better, just stunning. But we are not talking about any Leak we talking about a brilliant Leak stereo 20 properly modified. I say this, I doubt if there is a better push pull amplifier than this leak stereo 20.

This sort of post will just push up the price of the Leak even higher I only got one Stereo 20 and I still want another one (or two!).

Nice Yamamura IC, I need another pair for my bedroom system, you selling? 

And Rab's build begins....

Needed some inspiration as I was on a serious lull. Some new bass horns seem to have done the trick!

Nice And about time.

I got to try Matt's Abbas as he had it sent to me and picked it up a couple of days later.

I am impress, nothing stands out, it is all very real sounding, nothing over cooked or under cooked, not syrupy and not clinical or thin, everything just sounds correct and real sounding.

These will sell to some Asian buyer who will never use them but put them in his display cabinet to show to his friends. Imagine the Oh's and Ah's over 4 perfect 10 67 date stamped matched boxed sitting there , just out of reach. It doesn't worry me if I never sell them, I've got plenty of amps to use them in including the original Kegon Balanced units. They came with U52's and WE VT-25's as the driver tubes doing the WE-300's in PSE, all silver, nickel 55 laminations double C-Cores, transformer coupled.
Cheers.

$15000.
By the way, a mate in Melbourne is on the email list for the new production of the WE 300b tubes and the latest is that the failure rate in production is around 10% and they are at least a year away from shipping anything. I do hope they go into production.
 By the way, the molybdenum plate tubes made by AN in conjunction with Psvane don't sound to bad now they have some hours on them just as the Takatsuki's need at least 230 hours to sound how they should.
Cheers.