Audion Silver Night 300B
Good evening all,
I recently acquired a vintage Audion Silver Night 300B single ended power amplifier.
Being from 1996 or thereabouts, the unit has the old style design and fascia and was manufactured in the UK, not in France as they are nowadays as I believe the ownership of Audion has changed hands circa 2002...
It has some lovely looking wood cheeks and a brass top plate. I personally think it looks quite gorgeous although the 300B don't glow as impressively as the mighty 845!...
But how did it sound?
Well, at first switch on, a problem became very quickly apparent.
A nasty crackling noise was heard coming out of all speakers, regardless of volume... ouch!
After a quick inspection, the culprit was found. A couple of resistors in the PSU were on their way out.
Not to worry, a quick phone call to Peter at Deco Audio in Aylesbury, and the poor thing was on it's way to a proper fix.
Speedy recovery, and today, I took the amplifier back home with a brand new couple of resistors. Great service form the James and Peter, big thumbs up! In case anyone needs their equipment fixed around West London. I highly recommend them.
So, it was high time to see what the deal was about 300B valves. I have lived very happily with an integrated 845 Single Ended for nearly 3 years now. And I have never looked back in the world of Solid state. Apart maybe from Rob's (Puffin from this parish) rather quite special Nelson Pass First Watt DIY power amplifier (if I remember correctly).
I have a new set of Golden Lion 300B in place, and after a proper warming up, It's time to start listening.
Here I have to make a confession because when I picked up the Silver Night, was very surprised at the lightness of the unit. And we all know that good output transformers play a critical role in the sound quality of an amplifier. I was worried. The whole thing felt too flimsy. In comparison the 845 is a nearly 40 kilos affair... Ouch!
Well, I couldn't be more happily surprised once the music starting coming out of the speakers. At 8 o'clock on the volume, the bass was floor shaking like I have never hard before. The instruments were floating in a eerie way between and above the speakers. Voices had a presence and a realism that the 845 was very rarely providing. I understand that the fact that there is no Preamplification circuit in between source and output does contribute to the immediacy and naturalness of the sound. But again, I am not an expert...
All in all, I am very happy, and it proves one thing, that the simplicity and quality of a circuit design is really to key to great sound quality. It looks like the Audion will be a keeper!
Onto more music!
Francois, Bergerac, France
Source component/s:
Musical Fidelity M1 Dac, Allo Digi One, Sony SCD-XE800, AVID Ingenium Twin arm, Audio Note Arm One, Groovemaster II 12in, Audio Note IQ3 MM, Denon DL103R MC, Croft Basic 25, TQ Iridium Phonostage, Puresound T10 Stepup Transformer, Zavfino majestic tonearm cable
Amplification:
Audio Note OTO PP, Dussun V6i
Loudspeakers:
Triangle Comete ES, Klispch RP600M
Cables/stands:
Quadraspire, Belden 9497