Reactions to HP's review of Antique Sound Lab amp?


He raved about the Hurricane in the latest TAS.
Anyone with long term experience care to comment?
jp
914nut
RWD all I can say is I do not think you will be disappointed. I have tried many other far more expensive highly regarded SS and Tubed designs , including OTL's, SET's and I find the ASL's superior. Could be my 50 year old ears, except that the ASL shines in the areas where other amps failed by commission, in other words- where other amps failed the ASL's sail through rough sonic seas.They seem far more powerful than their rating . Faults previously attributed to recordings disappear or are ameliorated to an extent that I no longer have the anticipation of a particularly difficult passage that will test my system and force me to shut down my ears or reduce the listening level in the imminent face of the unpleasantness caused by too stern a test.Coherent, great soundstaging, powerful and detailed among other attributes.
Asa: No gesture, no feigning - I did not say total neophyte, I said relative novice, as in relative to many other A'gon regulars, for instance. And that's alright - it's actually the way I want it, and it's the way it will still be 30 years from now too. My attitude will never be one of a true believer (concerning...anything!).

Anyway, it's not that I can sense anything about *these* amps, it's just that I will never buy into the concept of *the* amp (or whatever else). As a worthless example of what I'm saying, imagine sitting Harry down in front of all the amps he's loved over just the last ten years, for in-depth auditions at his leisure, with the only handicap being that all the amps are cloaked in identical plain-jane chassis. What do you think the chances would be that he would come to the same conclusions right down the line? Yet the fact that such a stunt can't or won't ever be pulled on any writer, eventually, inexorably leads to at least a little unchecked hubris (which eventually, inexorably leads to at least a little self-delusion), in that several years on they often feel perfectly comfortable in extrapolating conclusions about the ranking of phantoms. And this despite the context having changed practically beyond recognition, which all by itself should invalidate the already invalid idea of absolute rankings. It's clearly a false construct, but one which is probably better than trying to be more philosophical (not to mention intellectually honest) if you want to sell magazines (or maybe even more to the point, have audiophiles listen to the things you say). So what I understand, if anything, is that one must proclaim in order to be heard above the fray.

(As for accumulations of accuracy, I'll address that in the other thread we're involved in right now... :-)
Judesonic....thanks for your reply. I am anxious to get these into my system Currently I am using the ARC VT 100 mkll to drive my mid/tweeter (EMIM-EMIT) on the RS 1-B's.
When I go to the concert and hear a symphony orchestra in action (both ppp and FFF) I realize the effortless of the actual (or should I say...absolute) sound. It is this effortless or freedom of mechanical sonic's that I wish to eliminate. Anyway, I felt that a more powerful tubes amp could bring me closer to this realistic experience. I looked for the VT200 or VTL 450's etc. When I read Harry's comments and saw the ridiculous price (for NEW) I decided to go for it. I hope my reaction will be similar to your!!!

Anyway, I am keeping my ARC 100 for a bit to see what happens.
Judesonics: lucid reply, compelling. It makes me want to hear these amps. Thank you.

Zaikes: what I say to you is not "philosophy".

also, an "anarchist" is defined by what he is against, not what he is going towards.
What's not to like about the TAS review. It's an outright, unequivocal rave. Furthermore the product seems to be an "honest" product. No bold innovations, fancy CNC cases, no silly acronyms -- it's just a simple circuit executed right. Furthermore, while the price is not real world, at least by audiophile standards it's relatively cheap. 200 watts of tube power for under $5k. That's something to get excited about! Whether the ASL is the world's best amp (whatever that phrase means), or whether it's simply a very fine sounding amp is really beside the point. Last month Stereophile raved about the Parasound monoblocks and now TAS is triumphing the ASL. It's seems that it's a good moment in history to be into high powered amps.