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The new Coda S5.5 amplifier: It's a "Petite Beast"!

I have in-house the New Coda Technologies S5.5 amplifier for review for Stereo Times website. It will be awhile before I write the review. However, I'm so impressed by the performance of this petite amplifier, it only weights 45 pounds, that I wanted to give a heads up to you GON members if you are in the market for a balanced pure class A amplifier, delivers 50 watts @ 8 Ohms, and can drop 100 Amperes of current on a peak!

The world class build quality of Coda amplifiers is on display with the S5.5, along with the most beautiful purity of tonality, precise sound-staging, complete liquidity offered by pure class A design, and what might be the best top end regarding details, decays, and a natural shimmering without brightness or any edge at all.

The S5.5 uses extremely wide bandwidth output transistors instead of the usual TO3 devices used in most transistor designs. I own the Coda #16, which is great, but the midrange/high end is taken to another level of musical enjoyment with the S5.5. The S5.5 has a sense of speed/aliveness that is exciting to listen to that you experience in live music. The amp is dynamic as hell, has driven with ease any speaker I have tried it with, hence my nickname of the "Petite Beast". Remember, 50 watts pure class A, can drop 100 amperes of current and only weights 45 pounds.

Teajay (Terry London)

johnah5
dodgealum
1,398 posts
 

As a former long time owner of Harbeth C-7s who tried a number of different tube and solid state amps I can assure you that they do like power. However, focusing solely on WPC misses the mark and a high quality amp like the Coda will deliver plenty of juice—I suspect the 5.5 will work very well with the C-7s.

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hanki
26 posts
 

I should be receiving my Coda S5.5 tomorrow. I’ll keep you all posted as to my impressions after a few days as it continues to break in. It will be driving a pair of Magico S5 speakers which need a lot of current. I’ll be comparing it to my Luxman M900U amplifier which is 150 watts at 8 ohms and 300 watts at 4 ohms with the first 12 watts in class A but, must less current. 
 

Jeff

vthokie83
649 posts
 

+1 for speaking with Mike Kay at Audio Archon. He's a great guy to talk audio with, and he carries some high end brands including CODA and Harbeth.

What was really helpful to me personally, was that Mike is friendly with Aric Kimball of Aric Audio and he was helpful in talking through the pairing I ended up with: Aric Audio Motherlode XL and CODA S5.5. His prices are also more than fair, even for new equipment

johnah5 OP
222 posts
 

Hey Jeff,

I'm very interested in what happens going from the Luxman to the Coda S5.5 in your system. Both, excellent, but different. I predict that the S5.5 will bring a sense of aliveness/overall dynamics to your rig. Also, the clarity of micro-details across the board with a much more airy high-end. The Coda overall is silky smooth compared to the Luxman's overall velvety perspective.

Hey vthokie83,

I totally agree with you statement about Mike and Aric. Both are great people, take care of their customers, and are totally knowledgeable about what they either build or sell.

Teajay

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