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Feliks Audio Arioso amplifier, or: Stereophile slides into irrelevance

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Robin L

Robin L

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Agreed...very click-baity thread title.
Did it say "review" in the thread title? Did you notice that I used the term "review" in quotes in the body of my first post?
 

PatentLawyer

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Did it say "review" in the thread title? Did you notice that I used the term "review" in quotes in the body of my first post?
Noticed it all, but not sure what "review" -- quotes or not -- has to do with the title being click-baity.
 

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Stereophile tagged it as "Tube Power Amp Reviews".

I see....that explains why they are "sliding into irrelevance". :facepalm:
 
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Robin L

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I see....that explains why they are "sliding into irrelevance". :facepalm:
No, the fact that they're constantly flogging gear that is mostly expensive finicky unobtanium indicates a slide into irrelevance.
 

PatentLawyer

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No, the fact that they're constantly flogging gear that is mostly expensive finicky unobtanium indicates a slide into irrelevance.

Your thesis might well be right. But Herb's column has been going for years, and has always been of this style....so I guess it's a really long slide? Like a waterslide? ;)
 

Semla

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I see....that explains why they are "sliding into irrelevance". :facepalm:
I reacted to your previous post, where you seemed to agree with the notion that this is not part of the review section, just a blog.


bunkbail said:
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.

No judgement call on whether they are sliding into irrelevance - after all people drive vintage Porsches, restore steam engines etc. I imagine that some feel an emotional connection to older technology.
 

PatentLawyer

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I reacted to your previous post, where you seemed to agree with the notion that this is not part of the review section, just a blog.




No judgement call on whether they are sliding into irrelevance - after all people drive vintage Porsches, restore steam engines etc. I imagine that some feel an emotional connection to older technology.

Ah, I see. Sorry, I didn't mean to draw on the review/not review distinction, but that Herb's column is a long-running blog -- Gramophone Dreams has been of this style for years, hence my (intended to be humorous) comment about the slide being very long. In other words, (for better or worse) there's nothing new here.

I happen to really enjoy Herb's writing, FWIW.
 
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Robin L

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Your thesis might well be right. But Herb's column has been going for years, and has always been of this style....so I guess it's a really long slide? Like a waterslide? ;)
And I have been reading Stereophile regularly since the mid-eighties and recently have been reading some of their oldest issues. So yes, a long, long slide, like the kind you find at water parks.
 

JeffS7444

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I'm not bothered by Herb Reichert's essays because I think his passion is chasing hifi rainbows. Other people restore vintage automobiles which will rarely be driven, or buy comic books which are encased in plastic and hence cannot be read.

Hifi as it's own hobby, apart from mobile devices and computers has been struggling since the 1980s. I think what you're seeing reflected in the pages of Stereophile is the reality that tube-and-vinyl guys are some of the only ones still spending big bucks.
 

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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.
Those were my thoughts reading that. LS3/5s with an 8 watt SET amp? Crazy.
 

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I don't usually measure the products that are covered in Stereophile's Gramophone Dreams and Analog Corner columns, unless the writer and/or editor feels there is something that needs to be explored.

John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile
Thanks for clarifying John. Bit of a shame, your measurements add real value to the reviews at Stereophile.
 
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Robin L

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I don't usually measure the products that are covered in Stereophile's Gramophone Dreams and Analog Corner columns, unless the writer and/or editor feels there is something that needs to be explored.

John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile
I'd say that a $6,000 integrated with an 8 watt rating prima facie deserves technical examination.
 

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Stereophile Recommend Components 2021 Awards

Air Tight ATM-300R: $18,500 with Electroharmonix 300B tubes
AD, who was on record as having "never heard a single-ended 300B amp that I disliked," was especially smitten by this compact yet remarkably heavy (54lb) stereo amplifier: a three-stage design in which 12AU7 and 12BH7 dual-triodes are used as voltage-gain stages and drivers, respectively. The output tubes are a single 300B per channel, specified to output 9W each. Distinctively, the ATM 300R uses global feedback, but tapped from the primary rather than secondary side of each channel's output transformer. AD heard from the Air Tight amp "startling . . . details of musical nuance," "lusciously textured and colorful" strings and woodwinds, "realistic force" in its reproduction of timpani, and the ability to sound surprisingly big. He also made special mention of the ATM 300R's way with orchestral double-basses, noting their "depth and power, and far greater clarity of pitch than I've heard through any other 300B amplifier, bar none." Re-auditioning the amp in his newly modified listening room, through vintage Altec Flamenco loudspeakers, confirmed those positive impressions, and then some. Writing from his test bench, JA described the Air Tight as "well engineered," praising in particular its apparently "excellent output-transformer design." (Vol.41 No.2, Vol.42 No.11)
 

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