jandl100
04-04-2011, 07:48
I heard this at syep's bake off a year or two back, brought there by its then owner, Paul / mrwippy from the Wigwam forum.
Now Paul and I don't exactly see eye to eye when it comes to hifi. In fact, Paul says that he closely follows my hifi recommendations so he knows what not to buy! :doh::eyebrows:
Nonetheless, we seem to be as one when it comes to the excellence of this amp. For me, the Romulus totally blew away all comers at Si's bake off, and I've been nagging Paul ever since to sell it to me ... especially since he hasn't been using it for a while as his corner horns are more than happy with his home-brew 2A3 amps.
Well, Paul has finally succumbed and last Saturday I made the 280 mile return trip to collect the amp from his place in Plymouth.
(BTW - we may differ somewhat in our approaches to hifi, but by gum his system sounds good! :^ - fast, open, detailed, lovely imaging, room-filling presence. Very nice indeed.)
Here she is - pretty, no? :)
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/CRDevRomulusf.jpg
35wpc integrated, using 3x 12AX7, 2x 12AU7 and 4x 6L6 valves for the power.
The sound is pretty much as I remembered it from the bake off - fast, detailed open and amazingly transparent in the mids and treble, with astonishing musical life and pizzaz. The tonality is spot-on and voices have a very life-like presence.
If it has a minor failing it's in the bass. Not that it's bad, but it doesn't have the heft and slam that some amps can deliver. But it is tuneful and gets the feet tapping. The slight lack of bass whoomph is noticeable on fullrangers like my MBLs. I might try a bit of bi-amping sometime with some solid state muscle on the bass drivers.
But it's the immediacy and realism of the mids and treble that are what this amp is really about. Really quite a jaw dropper.
There is no remote control :( - so I have linked it up with a remote control Eva2 LDR passive pre - one of the most transparent devices I have come across - and that seems to work very well.
I have done some tube rolling to excellent effect. The two JJ's 12AX7 feeding the power stage have been swapped out for some Watford Valve TADs - more my type of pizzaz and speed with these. And the Mullard 12AX7 in the pre-stage has been swapped for one of the JJ valves - the Mullard was a bit slow for my tastes.
Anyways, I've only had this lovely amp for a couple of days, but I have had several "my gawd - I didn't know the recording could do that!" moments due to its sheer hear-thru transparency and delicacy.
More comments later - AlanB is planning a visit for tomorrow - it will be interesting to find what he makes of my system now. :)
Now Paul and I don't exactly see eye to eye when it comes to hifi. In fact, Paul says that he closely follows my hifi recommendations so he knows what not to buy! :doh::eyebrows:
Nonetheless, we seem to be as one when it comes to the excellence of this amp. For me, the Romulus totally blew away all comers at Si's bake off, and I've been nagging Paul ever since to sell it to me ... especially since he hasn't been using it for a while as his corner horns are more than happy with his home-brew 2A3 amps.
Well, Paul has finally succumbed and last Saturday I made the 280 mile return trip to collect the amp from his place in Plymouth.
(BTW - we may differ somewhat in our approaches to hifi, but by gum his system sounds good! :^ - fast, open, detailed, lovely imaging, room-filling presence. Very nice indeed.)
Here she is - pretty, no? :)
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/CRDevRomulusf.jpg
35wpc integrated, using 3x 12AX7, 2x 12AU7 and 4x 6L6 valves for the power.
The sound is pretty much as I remembered it from the bake off - fast, detailed open and amazingly transparent in the mids and treble, with astonishing musical life and pizzaz. The tonality is spot-on and voices have a very life-like presence.
If it has a minor failing it's in the bass. Not that it's bad, but it doesn't have the heft and slam that some amps can deliver. But it is tuneful and gets the feet tapping. The slight lack of bass whoomph is noticeable on fullrangers like my MBLs. I might try a bit of bi-amping sometime with some solid state muscle on the bass drivers.
But it's the immediacy and realism of the mids and treble that are what this amp is really about. Really quite a jaw dropper.
There is no remote control :( - so I have linked it up with a remote control Eva2 LDR passive pre - one of the most transparent devices I have come across - and that seems to work very well.
I have done some tube rolling to excellent effect. The two JJ's 12AX7 feeding the power stage have been swapped out for some Watford Valve TADs - more my type of pizzaz and speed with these. And the Mullard 12AX7 in the pre-stage has been swapped for one of the JJ valves - the Mullard was a bit slow for my tastes.
Anyways, I've only had this lovely amp for a couple of days, but I have had several "my gawd - I didn't know the recording could do that!" moments due to its sheer hear-thru transparency and delicacy.
More comments later - AlanB is planning a visit for tomorrow - it will be interesting to find what he makes of my system now. :)