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AUDIO FILE translation La Revue du Son, France , issue dec. 06
JEAN PAUL HIRAGA
The test of the Baldur 70 monophonic blocks done almost one year ago has pleased us, their price not being over 4000 the pair, putting them in the leading group of best deals in amplifiers with tubes linking generous available power (80 W RMS) and musical qualities due to the optimal use of the double triodes 6AS7G. On this limited series, the beauty, the sounds refinement, as well as the natural of the stereophonic scene reaches even higher while referring to the same sonorous politic. The few 240 W RMS available bring on the voices, the piano as well as on the most various sounds a sonorous field, an even more valuable support, such as the Baldur 70 but better everywhere. The spectral balance appears very slightly decreasing towards the shrill is not a default. We get used to it so well that going back to common electrical seem to go towards an excessive luminosity. A complete success at a studied price which will charm the melanomists.
ROBERT LACRAMPE
At first look these mono blocks impress quite by their sizes, their weight, the calories that they release. But the divine surprise is revealed in the sonorous performance which top the work! It is on my opinion the best hearing of the year. I know that there is still the December edition but I am ready to put my hand in the fire of their tubes: these power units will not soon be dethroned. Which surprised me the most, was to find under the same cover the fruity of the tubes and the unlimited energy feeling usually provided by more powerful transistorized amplifiers. It is extremely rare to combine both! But it is not all: The AudioValve know how to restore the pianissimis with grace, fluidity, lightness that the stronger one of 1000 W do not have! Listening to a piano is delightful: the instrument is released in all its width and without the message being strike. An unforgettable listening
AUDIO FILE translation La Revue du Son, France , issue dec. 06
Recommended
SOUND MAGAZINE
FROM HOME CINEMA
AudioValve Baldur 300
This German brand famous for its "High Tech" creations surprises with this monophonic set of 240 W RMS. A high standing product, 100% "made in Germany", produced in a limited number at a very competitive price.
SPECIFICATIONS
Type: Monaural Amplifier with tubes
Power output: 240 W/8
Distortion harm: 0.2%/100W
Frequency feedback: 10-60 kHz
Ratio signal/noise: 95 dB
Entries: RCA, sensitivity 1 V/47 k and XLR (asymmetric from the entry).
Output: On double sockets for banana shape jacks, wires open or twisted in U shape.
Size: 490 x 430 x 530 mm.
Weight: 35 kg.
Origin: Germany
The German electronic AudioValves can be recognized by their esthetic signature out of the ordinary. They emphasize the tubes and components as in a rechnologic window. On most of the AudioValve models, the top of the chassis in transparent or smoked glass emphasizes the care brought to the wiring as well as the components quality. The Baldur series adopt on their side the principle of tubes mounting on top of the chassis from an important height, this architecture assures the tubes optimal ventilation, by avoiding the useless heating of components such as electrochemical condensers, those which the longevity depends more or less strongly from the service temperature. Only one glance allow you to have an overview of the components, allowing at the same time to notice that Helmut Becker, the founder of AudioValve Company, often puts to profit a patent invention, the ABR circuit with assisted polarization made to extract the best of a tube during its life spread out into grinding, cruising performances, and beginning of wear. Note on this purpose that this polarization automatic adjustment optimizes the value of the quiescent current with an important temporal inertia, so as to never interfere on the restitution of a musical signal in transient state. With its policy of progress in the continuity, AudioValve has been able to surprise us with its first class musical qualities as well as with its amazing measurement results, one of the examples has been the RKV MKII, undoubtedly the only one in the world delivering under 1 W a T.H.D rate of 0,002%.
The Baldur 300: The big thing, with 240 W RMW.
Commercialized in a limited number, the Baldur 300 monophonic blocks are listed among the very rare amplifiers with tubes delivering more than 200 W with exceptional musical qualities, without reaching inaccessible prices. The two Baldur 300 monophonic blocks are made 100% in Germany. Their weight reaches 110kg, the 240 W RMS on 8 being obtained from 10 tubes 6AS7G, double triodes famous for being extremely more efficient on the criteria of linearity and harmonic distortion than the very traditional tetrodes 6550. Each block has a style similar to this Baldur 70 tested in December 2005, in the number 302 of our review but under more imposing sizes, the unit weight going from 16 kg to 55 kg. The imposing chassis of 49 cm width and 53 cm depth has a 43 cm height. We can find the columns mounting principle, of painted metal plates, of the thick plate in cut metacrylate, the 14 seeable tubes on the top of the appliance being protected by a grey painted protective grille. As on the Baldur 70, the few 24 cm available under the chassis allow to place without heating risks, the output transformer, power transformer and the related circuits. The frontal startup orders are done in two steps (filaments heating, then high tension), back face including 2 sets of output speakers, one RCA entry and one XLR entry (de-symmetrize).
The best of 6AS7G, without usual limits
The circuit is made of an entry floor with double triode ECC83, a Schmitt phase-converter floor charged by 2 x 33 k, a symmetric follower floor charged by 2 x 39 k, a low impedance attack floor with double Russian triode 6N6P (or similar American 6CG7). We find in output, such as on the Baldur 70, the double triodes 6 AS7G, appreciated for their linearity and their musical qualities. Set in quintuple push-pull, they allow to obtain a 240 W nominal power in A class with less than 1% of distortion at 1 kHz and almost 300 W at the chopping. Each triode section is coupled to the ABR circuit with patent automatic assisted polarization (meaning 20 ABR circuits by mono block), each circuit using an operational amplifier of 741 type, a PNP bipolar radio with BF 423 high tension, a thermistor and optional passive components. The double triode 6AS7G being favored by a 280 only internal impedance, the push-pull quintuple mounting make possible the use of an output transformer with low impedance, resulting into really weak insertion lost and to an optimal adaptation on 8 charge. Considering its imposing size, it has been put in the chassis, such as the...
