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by A.H. Cordesman
Transistor preamplifier with built-in high gain stage and amplifier.
Serial number: 100208.
Cost: $1695.
Stereo power amplifier.
Serial number: 100148.
Cost: $1,995.
IMPORTER: Transparent Audio Marketing, PO. Box 173, Hollis, ME 04042, USA. (207) 929-4553.
Those who believe that all electronics sound alike need read no further. The belief that a $200 integrated amplifier sounds the same as a $3000 set of separates is too precious and economical to risk brainwashing by my finding of very real differences between the Electrocompaniet preamp and amplifier and most other electronics.
The Broad Differences in Sound Quality
At their best, these differences allow the Electrocompaniet’s to produce very impressive sound. With the proper low impedance cartridge, and with suitable cone speakers or electrostatics like the Quad ESL-63, the Preampliwire 1a and Ampliwire 100 provide a combination with many of the merits of top quality tube systems.
They have a slightly warm sound with excellent overall timbre, very good musical dynamics, and a very wide image with good instrument placement. There is no trace of hardness in the upper midrange or highs, and the bass is powerful and well-controlled.
Even under these conditions, however, the Electrocompaniet preamp and amplifier have some drawbacks: a slight loss of focus, harmonic detail, and depth.
Instruments lose a little of their air, and precision of transient attack and decay.
There is a tendency for voice, percussion, and brass to image a little too clearly, rather than blending smoothly into the overall musical performance. The result is a mid hall sound in which voices, and some instruments, seem to have moved forward; the result is somehow lacking in depth The musical result is still very good.
There is comparatively little transistor equipment as musically smooth and natural. Most transistor gear still tends to leanness, a slight tunneling effect that reduces soundstage width, even more lack of depth, and a harder, more fatiguing up per four octaves.
At the same time, the Electrocompaniet’s are not the combination that I would pick for ribbon speakers, the old Quad ESL, or the Infinity EMIT/EMIM speakers. The "faster" or more articulated a speaker system's upper four octaves, the more you become aware that the electronics are doing something just slightly wrong. It's almost as if each note was slightly "clipped," muting the low-level harmonic detail before and after the note. The result is an unusual kind of hardening of the natural "air" in music, without the usual transistor leanness and overemphasis of the treble region.
The Preampliwire 1a
This coloration is worse in the preamplifier. In fact, the Ampliwire 100 provides some compensation for the preamp. The preamp seems to over articulate music without transmitting quite enough low-level detail to make it seem fully natural. The amplifier then seems to soften the focus of the preamp, almost as if the designer built the amplifier to compensate for the preamplifier's weaknesses.
The problem in the Electrocompaniet line will progress from mild to serious if you use interconnects and speaker cables that are hard in character or emphasize the upper midrange. The Electrocompaniets benefit from a Kiseki or Koetsu type of sound (and cartridge impedance), which you'll get from Monster Interlink Reference/Powerline II or Brisson/MIT speaker cables. I have not tried the Brisson interconnects, but Bruce's past design work indicates they too would be excellent choices.
Avoid moving coils with jeweled cantilevers or a rising high end, and ones that need high-impedance loading. The Preampliwire does have a setting for higher impedance cartridges, but it doesn't work as well as the low-impedance setting. I'd avoid Argents, Dynavectors, Shinon Reds, and the like, for use with the Electro.
At the same time, the Electrocompaniet preamp and amplifier benefit from a cartridge-like the Van Den Hul MC10- that tends to emphasize harmonic detail and upper octave resolution in a way that complements the head amp circuitry. The Electrocompaniets also benefit from every bit of resolution (not exaggerated detail) that a CD player can provide. The MCD Pro and PS Audio CD players help; Sony’s and Yamaha’s can hurt.
The Preampliwire la costs $1695. This puts it in a fairly demanding price bracket, but it does offer one of the best moving coil gain stages around for low impedance cartridges, excellent signal-to-noise ratio, good switching features, and excellent overall construction. This may well offset the fact it does not provide quite the resolution or transparency of the very best transistor and tube preamplifiers-which do, also, cost quite a bit more. These virtues don't quite offset the failure of even the latest owners manual to make clear what moving coil cartridges are compatible with the head amp; at this price, I expect clear information.
