Reference Amp
The New Level in Amplification
A superlative evolution from our acclaimed and award-winning Model 88 and Maggiore amplifiers, offering the best features of single-ended Class A1 tube amplifiers simultaneously with the best features of great solid-state amplifiers. Here, musicality and precision go hand in hand.
All the magic of single-ended Class A1 is associated with exclusive topologies developed by Audiopax: the award-winning Timbre Lock, the ASTAT topology (“Asymmetrical Series-Twin Amplifier Topology” – with the use of independent, asymmetrical amplifiers and without global negative feedback for maximum speaker control), the IDS (“Ideal Device Simulator” – which emulates an ideal tube designed especially for audio reproduction) and our new “Current Sensing Power Supply”, a power supply that offers voltage stability without limiting the instantaneous current response, something fundamental to achieving reality in music reproduction. This set results in a unique amplifier, as it is extremely organic, natural and fast, with impressive timbral precision, sepulchral background silence, visceral dynamics and a micro-dynamics absolutely revealing of the musicians' intentionality.
The culmination of thirty years of mastery in the development of some of the best amplifiers in the world are summarized in the Reference Amp – the perfect materialization of our motto Uniquely Real
A true single-ended class a1…and more!
Perhaps the sensations of naturalness and musicality are the most striking characteristics of single-ended Class A1 tube amplifiers (for purists, the only “true” single-ended ones). We believe that this happens primarily when one of these three factors is present:
● Linear curves for distortion, ascending for power relations and descending for frequency relations.
● Predominance of distortions in even harmonics (especially the second harmonic) – not that distortions are “positive”, as what matters is the almost complete absence of distortions in odd harmonics.
● Absence of intermodulation distortion, a typical characteristic of Class AB amplifiers. All these attributes are found in superlative form in the Reference Amp and this is due, among other factors, to the use of several exclusive Audiopax technologies:
● IDS (“Ideal Device Simulator”): a revolutionary creation in which the curves of an “ideal triode for audio” are generated through the composition between the KT88 valves and our exclusive output transformer. In other words: the Reference Amp does not “sound” like a valve amplifier with KT88, but rather like an amplifier where we have the best characteristics of the best valves available (the magic of the 300B, the dynamics of the 845/211, the transparency of the 2A3, the perfect timbre of the 45, etc.).
● CSPS (“Current Sensing Power Supply”): Power supplies that can be classified as “non-feedback devices”, which results in an incredible instantaneous current response capacity (exactly the current that will drive your speakers).
● ASTAT (“Asymmetrical Series-Twin Amplifier Topology”) – independent, asymmetrical amplifiers with no global negative feedback provide maximum speaker control. This feature set elevates the Reference Amp to a class of its own among audio amplifiers.
Adaptive Timbre Lock®: Synergy at Your Fingertips
The feature known as Timbre Lock® is an incredible invention by our founder, Eduardo de Lima, and can take your system to a kind of “magic state” only achieved when you achieve perfect synergy between amplifiers and speakers. Timbre Lock® won the most important award from Hi-Fi News magazine, the most traditional audiophile magazine in England, the “Industry Award for Best Valve Amplifier Innovation” and was described by them as “a brilliant invention that simply works”.
In short, it is an adjustment that acts to reduce distortions in a system by taking advantage of the predictability of distortion patterns generated by the speakers themselves. We can associate its action with the effect caused by glasses lenses for those who need them.
The new Adaptive Timbre Lock®, an exclusive feature of the Reference Amp, improves on the original concept by dynamically monitoring the behavior of the tubes even during music playback, always maintaining the chosen sweet spot. It is a one-time adjustment between the amplifier and its speakers, regardless of the brand of tube used and its age.
Solid-State Precision, Speed, Dynamics and Transparency? How?
● The Reference Amp is the only amplifier currently in production that uses the revolutionary IDS (Ideal Device Simulator) technology, an Audiopax invention in which commercial power valves are integrated with complex output transformers designed by us to emulate an ideal device for sound reproduction (and non-existent, since the curves designed for these “virtual valves” that effectively play in the Reference Amp would require negative distances between their electrodes to be produced).
● All negative feedback in electronics aims at greater stability, but all control also has a direct impact on the final speed of the controlled process. Several audio equipment manufacturers follow this concept when they avoid negative feedback in their audio circuits as much as possible. Audiopax goes further: our power supplies are created without global negative feedback through the exclusive “Current Sensing Power Supply” topology – something complex and unusual but which results in maximum instantaneous speed for the current that will, later on, drive your speakers!
● Precision, speed, dynamics and transparency require special care with all current flows that circulate within the amplifier and this ranges from the selection of connectors (always Furutech) and internal wiring (pure copper and silver) to the careful choice of alloys used in the contacts of its sockets (such as the Japanese ones from QQQ) and relays.
The Reference Amp simultaneously combines all the excellent characteristics of single-ended tube amps with the best features of the great solid-state amplifiers on the market. With it you have simultaneously musicality, euphony, precision, speed, dynamics and transparency. It's the best of both worlds!
IDS: "What valve is this?"
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