Munich 2025

"Our new Octave Jubilee class-A mono amplifier has a slightly different sound than the Jubilee Mono SEs you reviewed three years ago," said Andreas Hofmann. Hoffman is the founder and chief engineer of Germany’s Octave Audio, and he was talking about his forthcoming push-pull monoblock, noting that the amp outputs 160W in class-A lower-power mode and 280W in class-AB high-power mode. The Octave Jubilee’s projected price is $85,000/pair without potential tariff hikes.

“I was looking for a smoother yet natural sound,” Hofmann said. “A bit like an old red wine. I wanted it smooth but fast and with high resolution, powerful dynamics and good efficiency.”

The product is intended to bridge the gap between traditional push-pull and single-ended class-A. According to the website, the monoblock is an “Octave-enhanced Pentode design with self-regulating class-A circuit that uses six KT120, KT150, or KT170 output tubes per channel.” It also boasts a new touchscreen control for amplifier status and diagnostics, and “Octave Jubilee Ultra-Wideband output transformer technology.” Each monoblock weighs 144lb.

Hofmann believes that “many tube amplifiers sound very warm because they’re designed for aggressive horn systems.” The Octave Jubilee class-A will sound natural, he predicts, especially with Magico, Wilson, Sonus faber, Rockport, and other dynamic speakers.

After our talk I had a brief listen to Octave’s impressive tri-amped system. While Wilson Audio, which also had a dCS digital front end, opted for bright color dazzle in its biamped WAMM Master Chronosonic display, Octave and Gauder Akustik embraced a palette of black, gray, and silver, enough to decorate a dungeon. The sound, thankfully, was anything but torturous, even from a seat in the back of the room. From David Baron & Donna Lewis’s "Running Up That Hill" and Technical Hitch’s subterranean bass in "The Mad Man Waltz" to music by Beethoven, the system sounded exceptionally smooth and impressive.

Doing the honors, equipment-wise: a dCS Rossini DAC, a Clearaudio Reference Jubilee turntable with a Unity arm and a Jubilee MC cartridge, an Octave Phono Module and a Jubilee preamplifier, two pairs of Jubilee Ultimate amplifiers and one pair of Jubilee 300B SE’s, a new Gauder Akustik Berlina RC 15 four-way system, an AudioQuest power treatment, and cabling by Gauder Clearwater and AudioQuest.

For the record, the amping configuration adhered to the Octave Tri-Amping concept: one Jubilee Ultimate for the bass, another one for the mids, and one Jubilee 300B SE for the diamond tweeter. Mids and highs were bandwidth- and level-optimized using the Octave Tri-Amping signal divider.