Nightfall,
Yes, I remembered correctly; the new distributor was Hudson Audio. I just pulled this paragraph from their website, which I was posted there in 2011.
10.17.2011: It has come to our attention that there is some confusion regarding the Art Audio product line and its distribution here in North America. To clear things up I would like to say that all Art Audio products are designed and manufactured in the UK by Tom Willis, except for the Vinyl Ref phono which was designed and manufactured by K&K Audio. Hudson Audio Imports is the distributor and service center for all these products, including the ones sold by the previous importer in the past. All original replacement parts will be supplied by Hudson Audio Imports. Joe Fratus, under the name of Art Audio USA, will not be able to obtain these parts for servicing any of the units that were previously sold under the name Art Audio USA. All service and support for any products that have the Art Audio logo will be handled by Hudson Audio Imports here in New Jersey. For any questions regarding any products that have the Art Audio name and logo please direct them to either Tom Hills of Hudson Audio Imports or Tom Willis of Art Audio UK.
So Nightfall, exactly who did you purchase this amplifier from?
|
Nightfall,
I don't think you can dismiss such an incident that affected a number of people with a simple and cryptic comment. If there is nothing to hide, then why have you been asked not to speak about it, and by who were you asked?
From what I remember of the detailed accounts of some of what went on with Joe Fratus, it was far from a case of misinformation.
I hope some others who recall this incident chime in, and maybe we can get some truthful explanation from them. |
Roxy,
You are attributing things to entirely the wrong people. Likely due to misinformation widely put forth. I cannot say more because I have been asked not to.
I stand by my statements as to Joe Fratus and his company. Joe would never misrepresent anything, in my experience. I received my amplifier less than two months ago, I don't think it's possible to be more current than that. |
Excuse my typo on the spelling of distribution. |
Nightfall,
Very surprising to read the contents of your post to say the least. From what I read, it seems that you have not heard about all of the controversy surrounding Joe Fratus, and how he misrepresented his association with Art Audio as well as leaving several customers high and dry with partial or full deposits kept, but no amplifiers received. The last I heard, another distributor (Hudson Audio?) was in charge of distribuyion, and Joe was nowhere to be found. As I remember, neither Hudson nor Art Audio UK were taking responsibility for the customers who got stiffed.
At the time, this was a big deal, so big in fact that I think that the thread was discontinued if not erased.
I actually checked that date on your post to make sure that this wasn't a few years old! |
My recently received (two months ago) Art Audio Carissa Signature is absolutely a keeper for life. Incredible performance and hand crafted and backed by one of the very best audio companies in the world. Joe Fratus is an amazing guy, and his products reflect it. Not to mention one of the truly great people in audio, or anywhere. I'm proud to own and audition this amplifier for visitors who always walk away impressed. Not to mention, it doesn't hurt that it's easily one of the most beautiful pieces of audio equipment ever made. |
Amazon no longer in the loop.
New:
http://www.jobsys.com/getit.htm
Used:
http://audioshark.org/amplifiers-155/job-225-sale-4286.html#post64944
Too lateÂ…sold in a day... |
Wisnon, I was one step ahead of you & have already read about this Swiss made amp (Job 225) right after your original post and apparently it has rewritten how conventional amps in this price range should be designed as per review. 6 Moons loved it and its sound quality is on par with $15,000 to $16,000 dollar amps. People that have purchased this amp have given it sterling reviews. Amazon.com is completely out of stock. Now I want to purchase if I could find one for sale. |
phd, read away to your heart's content;
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1371603241&&&/Anyone-have-ordered-the-Job-225- |
Wisnon, no I haven't, sounds like you are onto something but you have kept it a secret, at least till now. |
Have you tried the very affordable Job 225? |
I've already tried all of these, got anything else? |
I do now! Just recevied a new "Limited Edition" Novacron made by Atmasphere. WOW...... now back to listening. |
+1for the carver cherry 180's! What I like so much about these is the ability to adjust the amps to different speakers and room conditions. Having the option to alter the bias and feed back on the fly gives the ability to have a lot of tube flavor or to near SS sounds based your listening preferences. |
|
If you are over 60 or 65 years old maybe. Otherwise no. I had a Threshold T250? That I bought when I first started working. Best thing an the market at the time. I sold it 10 years ago for a Pass 350... Hugh improvement. If you can get twenty years you are doing well, after 10 yrs there is significant improvement. It is monumental by twenty. |
An Atma Sphere MP-1 OTL will do you right. Ralph Karsten is the man with the circlotron patent, and very helpful as well. His pre and power amps are a cut above all else.5692 Red Bases are the tube to use.Two out of three of these tubes that you might find used sound bad. At $150. to $300. per tube,the price of admission is high. I bought two Mp-1's and use one for a bass circuit control amp.Now that's clean bass! |
|
I have the same little integrated as Barry. And a war story behind it:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ymisc&1391132247&openmine&zzDancub&4&5#Dancub |
Geez. Amps are a very personal statement - to me, they are the master moderators between source and speaker, so their effect is profound, and finding a happy long term partnerships with an amplifier or a pair of speakers is a rare blessing - like in other areas in life.
