I tell ya it's good to have friends in times of trouble. Having a bout of ill health and I was very glad to be cheered up by my two friends Mr and Mrs B'zilla!
On to the good stuff!
I gotta say the floral arrangemets not only look nice next to such fantastic equipment but maybe even add room diffusion?!
Also in the foreground is the Crown analog crosssover - no doubt a beefy unit.
What we had today was the Yamaha A-S2000 which
I mean just look at it!
Can we say hot diggy?!
How about some internals?
Wowza!
It was just as stunning in person as in those pictures. This is a $2000 integrated and it shows in those build pics.
It loks just as stunning in person.
Also on display the Bob Latio VTA M-125 monoblocks!
Here B'zilla had implemented a equalizer on j-river after some measurements that he's being performing. He got pretty deep in to it performig separate left and right equalizations
So how does it sound?
First a word: you are going to hear coloration. Every amp has colorations. The differences are are those colorations good or bad. if it's bad, colorations for me become unforgivable. But in terms of tube amps colorations can be very good indeed. And it's not something simple as a equalization change or "distortion" which I disagree with. Coloration in tubes is much more sophisticated in the way it creates sound and is an art form imo. So when you read that word, it doesn't necessarily mean something bad. It most certainly does't mean clipping or distortion or any such silliness people talk about with tubes. You can think of it as more "sound style" if that makes it better.
*Ahem* So how does it sound?
In a word pretty darn good. Here the amps really showed their different strengths.
The Yamaha amp ran fully balanced showed a slightly more clear sound in the mid range vs the Bob Latino - in some places - with the type of soundstage I've come to associate with balanced gear. (Yes my audio snobbery is in fully balanced showing here)
The improvement was ni the mid-rage with a good tonality from top to bottom. The tonality was definitely that of high quality solid state giving a very neutral even handed presentation doing better than the Bob Latino.
The only mild critic was the upper bass may need a touch more bloom and warmth.
I told Bzilla it was obvious that a careful setup was in evidence here where a little give and take to produce an overal soundscape that was really quite good.
Then B'zilla turned and ever so nicely asked me would I like to hear the Bob Latino M-125 tube monoblock amps?
I exclaimed "Would I? WOULD I?!?!"
Why yes I would! Very much indeed!
He turned them on. And after the tubes warmed up, I was instantaneously drawn in to the music.
The preamp was the Yamaha feeding the toobz.
Wide soundstage. You've seen the tubes described as holographic. And they are. Think of it like a holographic thick soundstage with a tonality firmly centered in the lower midrange with a thick tone to it. Every instrument played had lots of character. I remarked that this tube amp definitely sounds more like a tube amp. Its coloration is there but it's also the point. Where the heathkit monoblocks coloration was higher up in the higher mid range and treble producing a more airy treble shimmer type brilliant sound, the Bob Latino's colorations or "tube magic" are in the mid range.
I thought this was an amp that you can really follow the melody lines played by the individual instruments. It might have been an effect of the equalization but this amp had Yuuuuuge bass!
I said "hold on let me check something" and played Way down deep. '
The opening bass note was ginormous whacked me right up the head. I went "woah!"
There was another song with a low wind instrument of some sort being played and it sounded large and real. Really quite good.
The cons being the upper end air was rolled off and there wasn't a lot of snap to the treble. There is a slight slowness to the amp which may not be noticed unless you play an amp that excels in it. And the coloration was definitely tube styled. But this is not necessarily a con but a pro of the sound of the amp. It's voiced to be this way. It's really quite nice.
This amp was really about mid range. The soundstage was very very wide spreading right across my visual feild. In terms of tone the Yamaha was more realistic but in terms of the feel of real instruments in a holographic space in the living room the Bob latino took it and ran.
Between the two amps were two very different styles of sound. The two sounds are audible even in a double blind test easily- something I very rarely claim. They show the difference between good solid state and good tube amps. I would say this is almost the best tube amp I've heard.
In fact if you talk even handedness and a more realistic tone then this IS the best tube amp I've heard. However I have a guilty pleasure of the B'zilla modified heathkit monoblock amplifiers which put out 5 watts a channel which despite its much larger colorations is just utterly vivid and fascinating.
So I'd say for a "well behaved" tube amp the Bob Latino is the best tube amp I've heard. For a "naughty" tube amp the Heathkit is the best tube amp I've heard which really gave the XPA-1's a heck of a run for their money. Regardless this Bob Latino tube amp is really quite good. I quickly ended up preferring its intoxicating engrossing sound over the Yamaha - even though the Yamaha also had its strengths.
in comparison to the fine Bob Latino ST-120 integrated amps I heard this is definitely styled after these monoblocks in sound. However the monoblocks are better. Think of the monoblocks producing a more coherent sounstage as being the biggest difference. Think "more everything but the same style." Having said that the difference isn't massive. But it's noticeable. It's like going from a UPA-2 to an XPR-2 in terms of coherence and sophistication in sound though not with the accompaying power increase. The XPR-2 is of course much more powerful than the UPA-2. The M-125 is more powerful than the ST-120, just not to that degree.
I found myself singing enthusiastically along to several songs, something I don't do very often either.
In the end, I felt this ranks in the top echelon of the quality systems I've heard at my friends place.
Thank you for an enjoyable evening!