Tekton Double Impacts

Interesting new review of the LTA Zotl40,

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/linear-tube-audio-zotl40-mk-ii-power-amplifier/


Kenny.

Okay, I don't know how useful this will be considering that I don't have a good point of reference for comparison. I borrowed a Roland SRA-200E 150 watt pro audio power amp to get me going with the DI's. The Roland surpassed my expectations as a loaner. Very good sound quality.

The KingKo KA-101 was clearly better as expected. Listening to classic R&B, quality of the bass to me was the most obvious improvement. My Lover's Prayer by Otis Redding, convincingly puts a Fender Precision bass through an Ampeg B15 amp right in the room. Even at low volume, bass gravitas is realistic some how. I guess that's another striking attribute of the DI's, in conjunction with the KingKo: Striking sound with realistic dynamics at low listening levels. This illustrates the recent theme in this thread whereby less is more when you have speaker efficiency and quality amplification. Where in this world, 12 watts > 150 watts.

Using the KA-101 as a power amp with my Audio-GD Master 6 pre was another clear step up in quality. I would have preferred to use it as an integrated for simplicity's sake, but it was not to be. In combination with Yggdrasil, things were quite good indeed. These impressions were done straight out of the box, with no burn-in.

Of course things should significantly improve even further by swapping tubes. Here is what King recommended in the article's interview:

"I think the amplifier is just fine with the tubes that I supply as they are the Shuguang tubes from China. That said I think there are some big improvements that are attainable through tube rolling. The tubes that make the biggest impact on my amp are the 5AR4 Rectifier and 12AX7 preamp tubes. I suggest the NOS RCA 5U4G which is a 5AR4 equivalent. And I suggest the Gold Lion Gold Pin 12AX7, followed by the Tungsol 803s gold pin and EH (Electro Harmonix) Gold Pin. The EH is inexpensive and can be a little noisier in dynamic passages. There are many more expensive tubes that you may like better but these tubes are very good and quite reasonable. For the 12AU7, I prefer NOS from Brimer and Amperex, and finally I like the Gold Lion EL84s."

Some other R&B classics that showcased a large, detailed soundstage were:
"Trust In Me" and "At last" by Etta James
"A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke
The Etta James' tunes were eerie. I turned the volume down several times because I was convinced someone was in the room with me.

I'll keep updating as the journey continues. I hope to audition other low watt tube amps to see how things compare.

Bill M

Thanks Bill. Exactly what I was looking for. Interesting it sounded better with your preamp in the chain. Not sure what to draw from that since there are so many variables but good to know you were getting good sound with a well engineered EL-84 based 12w amp.

Hello Bill,
Thanks for taking the time to share your initial listening impressions. It seems that this is a very well thought out and executed product.  Very good news to know a sub 1K dollar low power tube amplifier offers such high quality sound.

I’m not surprised that the sound improved further with the addition of a good quality active preamplifier, that makes plenty of sense to me. It would be very illuminating to compare this amplifier to the Cyber 2A3 SET that teajay finds exceptionally good sounding at its price point.

The Double Impacts are opening the door wide open to the beautiful sound quality of the lower power amplifier genre. Genuinely excellent sound for a quite affordable cost of amplifier + speaker.
Charles

Craig,

To answer your question about the Nord amps,
I have used a few different class d amps with the DI's,

Diy Ncore nc400
Bel Canto Ref 600m
Red Dragon S-500
Ps audio M700
Nord one up nc500 mono's with sonic imagery 994 op amps 

I have also heard the Devialant 440 but was paired with Magico Q3's

If I was going to class d with the DI's,which I'm not,I probably would go with the Nord's,Just my opinion Offcourse.

We have a local audio club in my area and I get to listen to and borrow all kinds of gear.

Best of luck to you,

Kenny.