Sonic frontiers sfs 50 review3/19/2024 ![]() The owner's manual can still be downloaded off Anthem's website : here. readings : " 40" for the pre-installed tubes (and longest lifetime) and " 50" if swapping the latter for 6550, KT88, KT90 or KT90a tubes. SFS-50 PRIV ATE STEREO TUBE AMPLIFIER OPERATING MANUAL We at Sonic Frontiers are sure that you will derive many years of listening pleasure with your new SFS-50 stereo tube amplifier. The back-plate has a meter and two pots for checking/biasing the tubes with two max. One input source can be privileged by being plugged into Direct terminals : this Direct input bypasses all front-panel functions and selectors except muting and volume. They were highly regarded back in the day. The feedback loop is kept at a low 11 dB level and screen and bias supplies are regulated as well, of course, naturally. Does anyone have any idea what the Sonic Frontiers SFS-80 Stereo Vacuum Tube Power Amplifier is worth This one has twice the output of their almost identical looking SFS-40 amp, which one example sold recently for 1,600. The preamp part is based on regulated 12AU7A and 12AT7A triodes direct coupled to a differential phase splitter/driver stage output tubes are two mil-spec and matched E元4L. The three transformers are grain-oriented silicon steel home-made designs, with the output two having a fixed 6 Ohm tap polypropylene shunt caps, right-angle and "en l'air" wiring finish the seriously hand-made picture. The absence of a phono input made for most of the savings but the rest was built like its separates and with the same kind of "ultra" parts : Tiffany i/o plugs, Edison-Price speaker terminals, Cardas wiring, ALPS pots, Holco, Wima, Vishay, Solen caps & resistors, plus Golden Aero tubes. The Amp 1 is musically satisfying and a good deal on the used market.From a time when "affordable tube amp" didn't necessarily outline a chinese provenance, the SFC-1 was Sonic Frontiers' first entry-level line preamplifier, designed like all of SF's production by Joe Curcio. The P1 has the defined bass that the Amp 1 lacks and is even faster and more accurate - truly high performance. The Power 1 is double the price and sounds twice as good. You can do better than the Amp 1 by spending more money. The Amp1 does excellently with everything except low bass (<~50 hz?) mid bass is well defined, but the low bass looses a bit of definition. Music is fun to listen to throught he amp 1 and I won't use a reciever ever again, it's a waste of time. Imaging will improve with a better pre amp.(I know because I auditioned the Amp1 with the Pre 1L and it was very sharp) In this case 2 channels are better than 3. The imaging during movies is good enough to take the center speaker out and listen to vocals through the tube amp. She's even asking me to turn it up during movies now when before she always wanted the solid state turned down. Even my girlfriend who cares very little for stereo equipment said that it sounds less 'grainy'. ![]() This amp is very clear and smooth compared to the Marantz. The Anthem blows away the amps in the reciever, which it should, and has me listening to music again. Right now I'm running it from a marantz 7000 receiver, but will be putting a tube preamp in soon. I bought this amp used for $900 canadian. This amp is a good introduction to the tube game and the tube sound is to be savored.Īt the price, with some NOS tubes, it gets 4 stars. I am getting more image depth and body now. I recently went to Tesla E元4LS output tubes from the original Sovteks - one tube was losing bias. But for music, the AMP-1 serves me very well. I own one such Perreau amplifier which has quick and decisive bass control. It still lacks in the bass department, but I suspect that I would take it over most similarly priced transistor amps. The new tubes make it very enjoyable to listen to. This amp is very well put-together as is typical of Sonic Frontiers and Anthem it is very handsomely done - I have silver. The 12AU7 drivers also should be replaced with something good, but I did not go NOS with these. Well, the Anthem AMP-1 is very dependent on its tube complement, and I would strongly recommend replacing its single 12AX7 pre-driver tube with the best NOS you can find. Basically, the reviews said that the amp sounded somewhat like a transistor amp but without the transistor-like bass control. (Reviewed a second time since I could not find my first submitted review.) The Anthem AMP-1 has received some very luke-warm reviews recently.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |