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Feliks Audio Arioso amplifier, or: Stereophile slides into irrelevance

Robin L

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Steeophile's most recent "review" of the Feliks Audio Arioso amplifier does not mention the price of this SET amp, nor are there any measurements of what is sure to be a deliberately broken design. I guess if one has to ask how much it costs or how it operates, one would not be interested in this product.

Gramophone Dreams #51: Feliks Audio Arioso amplifier & the Western Electric 300B tube | Stereophile.com

721gdream.promo_.jpg


According to Google, the Feliks Audio Arioso amplifier is supposed to retail for 4,500 euro. I did not read the entirety of the review, nor of Herb Reichert's encomium of the vintage Western Electric 300B tube. This amp is supposed to output 8 watts into 2 channels. The output impedance is not mentioned.

This sort of "review" seems a lot more like an advertisement to me.
 
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escksu

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LS 3/5a with a tube amp?? Wow.... Nice... I never get to own ls35a but heard them esp. when paired with a tube amp... They are just so lovely...
 

Jimbob54

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Ah, but their reviews are about feelings. How does it make you feel?

Personally it makes me feel a bit sick.

I also suspect the reviewer would "feel" differently about the amp if either he was blindfolded or the amp was in a cheap box or he was told it cost $100 from aliexpress
 

escksu

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Ah, but their reviews are about feelings. How does it make you feel?

Personally it makes me feel a bit sick.

I also suspect the reviewer would "feel" differently about the amp of either he was blindfolded or the amp was in a cheap box or he was told it cost $100 from aliexpress

Pretty much most hifi reviews are about feelings. So, nothing out of the blue here. I am not exactly a fan of tube amps so i dont think i will run out and audtion them after reading this article. Btw the article did mention 8 ohm taps.
 
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Robin L

Robin L

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Pretty much most hifi reviews are about feelings. So, nothing out of the blue here. I am not exactly a fan of tube amps so i dont think i will run out and audtion them after reading this article. Btw the article did mention 8 ohm taps.
I'll confess to only skimming the article. After a certain point it turns into orgasmic descriptions of the sonic qualities of LPs and antique tubes, and I'm outta here.

[edit: now I see that music is derived from FLACs, though the inclusion of 1927/1929 blues recordings is a bit puzzling]
 
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Semla

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Steeophile's most recent "review" of the Feliks Audio Arioso amplifier does not mention the price of this SET amp, nor are there any measurements of what is sure to be a deliberately broken design.

To be fair, they do mention the price:
Next to the A 21+ sits the new, made-in-Poland, $6499 Feliks Audio Arioso, the stereo, single-ended 300B amp that I am about to describe in some detail (footnote 2).
Maybe @John Atkinson will measure this one later?
 
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Robin L

Robin L

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To be fair, they do mention the price:

Maybe @John Atkinson will measure this one later?
My bad. I guess I should have read the "review" in its entirety but just couldn't after a certain point. My expectation is that there would be a little block of text, independent of the review, either above or below the review that would contain the relevant data.

"My only criticism of the Feliks Arioso was: It never took acid and rolled naked in the Woodstock mud. It played even the raunchiest 1920s blues wearing a crisply pressed Sunday-go-to-meeting shirt. "

Yeah . . .
 

tomtoo

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I mean its realy one of this refugiums where old mans always battle against newer technology.
And the funny part is they always loos.
There was the battle against transistors they lost.
The battle against class ab they lost.
The battle against all digital they lost.
The battle against class c they lost.

A real strange place. That audio refugium.
 

Grumpish

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Also spends a lot of time talking about the Western Electric 300b tubes - which are NOT the ones that come with the amp. The ones that come with the amp come in at about $300 a pair, and I have seen prices as high as $20000 for a pair of NOS 1930's WE's!!.
 

Semla

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"My only criticism of the Feliks Arioso was: It never took acid and rolled naked in the Woodstock mud. It played even the raunchiest 1920s blues wearing a crisply pressed Sunday-go-to-meeting shirt. "

Yeah . . .

This is a "distinctly masculine" amp, the Elekit HR compares it with is "supple and yielding, and—dare I say it—feminine (...) with a hormone-infused purity” that reminds him of "naked-at-Woodstock psychedelia".

Audiophile erotica
 

raindance

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LS 3/5a with a tube amp?? Wow.... Nice... I never get to own ls35a but heard them esp. when paired with a tube amp... They are just so lovely...

At about 83dB per watt he must have had to sit REAL close to hear anything at all without clipping from 8 watts a side. They are possibly the worst speakers in existence to use with a low power tube amp. I suppose their minimum impedance is high-ish at (I believe) 7.9 ohms, but this does not fix the sensitivity issue. But I guess if you run tubes at clipping, they do sound different from solid state :p.
 
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Robin L

Robin L

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At about 83dB per watt he must have had to sit REAL close to hear anything at all without clipping from 8 watts a side. They are possibly the worst speakers in existence to use with a low power tube amp. I suppose their minimum impedance is high-ish at (I believe) 7.9 ohms, but this does not fix the sensitivity issue. But I guess if you run tubes at clipping, they do sound different from solid state :p.
My recollections of LS3/5a's is that they are small and sounded small. Had them hooked up to a Harman Kardon 330b playing CDs. Didn't really understand how this classic monkey coffin became so idolized.
 
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Robin L

Robin L

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To be fair, they do mention the price:

Maybe @John Atkinson will measure this one later?
I would hope so, though I'm not holding my breath. This is the type of amp that really needs measurements, as they are guaranteed to be wonky.
 

bunkbail

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I've never found the "Gramophone Dreams" section to be a review section, its more of a blog for Herb Reichert.
 
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Robin L

Robin L

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I've never find the "Gramophone Dreams" section to be a review section, its more of a blog for Herb Reichert.
"From my writing chair, I can see about a dozen moderately priced tube and solid state audio amplifiers."

"Moderately priced"? Please define.

Yeah, Stereophile seems dedicated to that small corner of the market that thrives on snake oil. More and more about pricy bling, less and less offering up of useful information. More praising of expensive, dubious stuff with a lot less useful data.
 

escksu

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My recollections of LS3/5a's is that they are small and sounded small. Had them hooked up to a Harman Kardon 300b playing CDs. Didn't really understand how this classic monkey coffin became so idolized.

Yes, they are small and meant for more personal listening (perhaps a small room). But with the right pairing, they are really magical. I can still remember my first experience 20yrs ago. Too bad i couldnt afford a pair back then (2nd hand ones were very expensive then).
 
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Robin L

Robin L

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Yes, they are small and meant for more personal listening (perhaps a small room). But with the right pairing, they are really magical. I can still remember my first experience 20yrs ago. Too bad i couldnt afford a pair back then (2nd hand ones were very expensive then).
They were intended for monitoring of audio in remote situations, like a van. The beginning of desktop audio. Also: midbass boom instead of bass and overall eq focused on speech.
 

PatentLawyer

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I've never found the "Gramophone Dreams" section to be a review section, its more of a blog for Herb Reichert.

Agreed...very click-baity thread title.
 
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