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Review: Antique Sound Labs Wave 8 Tube amp

Category: Amplifiers


ASL Wave 8 MonoBlock Amplifiers

I bought a pair of these little 10 watt amplifiers for a stereo system for my 7 year old son. I figured, at that price($200.00 a pair) he could ruin them and it wouldn’t matter, I could afford another pair!

When I took them out of the box, I was amazed at how heavy and how well built they looked. They are cute little amps!

I hooked them up to some old Klipsch Heresy speakers I had put in the attic years ago, and a cheap Sony CD player. Now, for the moment of truth. WOW!!! These little amps are AMAZING!! The mids and highs were spectacular. There was plenty of pace between instruments. The sound stage was wide and deep. Voices sound as if you are standing in the vocalists throat. The only weakness I could find is that the bass was a little lacking. Over all these amps sound really good.

I have an all Mcintosh system, that I use Klipschorn speakers with. After hearing the Wave’s I was afraid to hook them up to my Kilpschorns. I was afraid that they were going to sound better than my expensive system. How could I explain that to my wife? She let me spend all that money on my system, and now these little Wave’s blow away that system. Well, I hooked it up when she wasn’t home! My Kilipschorns sounded really nice. The only place that I could find fault with these little Wave’s is the bass. I have to say the difference between my expensive Mcintosh amps and these little Wave’s isn’t all that much. For $200.00 these amps are an amazing deal that you should not pass up. I wish the Wave 8’s were around years ago when I bough my Mcintosh. I could have saved a lot of money.

Associated gear
Klipsch Heresy speakers, Bottlehead Foreplay preamp, old Sony cd player
jmareci
iamcrazy111
8 posts
 
I am looking at new amp/pre combinations and I was looking at the WAVES and a Bottlehead Foreplay preamp. I will be springing for the new Wave 20's with 12 more watts but I am on a skin tight budget, and that is what I came up with. You can’t imagine how convenient this post is. How do they sound together, is this a good combination for the few hundred dollars? Or should I look elsewhere for a preamp? My source is the new Ah! Njoe Tjoeb CDp 4000 and love it. I just got a deal on it for just for $400 a month or so ago. Thanks a lot. If anybody has any comments feel free to E-mail me with any comments on this new system. My address is IAMCRAZY181@hotmail.com
ekobesky
259 posts
 
I agree wholeheartedly! The best sounding system I ever had was also the cheapest thanks to these. I had a pair of Wave DT’s, and earlier version from about three years ago, with the optional tube cages and detachable power cords. I used a Philips CDR-785 as the digital source and ran it through a Creek passive preamp. Speakers were Polk RT25i, and I used dirt cheap Monster XP speaker cable and a $20 Monster interconnect. The sound was seductive. Later, I added a Denon DP-47F turntable, Benz Micro MC20E2 and a Rotel phono stage and it was awesome. I sold the Waves – regrettably – because I later had to combine my audio and video systems. But I still miss them. Someday, when I have room again for two systems, I’m buying a new pair and I’m not letting them go this time.
ykk's avatar
ykk
124 posts
 
Thanks to Jmareci, Iamcrazy111 and Ekobesky. I have been looking for affordable equipments without breaking my checkbook. Great!
rmc
1 posts
 
You want to hear a pleasant musical treat. Get yourself a pair of ASL wave 8's, a reasonable tube pre-amp that wont get in the way too much, a digital or analog source and feed the works into a pair of Meadowlark Kestrel Hot Rod loudspeakers and get ready to smile..
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superhonestben
199 posts
 
I too have Khorns and used a pair of the waves, clearly for the money they are a deal, but I found other tube amps to sound better(mac275) (VTL st85) and yes they are more money,obviously anything is more money, but you are right for 200.00 they are pretty scary
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