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My question is this: could the superb Hovland Radia now be so out-of-date that I should seriously think about replacing it?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"?

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I'm also thinking of selling all my tubes and going all solid state if I decide against the Pharaoh and their Athena.

This review of the older model helped convince me to try the newer.  
 

I agree with the reviewers assessment in the sound categories rated.  Very helpful!

 

Class D Audio GaN amp review
 

 

Thanks, I’ll check it out. Would prefer to go with the latest model.

Or do I simplify and look at GanFet integrateds. Ugh, this hobby is exasperating!

@thecarpathian I can’t think of many ganfet integrated amps but I’m sure those will come. I’ll be looking. The small size and weight of the Class D Audio model is a big reason I considered it after having gone to the Cambridge integrated prior.

Ah, right. I was checking out the Peachtree Carina and assumed there were more.