Yes it is. James Borgiorno(RIP) designed the original Ampzilla and Son of, his company was called GAS. He resurrected them and improved them and put them out under the name Spread Spectrum Tech. Wyred4Sound builds them now and they are a great value for the money.
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I own the second generation Ambrosia preamp. I think it provides a lot of functionality at a relatively low price point. I have both MC and MM phono stages, a large number of unbalanced and balanced inputs and outputs, tone controls, tape loops, and a nifty volume control which can be controlled by a rotary wheel on the remote control. I think I’d have to spend 2-4 times what I spent on the Ambrosia to buy a preamp with all of its features. The second edition Ambrosia was reworked to take care of some of the heat issues with the first generation. The second generation does not have a fan and runs cool. It has a low/high gain jumper. If you don’t play loud, and I don’t, the low gain setting will give you an incredibly low noise floor. More information here: https://www.sst.audio/new-products/ambrosia-2000-second-edition |
I added the Son of Ampzilla II to my main system 7 months ago. I am bi amping my Magnapan speakers ( 1.7i and Base Panel) with their own power via two amps. My other amp is an integrated amp - a Krell KAV 400xi. I feed the signal from the Krell pre amp out to the Son of Ampzilla. The sound out of the Son of Ampzilla now feeds the 1.7is. It beats the Krell’s amp stage on headroom, soundstage and midrange. Granted my Krell is 14 years old - but it has been a workhorse. I recommend Spread Spectrum Tech. |
Wyred for Sound built the SST ampzilla 2000 and son of ampzilla 2000. The Theobe II and Son of Ampzilla II were released after the death of Jim B. Wyred for sound bought the design rights of SST products. The SST Ampzilla 2000 and Son of Ampzilla 2000 are better than the W4S Theobe II and Son of Ampzilla II. |
I don’t know why James picked Spread Spectrum as a name for his last company. Perhaps because Hedy Lamarr, the Hollywood bombshell, has her name on the spread spectrum patent. She worked on a spread spectrum system during WWII but it was never put into service. More information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spread_spectrum |