i have had an Accuphase E-306v IA i worship - it is extremely detailed ("there - a mouse just farted in the left rear corner of the studio"), which can be a problem because it can distract the listener into getting hung up on irrelevant individual details, ignoring the overall performance. The Accuphase always saves this by also managing to instill enough warmth and musicality.
i recently moved and needed to downsize, so the E-306v is in storage until I figure out what to do. For now, its duties were taken over by a Benchmark DAC2-HGC acting as preamp (and DAC obviosuly), and a rare Creek Destiny power amp I scored on Ebay for very little, new in a box. This partnership sends sublime sound into the KEF LS50. This was all supposed to be a temporary solution... I think sometime this year I'll match up the E-306v against the Creek Destiny for a final mano a mano.
But it basically means these are my favorite combos. |
Wavac HE 833 V2. 150wpc SET monoblocs |
I still have my Threshold T-100 amp and T3i pre, purchased new in '97, and T-200 amp, purchased used in '04. They're here to stay, but would love to have a tube intergrate on the side some day just for fun. |
My Audio Consulting Mipa, batterie power, 2*30w. He is not there. Only let the music passe. |
F1a all his response is on wyetech wbebsite |
mcintosh mc275
marantz 8 and 9 |
I have two...an original Jeff Rowland model 8 with choke and top mod and a ARC D70Mk2.
The D70Mk2 is a superb tube amp IMHO...even though it is now about 27 years young! |
My Coincident Dragons Mk II should be with me for a very long time. |
Pavpet,
What does your friend say has improved with his new Rubies over his old Sapphires? |
It would be very interesting to ask the members who responded to this thread in the very beginning in 2004, if they still have the amps they recommended then today! As for me, I've always bought equipment I liked and just held onto it, not because I thought it was the best but because I liked it. I still have my first amp and speakers, a Yamaha CA-600 and Pioneer HPM-40's, and have enough equipment for four systems lol. So for me, I guess the answer is I will have all of them for life! |
The ultimate 300B. Wyetech labs new RUBY 300b / 36 watts rms ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS ,the sound incredible, from bells , to transients ,bass, sounstage, very very liquid ,first one just sold as soon as it got off production $28000us , |
I am a newbie here. I have a Musical Fidelity M6PRX amp and was incredibly happy. Absolutely love this amp played through Monitor Audio Gold GX300 speakers. I did just purchase a Decware Torii 3 used here on Agon and I just want to through my SS amp out of the window. Not to take anything away from the M6 but this 25 watt tube amp is incredible sounding. Maybe this is what I've been missing with tubes but I now know what I've heard others say about the speakers disappearing in the room. You never know what you're going to get buying without an audition but I'm feeling pretty good. |
My Accuphase E350 will be staying until it pegs out, then I'll have to get another, well Accuphase anyway.
