Jim Fosgate plans to issue two new Signature products, the Fosgate Signature tube preamplifier (projected $3500) and 50Wpc Signature stereo tube power amplifier (projected $4000). Seen in prototype form, and expected in the 2nd quarter of the year, the nine-tube preamp combines a hybrid MM/MC phono stage with an all-tube line stage, and comes complete with remote control and six-position MC cartridge loading.

The Signature tube power amplifier uses two EL32/6CA7s per channel, as well as two 12AX7s in the input stage and two 12AU7s in the driver stage, and has both 8 and 4 ohm taps. Output tube bias is "easily adjustable," thanks to built-in LEDs and bias controls for each tube. Frankly, anything would be easier than bias adjusting the KT88s on my former Jadis DA-7 Luxe (successor to the Defy 7). That gorgeous animal required me to remove umpteen screws on its bottom plate, turn the 5 million lb behemoth on its side, work with a plastic screwdriver to spare the planet of fried Serinus, and use my advanced mathematics skills and lots of patience to move tubes around, socket by socket and row by row while averaging the bias of the three tubes in each row to create a "best of each row" optimal bias scenario. I loved the sound, but not the hassle.