TEAC Esoteric, LAMM, Trulife Audio, and PrimaLuna 

The Esoteric A-100 ($18,500) derives 45Wpc from a pair of KT88s operated in push-pull mode. During the demo, and driving the Esoteric MG-20 magnesium-alloy speakers I recently reviewed, it became crystal clear that this amp sounded far different than the typically pleasant and sluggish push-pull tube amplifiers of the 1950s. In no way did it blunt the speed, transparency, and resolution of the MG-20s.

LAMM Industries launched the ML3 Signature ($139,290)–a no-compromise 32Wpc single-ended tube amplifier based on the GM-70 directly heated triode. It’s the Ferrari of single-ended amps, considering the wattage to price ratio of over $4000 per watt. No doubt about it, that first watt is pretty pricey, but it’s the first watt that sets the stage, and is responsible for much of the musical enjoyment. Rest assured that in this case, the first few watts appear to be as good as it gets in the domain of single-ended designs. The custom output trannies are capable of wider bandwidth at full power than competing designs. In other words, bass and treble response are not compromised for the sake of an exquisite midrange.

Single-ended design passion is also burning bright in Greece. I met up with Velissarios Georgiadis, managing director of Trulife Audio (TLA), headquartered in Athens, Greece. Formed in 1995, as a division of Elmet, a specialty transformer manufacturer, the TLA principals combined technical knowledge and musical experience to fashion a most impressive lineup of single-ended amplifiers using the 300B and 845 power triodes. Common design threads are the avoidance of feedback, elimination of coupling capacitors in the signal path, and usage of transformer-coupling for all actives stages.

And these are extremely high quality interstage transformers–bandwidth is said to exceed 2MHz! Output transformers are no slouches either, being flat to 80kHz. Trulife amplifiers appear to closely approach the full sonic potential of directly heated triodes. As you can imagine, price tags are steep–$50,000 and beyond.

At the other end of the price spectrum, PrimaLuna expanded its DiaLogue line with the addition of the KT88-based DiaLogue 7 monoblocks ($4999). The DiaLogue products represent a step up from the ProLogue line and feature primarily better output transformers. Recall that the DiaLogue 2 integrated earned our Product of the Year award; I can’t wait to audition the 7!

Next: EveAnna Manley, Audio Research, WAVAC Audio Lab, Cary Audio Design

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