antique sound 1009

Nutella
I read Salvatore's review. Parts have to be changed to get them up to speed(The dealer installed Jensens in his 1006's). There's a company that does this to the tune of $1800. As I said before, biasing was a no-no for me as one amp would constantly drift. I guess I'll never own Joules to experience the Variac.

I've purchased 2 pairs of new ASL poweramps the last couple years. The Explorer 805s and Hurricanes were and are reliable and sound great. Having just built a high-sensitivity speaker system and not needing 120 Watts of triode power, I've ordered another pair, the 25-Watt SET AQ1006, in the new, taller version.

The 1009 is all triode (the EL34 drivers are wired as triodes), push-pull of course, uses fairly conventional design concepts, is mostly hardwired (ie does not use printed-circuit boards for audio circuitry), and uses tubes (12AU7s, EL34s, and Shuguang/ValveArt 845s) that are highly available and affordable. It also has separate low- and high-Voltage power transformers and powersupplies and uses NO negative feedback. If 60 Watts is enough power for you and the concept of push-pull amplification doesn't bother you*, go for them.
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* Some of us nutty fans of triode amplification also 'need' our amps to be single-ended.
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Tab, the later version of these amps have the caps that are recommended. One could install expensive V-caps and get most of the benefit of the 1800 mod for $400 in parts.
WRT the biasing issue, mine stayed steady the whole time I had them. I checked regularly and never had to adjust. A friend had the older version and did experience issues with the bias.
Great amps but like Jeffrey, I ended going the SET route.

On the subject of the ASL gear, I can understand the comments about the bias drift on earlier models but have not had this issue on piece current with the last 2 or 3 years.
I have a pair of the horizontal 1009's (before the Cadenza design) and the EL34's were replaced with KT66 tubes. These amps do belong to a customer for whom I am selling them for on consignment but have set them up for testing and some listening.
None of the ASL gear is a knock-off product and I have found them to be an extremely reputable line. hey are also a tweaker's delight. Is there others out there that better it? Sure, there always is but I think you will have a hard time finding equals at the same price point.

I just sold My Rogue Zeus that I loved, to buy the ASL 1009. I have them in my system now, auditioning them before I buy them. I will be writing a check tomorrow. They have one full music 845 and one valve art in each amp with mullard el34's and ratheon nos 12au7's. they are the finest examples of amplifier's that I have ever heard beside the ASL 1006 which does not have enough power for my speakers. They sound like 120 watts of power instead of just 60. They have the best rendering of the musical event that I have ever experienced within the capacity of my bank account.

Cheers