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Should I replace my 20-year-old Hovland Radia Amp?

I recently upgraded my speakers to Sonus Faber Olympica Nova V. My preamp is a relatively new Pass XP-30. Ditto my VPI Prime Signature turntable and Moon 280 D streamer. My phono preamp is an older ARC PH-7. 

About 20 years ago a friend asked me to help him buy a new system. We took three days and drove all over Southern California. He purchased Wilson Sophia speakers. The dealer recommended the Hovland Radia amp. The Radia was the only solid state amp Hovland ever made. The company cliams it took ten years to perfect it. We tested the Radia against a few other very good amps and both liked it. Several years ago my friend passed away and I inherited the Radia.

Paul Bolin describes the attributes of the amp in a 2004 review much better than I could : "[The] Radia was a delight to listen to in virtually all respects. It consistently displayed a light, limber touch with images and timbres. Dimensionality was surprisingly and delightfully tubelike in its solidity and freedom from too-sharp, unnatural-sounding ultra-definition. The point source of each instrument's body was clearly discernible, but didn't exist in highlighted isolation from the air around it or the sound of the recording venue. The Hovland's overall resolution of detail was very good, bordering on the truly exceptional, and there was never any sense of resolution for its own sake. It always maintained a holistic sense of continuity, embracing all aspects of the music and knitting together the disparate parts of the recorded experience."

I was fifty-eight when I took that three-day jaunt with my friend who purchased a fairly expensive stereo system. I am now 78 and do not have the energy to go looking all over L.A. for a new amp. I could, however, go to a few dealers. The one closest to me carries Macintosh amps. 

My question is this: could the superb Hovland Radia now be so out-of-date that I should seriously think about replacing it? Or just "love the one I'm with"?

128x128audio-b-dog
jond's avatar
jond
5,875 posts
 

If the Hovland Radia sounds good then it is good no need to replace it unless it stops working.

thecarpathian's avatar
thecarpathian
4,724 posts
 
  • If you’re curious, find an amp from a local dealer that allows home auditions that you think sounds really good, and see for yourself. Then when you compare you will know.
audio-b-dog's avatar
audio-b-dog OP
33 posts
 

I would like the idea of demoing an amp in my house except it would take weeks. When I got the Hovland Radia I compared it to my McCormack DNA-1 upgraded to what they called their gold level. It was like a new amp. The McCormack threw a lovely wall-to-wall wash of music. When I first compared it to the Hovland Radia, I liked the McCormack better. I went back and forth for many weeks until I heard the Hovland's ability to produce inner detail that the McCormack lacked. The McCormack did not have the depth of the Hovland, and who could expect it to? Even with the upgrade the McCormack cost 1/2 as much.

I don't think a dealer would loan me an amp for weeks. I could go into the dealer who sold me the SF Olympica Novas and ask to hear the speakera on one of his Macintoshes. The Macontosh sounded silky and sweet when I demoed the speakers, but an amp needs to be more than that. It needs to have good bass and musical attacks and a decent amount of slam. Plus a lot of inner detail. 

I wonder if somebody knows the best that could be gotten out of an amp 20 years ago versus what companies can get out of their amps now. For example, class D is new, but I have not heard a class D amp I like. They have whallop and can even be smooth, but they do not seem to have a lot of air. So, I guess I would be wondering if standard A/B amps have improved so much that I would surely be lacking something from a 20 year old model.

mikhailark
337 posts
 

The problem usually with age of capacitors. Like it or not, 20 years is a long time for a typical cap. So you may either recap the amp or get a new one.

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