That's because the Baron employs a…
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Next we began to experiment with the Baron's most distinctive feature: Tandem State Imaging. Remember what I said about trying to zero in on an amplifier that most nearly accommodated your range of listening tastes? Well, with Tandem State Imaging you don't have to compromise because it's two, three, four, or more amplifiers in one, and you can make choices on the fly—while the music is playing—selecting the operating characteristics and increments of negative feedback that best complement the music, your speakers, and the acoustic environment.
Sidebar 1: JA listens to the Baron
Giving away its professional heritage, the dual-mono Baron has a ground-lift switch for each channel, a guaranteed way of minimizing ground-loop hum. I have no idea why this often essential option is so rare in consumer amplifiers, unless it's a safety/insurance issue. I got the most hum with with one or both channel grounds connected to the system ground, so I lifted them them both for my auditioning.
I spent only a short time listening to my first sample of the Baron, which was dark-sounding as all get-out, especially in triode mode. It turned…
Sidebar 2: JA's Review System
To audition the Baron, I used B&W Silver Signature loudspeakers. Preamplifier was a Mark Levinson No.38S, with a Mod Squad Phono Drive EPS used to amplify LP signals from a Linn Sondek/Cirkus/Trampolin/Lingo/Ekos/Arkiv setup on an ArchiDee table. Digital sources were Mark Levinson No.30.5 HDCD and Parts Connection Assemblage DAC-2 D/A processors driven by a Mark Levinson No.31 transport, a Nagra-D open-reel digital recorder, and a Panasonic SV-3700 DAT recorder via Madrigal and Illuminati AES/EBU cables and Meridian 518 or Genesis Digital Lens jitter-…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Tubed dual-mono power amplifier with output power meters (switchable between 15W FS and 150W FS), "Tandem State Imaging," 4 ohm and 8 ohm output transformer taps, and four selectable levels of overall negative feedback, from 0dB to 8dB. Tube complement: four 12AX7s (input); twelve 5881s (output). Rated output power: about 60Wpc into 8 ohms (17.8dBW) (full triode operation, zero feedback) to 150Wpc into 8 ohms (21.8dBW) (full pentode operation, 8dB feedback). Frequency response, THD, S/N ratio, sensitivity, and output impedance not specified. Input…
Sidebar 4: Measurements
As I mentioned in my listening report, the Baron offers 32 different combinations of its settings, meaning that for measurement purposes it is 32 different amplifiers. To supply a full set of measurements for every combination wouldn't leave room in this issue for any other reviews! Accordingly, I only thoroughly measured the Baron's all-triode and all-pentode modes, from both the 8 and 4 ohm transformer taps, with the negative feedback set to none or all (labeled Stage III). Other than spot checks on other settings, I'll leave you to infer what happens for the…
Some of the most innovative thinking on hybrid circuit design these days seems to come from Russian designers. As a group, they are technically very well educated, pragmatic, and unfettered by American high-end didacticism.
Balanced Audio Technology's Victor Khomenko, late a citizen of Leningrad, emigrated here with his wife Anya in 1979. Most of his working experience has been in the field of instrumentation for the military and aerospace industries. He and soon-to-be partner Steve Bednarski met while pursuing careers at Hewlett-Packard. They found their commonality, high-end…
I looked down at my paunch, sighed heavily, and fixed Victor with my best "Pray continue" look.
"...so you do nothing but diet and exercise like crazy; you have no life, but you get down to 160 lbs. Or you don't do anything drastic, enjoy yourself, and wind up at 170 lbs, a little above of your target. Which would you prefer, Jonathan?"
Yup. So BAT builds symmetrical, bipolar power supplies that let their equipment breathe. (Symmetrical means the power supply generates both plus and minus 150V rails rather than relying on the ground—full of schmutz as it often is—for the return…
Let's start with Beck! (He won a Grammy, you know. There's hope for the world.) When I spun Odelay (Bong Load Custom Records BL30), the illumination, clarity, and air were astounding—as was the imaging. Big Boogie Factor, lots of pace, and terrific dynamics. Before too long that old sense of analog awe fell over me, and I yearned to drop something serious on the platter.
That would be Patricia Barber's Café Blue LP (Premonition 737). Small adjustments of VTA brought her into astonishing focus and presence. It was a snap finding the balance between sharpness of focus and harmonic…
Sidebar 1: Equipment & Setup
I began my auditioning with the VK-P10 sitting on its own rubber feet atop a Signature ClampRack. As I began to listen, I mixed and matched components and adjusted gain and loading.
The final optimized playback chain included the Symphonic Line RG-8 on the Forsell Air Force One, XLO 3.1 phono cable with single-ended RCAs at both ends into the P10, then balanced runs of TARA Labs Decade line-level interconnect to the VK-5i preamp. The Forsell Air Force One, after a small service by the factory, was once again spinning its magic tune. (The self-…
Sidebar 2: J-10 talks with BAT's Victor Khomenko
Jonathan Scull: Victor, why balanced circuits, if you please?
Victor Khomenko: I remember reading an article that said balanced topology is inherently much more complicated than single-ended. They felt it was a cumbersome way of building circuits. And they provided proof in the form of a very ugly circuit representing "balanced" configuration.
Now, of course, a balanced circuit can be ugly. But that doesn't mean that every balanced circuit has to be like that. On the contrary, when properly implemented, a balanced circuit…