Art Audio amp/Sonic frontiers 2SE amp

Hello; I have an Art Audio Jota, that I purchased used on the net. IMHO, it is THE finest amp I have heard/owned, in over 20 yrs. of this wacky hobby!. I understand the Diavalo is extremely GOOD also. Upon recieving this amp, I called Art Audio's Joe Fratus. He took the serial # of my unit, proceded to give me a history of the amp, listed me as the person in which the transferable warranty is now under,given me tube recomendations, and in short...talked audio with me, like we were old next-door neighbors. I have a claim with FedEx pending on tube damages, in the shipping of this Amp, and Joe has been very helpful with providing me with documentation, replacement box, etc(even though he had nothing to do with MY sale).
In short, few Companies that I have dealt with, come close to the superior customer service offered by Joe Fratus and Art Audio.
I have not directly compared Art Audio Amps with Sonic Frontiers, but I will stick my neck out and say: trade your Cardas Ref XLRS in for RCA's and go with Art Audio, I do not think you will regret it.

ART Audio!!!!!!!
I auditioned the Diavlo and in fact am thinking of buying it for a second system primarily focued on Female vocals. If you need a more versatile amp I 'd say go with the Jota.

Mike

The art audio's are very fine amps, but as you have an efficient speaker with a benign impedence you should also consider the Atma-sphere S30, 30 watts/ch OTL amp. I use it with the Alon Lotus SE. Prior to purchasing the S30, I audioned the Cary 300se monoblocks and much prefered the S30. It has incredible speed, transparency, and imaging and better bass then the Cary's. At $3150 (base amp with $300 power supply option) it's got to be one of audio's best value's(I think around half the price of the Art Audio's).
If there's no dealer near you, you can buy from the factory with a 30 day listening trial so its hard to go wrong. Checkout their web site Atmasphere.com Happy hunting.

Soliloquy demos their speakers at shows with Art Audio amps and raves about them--I can't think of a better endorsement than that. One of the guys who works for Soliloquy uses the Jota with the 6.2s at home. That said, this is always a personal decision and I certainly wouldn't argue with Atma Sphere. I've got the 5.3s and if I were going the tube route those would be the top two on my list. Don't have any experience with the SF amps and Soliloquy. Best of luck.

Tim

I would also vote for the Art Audio over the SF. I also admire the Atma Sphere. I use OTL's in my system (tenor) and they are special. I have heard nothing but good things about the Diavlo and Jota.

The Gill is a nice amp. Very musical and lush sounding while the Diavolo is very detailed and more of a front row seat. Joe is definitely a great guy and very reliable as well as a great story teller. I bet the Gill would be much better with some Mullard el34's. Ask Joe about this.