Raysonic SP120 Integrated Amp Tube

Category: Amplifiers

The Raysonic is designed and QC'd in Toronto, but manufactured in China.

See http://www.raysonicaudio.com/amp/sp120.htm for details and photos

I was guided to this amp by some friends who own a Hi-Fi store and who were themsleves very impressed by the entire Raysonic line.

This is my first foray into the Tube world - it was prompted by the earlier purchase of a tube Guitar Amp - a VOX. This amp was so vibrant and yet smooth I thought I would that maybe a tube amp for my audio system might be of some benefit.

WOW - was that ever an understatement!

The in store test was pretty much what I expected - a very clean and controlled delivery, spacious soundstage, very well controlled low end and beautiful clean and smooth mids and highs

Once once I got it home and out of the box I allowed it 30 minutes or so to warm up and then started going through some more material - it was then that the frenzy set in!

I could not believe the magnificent sound of this amplifier - smooth, clean ,detailed, controlled, spacious.

Album after album was frantically searched out and tracks played and every one sounded incredible. I spent the whole day listening.

This amp alone has sparked an enthusiasm in me which had been lacking for several years.

The look of the unit is impressive and the weight too.
It gets a little warm - so if you have kiddies mount it high on a strong stand out of reach if little fingers

It is a very simple unit - volume and an input selector with 4 inputs and a 4 or 8 ohm load capability - that's it.
It comes with a remote control (cheap plastic), but an upgraded metal remote is available.
The volume control is a little different in that the change is not immediate - it adjusts the volume to the newly selected level at a predefined rate - a little strange.

As I said earlier - I am new to tubes, so after a few months listening I looked around for some different tubes to see if it would make a difference.

I contacted The Tube Store and they were more than happy to make a recommendation of JAN Phillips 5751 and Electro Harmonix 6SN7EH, but they did not think the Shuguang kt88-98 power tubes required replacing.

After replacing the tubes and breaking them in there was a signficant improvement in image, detail and smoothness that I had not previously heard and all instruments seemed more "lively", in all, the upgrade was well worth while.

This amp is not a power house, so I would not reccommend it for anything other than Jazz, classical, folk etc.

Also - you will need efficient speakers.

If you like clean detailed sound - give it a whirl