www.macsmusic.blogbubble.net |
Any feedback on the Zesto Bia 120 |
I have owned several fine tube amps but nothing comes close to the purity and power I have heard from the Tron 211 and 300B SET amps. I'm hoping to be able to afford one in the next few years and that would be the end game for me. |
Tube Research Labs GT 200's fitted with KT 150's have no serious sonic competition at any price. You will never want another amp. YM WILL NOT Vary |
I still value my Classe DR-15 that I've been using for twenty years. Classe amps from the early 90's (during David Reich's tenure) just sound right. Maybe that's why you so seldom see the DR models come up for sale on Audiogon. |
conrad-johnson Premier 350-IMO it has the best virtues of Tube, Class A and SS implemented in 1 amplifier. BTW I wonder how it compares to the super exotics... ALEF-Dartzeel or Solution? |
It was made some time in the 1970's by a Greek audiophile who made several variants of these amps. Two of these amps where brought to the US by a Greek diplomat. One set is a four chassis monster and the other is a two-chassis monster. I believe both put out about 30 watts but they sound much more powerful. The amps are based on a Futterman circuit. Each monobloc has a massive toroidal power transform and essentially two smaller amp modules (smaller toroidal power transformer and set of tubes) that are either bridged or in parallel. I forgot what kind of tubes are in the output; they are some kind of television sweep tube. The tubes are run very conservatively so they last a long time. The previous owner left the amp on essentially all the time for the past 10 years and the tubes still test as good.
The dealer which who recently got the amps in trade for some speakers wanted $50k for the pair of amps. |
Intriguing...who made this one of a kind OTL? how much were they asking for it? How much power does it deliver...and can you describe a bit more? thanks!!! |
I still like my Audionote Kageki amps, although these days, I use a modern version of a Western Electric 133 pushpull amp (uses Western Electric transformers, vintage caps and resistors, and Western Electric 348 and 349 tubes). This amp has 600 ohm input transformers which work well with my linestage which has 600 ohm output transformers.
I recently heard a one of a kind OTL amp that was simply amazing--very dynamic and fast, but still quite smooth and free from brittleness. This is one of the best amps I've heard, but, it takes up WAY too much room and WAY too much $$$. |
My Pioneer M-22. Drives the AR-90s very well. I think I would sell my Spec rack before it. Let's hope it never comes to choosing between them. |
I have a Musical Reference RM 10 that is so unique in that it extract such good drive from the little el84 tube. No other amp I know of gets 35w from 2 of these little guys. Plus this little guy is easy to bias and tube rolling is fun. I think the el84 is my all time favorite power tube especially since I can get 35w and drive just about any reasonable speaker. This amp and my Logitech Navigator are pretty much off the market permanently. And that is a rare statement for me if you look at my transaction activity on A'gon |
BAT VK-5200 is a keeper for me. |
I was able to score a Coda S100 today for under 2100.00 with freight and I am just over the moon.
I'll keep all posted. |
I'm in love with my LSA Signature integrated. Though I'm a nit-picker enough to have it sent off to be upgraded to the Statement edition come the new year. |
I do like the ASR Battery Powered version. They are smooth and easy to listen too. At the end of the day forget about all the audio jewellery its a big waste of money and time.
Find a nice smooth amplifier which is transparent to the source but has a slight warmth to it. This will save the headache pills and keep you in the listening room all day. Everyone on here is going to say his amplifier is the best this and that. it all comes down to how long you can listen to music with absolute musicality. I always found smooth sounding components slightly more warmer and emotional. These are just my own opinions. I am also into pro audio speakers and have a set of Danley SH50 and still looking to purchase the Quested LT20s. I'm into music, home theatre and PC Gaming on the big screens. I spend hours in the theatre room so for me its important. That's one reason why I went with the claytons. I do miss them allot but could not hack the loss off funds anymore. |
These are one of the best amps you can buy if your lucky in getting a good working one with no noise issue, honestly speaking I lost allot of money sending them back and forth just to get certain problems ironed out. Quality control is not up there at that price range. They are good amplifiers but mines came back noisy all the time. The noise is not your typical hiss. Anyways if you can visit Wilsen directly and have them tested out at his place and check all noise level I see no reason to buy them. Maybe im just unlucky with them who knows. I am now looking at other mono blocks setup for my theatre room.
My two channel is sorted as I am running the Atma MA2 on them. The bedroom system runs Bob Carver 305. |
|
Hi Dragon_Vibe - I have always read great things about Claytons...are they still available? Missouri I think? Do you own a pair? most curious to hear more about your impressions. thanks! |
My Counterpoint Sa. 220 has been so sweet since the 80's and I don't see it going anywhere soon. |
