PaulStewart
13-11-2015, 00:31
Let's start by saying that, as many here know, I'm doing some marketing work with Art Audio and Tom Willis isa good friend of mine. That said, I have been using Art Audio amps and pre amps for over 20 years because I think they are the best on the market. I have many other amps and turntables but the ones I use daily are from Art Audio. Let's also say that I have always used push pull amps, the Art Audio Tempo monoblocks were a great favourite and these were replaced, after a time with Musical Fidelity, with the Quintet, which is wired in triode mode. Now were is all this going? Well the point is I generally am not that keen on SETs and I don't generally like 300bs as I think they don't have much "grip" in the bass department, in fact without really good output transformers, they can sound really flatulent.
However, Tom has always championed both, so when after 12 years of continuous service, my Quintet needed a service, (still sounding great, but the mains transformer went a little noisy), Tom suggested I try a Harmony amp, while he serviced mine. The Symphony is a version of the flagship Diavolo, which is one of Art's best selling models. Tom brought the Symphony over yesterday and we plumbed it in. First impression was that despite being only 10 watts per channel, it was going plenty loud enough, with my Lockwoods/ Monitor Golds. Now the Quintet has always been very precise and has great presence and depth. However, the Symphony has even greater depth separation and air, this I kind of expected, what was a surprise as its an SET with 300Bs, is the really tight, deep and controlled bass and the incredible dynamics of the sound. Overall there is more of the silvery fluidity that I love from the Quintet, with an increased sense of height and front to back depth to the image. I have to admit, its an order of magnitude better than the Quintet, which is in its own right a superb device.
So why is it as good as it is? It has all the advantages, to me of push-pull and SET. Talking to Tom about his designs, I realised that his background is not just in electronics, his qualification is in electro mechanical engineering, add to this over 25 years of valve amp design and you start to see why these are so good. Firstly the positioning of the components is important, to simplify matters, the topology prevents the parts interfering with one another. Then there is the high quality of the manufacture, all in all a superb unit. John Portis reviewed it for 6Moons and said that within its power range etc., its the finest amp of its type he has ever heard. I may feel a PX coming on.
However, Tom has always championed both, so when after 12 years of continuous service, my Quintet needed a service, (still sounding great, but the mains transformer went a little noisy), Tom suggested I try a Harmony amp, while he serviced mine. The Symphony is a version of the flagship Diavolo, which is one of Art's best selling models. Tom brought the Symphony over yesterday and we plumbed it in. First impression was that despite being only 10 watts per channel, it was going plenty loud enough, with my Lockwoods/ Monitor Golds. Now the Quintet has always been very precise and has great presence and depth. However, the Symphony has even greater depth separation and air, this I kind of expected, what was a surprise as its an SET with 300Bs, is the really tight, deep and controlled bass and the incredible dynamics of the sound. Overall there is more of the silvery fluidity that I love from the Quintet, with an increased sense of height and front to back depth to the image. I have to admit, its an order of magnitude better than the Quintet, which is in its own right a superb device.
So why is it as good as it is? It has all the advantages, to me of push-pull and SET. Talking to Tom about his designs, I realised that his background is not just in electronics, his qualification is in electro mechanical engineering, add to this over 25 years of valve amp design and you start to see why these are so good. Firstly the positioning of the components is important, to simplify matters, the topology prevents the parts interfering with one another. Then there is the high quality of the manufacture, all in all a superb unit. John Portis reviewed it for 6Moons and said that within its power range etc., its the finest amp of its type he has ever heard. I may feel a PX coming on.