The Ampliwire 100 Amplifier----The Ampliwire 100 is more problematic in terms of value for money. It costs $2000; this price level mandates "top ten" sound and technology, as well as excellent construction and reliability.
The Ampliwire's appearance is deceptive. In spite of its comparatively small size, it is an extremely powerful amplifier. The cheap-looking top panel conceals a very large toroidal transformer. The power supply capacitors are relatively small, but have unusually high storage capacity. The output circuitry has an exceptionally well designed set of heat sinks, the circuit boards are beautifully designed and constructed, and the general wiring layout is very good. Other nice details: the bottom plate allows far better cooling than most chassis designs, and the amplifier uses Tiffany RCA input jacks.
I would be happier, however, if Electrocompaniet was capable of writing informative literature that would allow me to explain the amplifier's specifications, design features, and circuit topology. In stead, the literature provided is probably the worst I've read in recent memory. The three poorly edited sheets raise more questions than they answer.
For instance, the reference to local feed back design in these sheets is too broad to be meaningful, particularly when part of the instructions seem to have been written for another amplifier (the Ampliwire 65). The meaning of the reference to Electrocompaniet's past use of Dr. Matti Otala's designs is unclear. What aspect of Otala's work-if any-helped produce the Ampliwire 100? The turn-on and set-up instructions are mildly useful, but not the instructions that tell you to send the unit to Norway if your dealer can't fix it. Especially in that light, the name and phone number of the importer should be clearly stated - but we've given them to you in our specs at the beginning of this report if you're without.
There is a warranty exclusion for unspecified comparator devices because of reactive load problems. This would seem to imply that the unit should not be used with heavily reactive loads, but the importer says this exclusion is misleading, and my listening tests lead me to agree. The Ampliwire 100 drives very demanding, high power loads like the Scintilla ribbons and the Infinity RS-1B's EMIT/EMIM panels without effort. It did a good job of driving both models of the Quad electrostatic speakers, as well as Acoustat’s and Spendor BC-1s. Rather than stating vague warranty limitations that aren't even legal in most parts of the U.S., the instructions should simply make clear any actual load limitations.
------------ Even in a poorly matched system, the problems in the Electrocompaniet’s will be easier to live with than the sonic problems in many other transistor designs. -------------
The Ampliwire 100's ability to drive these loads does not mean that the sonic results were consistent, however. It proved unusually speaker-dependent in terms of warmth, transient resolution, and transparency.
Admittedly, many other high-power amplifiers are also speaker-sensitive, for reasons related to the design of both amplifiers and speakers. While most speakers can benefit from the ability to deliver high power part of the time, a truly "stiff' amplifier with very high voltage or current capability will often overdrive part of the speaker system at some frequencies.
Since such amplifiers vary sharply over the frequency range in terms of both their total current- or voltage-drive performance and their dynamic load handling capability, the sonic results can vary a lot from speaker to speaker.
Further, the impact of a high power amplifier can be very confusing: a speaker system will often continue to perform well in areas where its drivers, frame, or other parts are not under stress, while encountering problems elsewhere. This will some times emerge only after some months of use, particularly in the U.S. where high power amplifiers are more common. Many speaker designers never really test their designs with a wide range of such amplifiers, and the weaknesses in their designs are beginning to show up with truly high power/high-current amps.
Still, something unusual happens with the Electrocompaniet. It "locks in" with some speakers, and produces dramatic sonic differences with others. The sound can vary from warm to slightly lean, and exhibits significant speaker-dependence in terms of detail and transparency.
Summing Up---I like the latest Electrocompaniet gear in many ways, but it is a tough old world in terms of competition; I would spend considerable time listening to these electronics in my system before making my decision to buy.
Nevertheless, I stress again that my reservations must be kept in careful perspective.
Even in a poorly matched system, the problems in the Electrocompaniet’s will be easier to live with than the sonic problems in many other transistor designs. I'm certain a good dealer can produce excellent system combinations with this equipment, and anyone who already owns it should be able to do the same.
--
[based on a Feb. 1986, Stereophile review article]
Also see:
Princeton Design Group Active Cartridge Stabilizer
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