Hey guys, it's been awhile since I've been around, but I recently "discovered" a little company I'd like to let me taper friends know about: almarro products from Japan.
http://www.almarro.comI bought their A205A for my home office rig (to take the place of my Sophia Baby) without even listening to it--unprecedented for me. It wasn't too expensive, at $800 list, and the more I researched them the more I dug their philosophy. Elegant simplicity at it's best: single-ended EL84's and 1 12AX7 input/driver. Two inputs and passive volume control. Simple and clean aesthetics. Handmade in Japan (not China!!) with point-to-point wiring (DIYers take note!).
I received the amp back in October or November. I paired it with my ProAc Tablette Reference 8 Signatures, which I intended to sell, and started looking for a more suitable pair of speakers.
In the meantime, my wife and I decided to pursue an international adoption, and I volunteered to sell off my beloved main hifi (Simaudio Moon Eclipse LE > ARC SP16 > ARC VS55 > ProAc D25) to raise funds. I auditioned less expensive components, and ended up with a Rogue Tempest II driving my main rig (now Simaudio Moon Nova > Tempest II > Reference 3A DeCapo i). I was having fits tube-rolling the Tempest II into a sound I liked, and took it out of the rig for a few days, inserting the Almarro A205A in it's place.
What followed was nothing less than an epiphany for me: that little 4.8w Single-ended almarro
kicked the Rogue's ass in musicality. I was stunned. I felt as if I had stumbled onto something great, so I carried the lightweight A205A to a dealer friend's house to show him what it could do on his sensitive and efficient Living Voice Avatar OBX-R2's (now about $10k in the finish he has, simply lovely loudspeakers). What followed was yet another epiphany. I brought along a recording I made of John Scofield an 4/8/2003; one of my better taping efforts as he allowed me to tape at the stage lip, and great music of course. I nearly
fell off my chair. My old $20k+ rig couldn't have done this so well. It was
exactly as the venue and Sco sounded that night. We both sat, transfixed, and after it was all said and done we compared the little Almarro with the ASL Leyla and a Solid State Simaudio Moon W5-LE. The A205A didn't do
all the hifi stuff as well, but still kicked the other's asses in musicality and total enjoyment. This is a truly high-end product, folks. For $800!!!
I promptly sold the Rogue.
You, of course, need fairly sensitive and efficient speakers; my DeCapo's at 92db/8ohm load are a good match for the little amp. You might be surprised to learn, though, that I run it now in Triode mode, with no-NFB, which puts out all of about 1.45w according to the owner of the company, Yoshimura Muramatsu. This powers my DeCapo's quite well for my musical listening tastes, and my room isn't small: 12x37. So if you have less sensitive speakers, or want more power, Almarro has you covered there, too. I also acquired their A318B SET amp (a Schwazeneggerish 18w!! $1850), and it takes everything the A205A does and raises the bar: bass power and heft is unbelieveable and the presentation is richer and more weighty, and it matches with a lot more loudspeakers. If that's not enough power for ya, they also have a 60wpc push-pull integrated and a 125w push-pull integrated, or they will do 250w monoblocks on request.
And if that isn't enough, Yoshi san also makes pretty darn good loudspeakers. I have his M2A in house right now, and they are quite enjoyable. He makes a variety of loudspeakers (designed by his son) from $800 on up. Handmade out of solid woods, usually. That's a whole 'nother story, though...
I'd like to take a moment to praise Yoshi san. I didn't like my A205A's volume pot, so I emailed him out of the blue to ask if he had a suggestion for a better replacement. He thought I got a bad pot, and insisted he send me
a new amp to rectify the situation. And, by the way, I didn't have to send back the old one until the new one arrived. Now THAT'S servcie, folks!! All I wanted was a suggestion for a better part, and I got an entirely new amplifier. Stunning devotion to his customers.
Based upon my listening session with the A205A and the Living Voice speakers, and how well it reproduced my Sco recording, I just had to pass this on to you guys. Yoshi san has some killer products in the works, look to see more from him soon. And Almarro isn't just a value player: the A318B I can vouch for--it's
serious high-end. There are negatives to every hifi product I've ever heard; but the Almarro stuff gets the
music right. And isn't that what hifi is about?
Topic: Almarro Products (Read 2690 times)