Integrated Amplifiers

Opera Consonance Cyber 100 Signature This classic amp is as mechanically elegant as it is electronically simple There seem to be quite a few similarly-named amps in the Consonance range and this one with KT88 output valves appears to be specific to the UK market. It’s a classic design, both electronically and mechanically, and a very simple one in terms of its circuit. The valve count is typical: two double-triodes per channel looking after phase-splitting and driving the output valves. In keeping with current trends, there are a couple of 6SN7 valves, an old type that pre-dates the ECC8x varieties so popular in audio.

Sound Ethos With high output power, balanced inputs, a DAC and USB ports, could the striking new hybrid Ethos be all things to all men? asks Jimmy Hughes The increased use of music sources other than CD has led to the need for hi-fi components with a broader range of options. In particular, the ability to accept digital source material stored on computer hard drives has become an added factor. With the Ethos, Pathos has created a powerful hybrid tube/transistor integrated amplifier capable of accepting a wide range of sources – from balanced analogue via XLR, to digital via USB (via an optional DAC). Here’s an amplifier that meets the needs of two-channel purists, while catering for those interested in using digital sources.

If asked to come up with the British loudspeaker manufacturer most likely to move into the amplifier sector, PMC might not be the first to come to mind. With a long-standing distribution relationship with Canadian amplifier specialist Bryston and a budding partnership with AVM in Germany, the company isn’t short of quality power options, so why build its own? The thing is, PMC has been building its own amplification for some of its active loudspeakers for some time now and has worked with Bryston to optimise design.

PrimaLuna Prologue Two Basic on the features front, but beautifully built and an excellent choice for lovers of human voice Designed in Holland and made in China, PrimaLuna’s amps are essentially classic valve designs, but they bring distinctive aesthetics and a few modern design touches to the party. One such notable feature in this amp is ‘Adaptive auto bias’. Bias is a long-standing pain in the neck of valve amps: quite simply it’s the DC (‘standing’) current in the valves under conditions of no audio signal and it’s critical. Usually amps either have manually adjusted bias, which may even require test equipment to set, or auto-bias (also called ‘self-bias’), which does what it says but, in the traditional implementation, reduces maximum output power.

Beauty and the beat Who said you can't have beautiful hi-fi and keen pricing? Richard Black looks at Primare's new £1,250-per-box CD and matching integrated Primare doesn’t launch new products every day, so we were excited to be offered the first chance to try these newcomers. Replacing the CD21 and I21, they are the company’s budget models, though obviously that’s a relative term. Still, £1,250 is a keen price although we can’t think of much hi-fi that looks this impressive for that kind of sum. The sound’s the thing, of course, but there’s also no denying that visually, these units just ooze class.

In the not too distant past ‘proper hi-fi’ inevitably had to equate to stacks of similar sized and similar looking separates for it to be taken seriously by audiophiles. But with improvements in more efficient amplifier technologies – such as Class D – combined with the move to higher quality streaming from portable devices, compact hi-fino longer necessarily means compromised quality, as we’ve recently seen with Quad’s Vena (HFC 390) and NAD’s D 7050 (HFC 382) both of which come from companies with long-standing reputations for producing class-leading products. Like these two brands, PS Audio’s usual stomping ground also lies inthe high-end separates arena where its DACs and digital products sit alongside a selection of audio power plants. The Sprout is a different beast, representing the culmination of two and a half year’s work by sales director Scott McGowan, son of CEO and founder Paul McGowan.