Catalog

The row of lights you see there are "LED's", or "Light Emitting Diodes" It isn't well known but by physicists, that whenever an electron moves from a higher shell or orbit to a lower orbit...or vice versa, a packet of energy is emitted called a "Photon". It is, in fact, energy in the visible wave spectrum~ which we see as light. In transistors, electrons move through a solid semiconductor filling 'holes' where there are no electrons. So quite a bit of moving from shell to shell is taking place inside a transistor. LED's are transistors, diodes, in fact, which allow movement of electrons in one direction only. LED's are inside a translucent package-therefore photon energy is released which we see as visible light.

This is quite diferent from a light bulb which emits light as a result of infrared energy, or heat. These LED's , 12 of them, are each one set up to "fire" when the amp attains a very specific level of energy..."Watts", actually. So these LED's are indicators of the Watt Level  the amp is producing at any given moment. You should understand that a generation ago, "Loudness" levels were given the term "Decibel" level. Studies with numbers of volunteers revealed that the human ear can detect a one decibel level of loudness increase...but only if they were told the level was going to increase or decrease.

Real good , sensitive ears could detect one decible change...which is pretty subtle. A more obvious decibel level increase is 3 decibels. Everyone can detect that. The curious thing is 3 decibels of increase require a DOUBLING of power...that is to say to go from 80 decibels at 2 watts..you have to produce 4 watts to hear that 3 db increase to 83 decibels.

These LED's actually bounce around quite dramatically as the music plays...the loudness level is a very dynamic phenomena. Each of those LED's in the photo above indicate a doubling of power. The sixth LED, for instance , will fire at precisely .75 Watts, or three quarters of one watt. The next LED, the 7th, indicates exactly double, or 1 1/2 watts per channel.  You should understand that most people are listeningto music or TV at less than 1 1/2 watts...maybe 3 watts at the most in an average living room...which is quite loud. So what is all this nonsense about buying amps, or rather being sold an amp, which boast of 200 watts?...it is HYPE. The darn thign might consume that many watts, but you are certainly not listening to that level of loudness ever. It would deafen you, quite frankly.  BEsides, now think about it. To go from 120 decibels at 25 watts...to go to 123 decibels...a fraction louder, the wattage has to increase to 50 watts. so you see you don't really gain much loudness, even at enormously high wattage levels. It is ridculous. Unless, of course, you like to drive around rattling windows in houses 50 yards away, with your thundering hip hop music in your car with 1,000 watts. I assure you, you will be deaf by the time you are 35 years old. Think you can keep a job if you're deaf?..Just when your children desperately need their Daddy to support them? That high watt level is just one of those human weakness that sellers of amps use to prey on the naive..."Oh...200 watts...this means it is far superior to that amp with only 20 watts." Wrong ! You have just been "Played like a duncan Yo-Yo". The main thing the amp seller wants?..to separate poor ill informed you...from your money.

The smaller amp, the "Blueberry" amp was a deliberate effort to make a super high quality amp at the lowest price possible. And it is good enough to compare favorably with the "Theater Amp". The Blueberry took two years to perfect. Although less than half the price of the theater amp, it is still a nice, sweet and loud amp.

The TA was built out of curiosity...it was the first 'big sound' in movie theaters throughout the 40's,50's. Today it is highly prized among audiophiles as an unsurpassed audio amp for music and home theater. Part of the reason lies in the sheer size of the tube itself some 3 or 4 times the size of average tubes. There is a hot filament boiling off electrons that is about a foot long in actual length...doubled back and forth to save space. The "Plate" or "Anode" is also large; and the voltage on the plate to draw the electrons to it is very high. The reserve power is enormous. At moderate volumes, say less than 2 watts, the loudness creates a sensation of musicians very nearby to the listener...same for sound in a movie also...more "surrounding you", in a word.

Indeed..."surround sound" is actually a feeble attempt to mimic what this tube amp does naturally. At low volumes, the amp has such reserve power that the normally rapid rise and fall of loudness , and the enormously complex interplay of sound waves, is so very easily 'tracked' and held pure by these devices. Today this is done with devices that are "solid"...transistors...and small by comparison...no larger than a fifty cent piece-and not costing much more than fifity cents!

Understand all of that, and you understand why it is that a big gorgeous sounding tube like this will never be surpassed in quality. It IS, dearhearts, the very reason audiophiles spend so much money on a tube amp like this. My curiosity was immensely satisfied. It was worth the awful expense and many months it took to build..two years to gather all the parts!. This is what I mean by a "Three Dimensional Work of Art"...it is precisely that= A one of kind work of art. I will not build another one.