Increcable TIA-280R Integrated Amp

Many of the best rooms at CES featured the beautiful quietness and flow of the Joseph Audio Pulsar loudspeaker ($7700/pair). I can hear you wondering, What does he mean by quietness? It's difficult to describe, but I'm a long-time fan of Jeff Joseph's designs and I have experienced them on countless occasions—and each time the word "quiet" comes to mind. No matter what the amplification, there is a unique inter-note silence that captures my attention. I find it uniquely attractive, and I suspect it's a product of Joseph's steep-rolloff, "asymmetrical infinite slope" crossovers. Whatever the cause, the Pulsar loudspeakers let music and amplifiers sound effortless and beguiling.

And such was the case when the Pulsars were driven with Increcable's TIA-280R Reference Series tube integrated amplifier ($7500). Besides the TIA's thick copper top deck (and copper remote handset), the 280R features full point-to-point-wired, dual-mono construction with one GZ34 rectifier tube per channel. Each GZ makes DC for a 6SL7, a 6SN7, and the two KT120 output tubes that make 80Wpc into 8 ohms. Folks, this is a lot of serious amplifier for a very reasonable price.

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