TRL ST225 - Goodness anyone else own this amp


I will soon be writing a review on this amp and wonder if any fellow Agoners own this gem. If so, please let us hear your comments on it. I am nothing short of amazed by it. I had to "downsize" and sold a tube monobloc amp and tubed preamp combo costing over $15,000 new. Both pieces were fine sounding and well regarded.

I ended up trading a set of speakers for a TRL ST225 integrated amp. I had never heard of this amp before and was not aware of Paul's work.

All I will say for now is this integrated amp bested my previous set-up and is the finest sound my speakers and room have provided.

I am a tube guy folks and this SS amp is still the finest amp I have ever heard. I put $5000 in the bank and have better sounding music. Now that is exciting!!!

They cost some $5500 new and mine was purchased/traded as used. It had just been updated by Paul and came direct to me once the upgrade was finished.

Happy in MN

Bill
128x128grannyring
Wow, Terryn that's quite the find for your total enjoyment. Can't wait to hear what you think of that rig ! Hope it's in a decent size studio. The speakers alone are worth their weight in precious metals. The metals seems to be the only thing that is worth much in the states nowadays.
Terryn: I think the battery PS takes it up to a different league. I won't hesitate if I could do it over again. The batteries used are the seal, deep-cycled ones. Since my mono's are customized units, they come in as a 4-piece configuration. However, I don't think this is standard. If memory serves me right, Jack's battery chassis comes in 24" x 12" x 12" military metal ammo case. Users have the freedom to use the amps with and without the battery. With the battery turns on, the noise-level drops further, the soundstage expands, the weight and the "density" of the sound images improves, everything just gets taken up a couple notches or more. It is not as much as an arch-welder like GT-800; luckily none of my speakers runs around 1 ohm, so I don't need it. Sonic-wise I believe it is the best that Paul has to offer (for now). :)

Howard
Litho: I'm sure that the price of lead has something to do with the price of the battery power supply.

I'll be calling TRL today to ask about the battery power supply; what size box and price. Comments from you that have heard the battery supply? TRL said earlier that it was "night and day" difference.

Terry
Terry:

The GT-800's went retail for $140.000, not very many of these units in existence today. Paul has been a tube circuit designer for over 30 years. He currently has the battery powered amp. That amp will run neck and neck with the GT-800's. The battery powered amp is unsurpassed in any other transistor circuit known to man today. It is an amazing amp! Consider it seriously before our precious metals get of of reach for the common man. It will be the last amp you will ever buy, and the standard for others to reach.
I have the battery power supply for the Pre-1.5 preamp. I hope to some day get the battery power supply for the D-225 amp I have. In the preamp the batteries are housed within an ST-225 chassis. So that is convenient. The preamp is biased for Class A operation and if I recall runs at about 44 volts. In order to maintain a constant 44 volts the battery needs to be run in trickle charge mode. You can run it on complete battery mode but as the voltage drops and the bias moves from Class A down so does the sound quality, but it is still quite listenable. Bass becomes a bit more flubby for one thing.

I'm amazed at the transparency and detail of the TRL combination. At the same time it is extremely musical. In the right listening room the soundstage is huge, but not exaggerated like in some systems I have heard. The amp can handle any speaker load effortlessly. It never runs hot and the power supply is way overbuilt. I plug it straight into the wall now and it is dead quiet. I have tested it on a number of occasions with the inputs shorted and speakers connected. No hiss, hum, not a peep.