Absolare Unveils the Passion Signature

Absolare of Turkey and New Hampshire unveiled its ne plus ultra Passion Signature line, which includes the Absolare Passion Signature 845 parallel 52W monoblock amplifier ($48,500/pair) and Passion Signature preamplifier ($22,500). While I heard these products in single-ended configuration, they are also available in balanced versions. Not only have their power sections undergone significant revision, but they have also been customized with costly Duelund cast capacitors from Denmark, NOS resistors, NOS tubes in the preamplifier, and NOS driver tubes in the amplifier.

In a system that also included MSB's top-of the line Diamond DAC with all the trimmings, Magico S5 loudspeakers ($29,400/pair), Echole Omnia cabling, Absolare racks and feet, a Torus Power AC15 isolation transformer, and Absolare speaker bullets ($3750/set of four), the system got right to the center Anne Sophie Mutter's violin on her far, far too frequently played recording of the Carmen-Fantasie. (You'd think it and Salvatore Accardo's Paganini: Diabolus in Musica the only violin recordings on the planet, given the frequency with which they're played over and over at shows.) Extremely seductive, albeit not highly detailed, the sound of the Passion Signature electronics was extremely smooth, maximally rich, and sweet and euphonic in a classic tube manner.

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