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test test

valve amplifier valve amplifier

1
amplifier and fiddle with
screwdrivers alarmingly
close to the high voltages
involved. Here, instead, you
turn the smaller right knob
to ‘Bias’ and then look at the
rows of LEDs that illuminate
on the Octave’s front
panel display (bottom
right picture). These
indicate either over or
under biasing — orange
when warming up, a row 2
of greens if all is well, red
if overbiased. You insert
the small screwdriver
under any non-optimised
LED, and turn until you
get the green light. It’s
super simple and perfectly
safe. On our unit valves 2
and 4 proved spot on, valves
1 and 3 needed a tweak,
though we adjourned for
coffee and a half-hour break
first, in case this new amp 3
just needed some more time.
Just a little, as it turned out.
This easy system also
simplifies substitution and
biasing of other compatible
Tube journey
Octave V 80 SE output valves; the company
doesn’t recommend using
valve amplifier low power valves like KT66
or EL 37s, but mid-power
(e.g. KT 88s) can be used
Smart design with the bias set to ‘low’.
and high output f Octave is not a brand you know, you’re them significantly longer life (five years minimum for This is also the company’s first outing using the 4
valves deliver probably not alone — yet it has been making the output valves, it suggests). heady power levels of KT150 valves, which are the first
amps under this name since 2000, and for a
With all this kept out of the audio path, the only
thing you uncover when opening the significantly heavy
thrilling sounds Iquarter century before that under a previous disadvantage we can see to such a ‘hybrid’ is that unlike box — and for once in our reviewing lives we sat down
from this generation, having been founded as a transformer pure valve designs, the V 80 SE might not work after a with the manual (and white gloves) rather than simply
‘Special Edition’ winding company in 1968 by the father of the nuclear attack and EM pulse. Darn. getting into it. Despite Octave’s deliberate efforts to make
valve amplification easy, these are still glass vacuum tubes
current Executive Director and Chief Designer
German amplifier. Andreas Hofmann. Octave’s products are hand- Equipment deserving of respect!
built in the village of Karlsbad in Germany, where The V 80 SE was, as its name suggests, intended to be The supplied manual was in German, so we got the
each amplifier gets not only quality control but a a tuned-up version of the V 80, but Octave’s engineers English version up online, and followed the instructions.
48-hour durability soak before leaving the building. apparently got somewhat carried away and delivered a We removed four little Allen bolts (see pictures), lifted off
SUMMARY It’s not hard to like Mr Hofmann’s designs. significantly new design, with a new-generation driver the valve guard, then donned the white gloves to firmly
A fundamental philosophy is that while valves stage using a push-pull pentode system, as well as a insert the four gorgeous KT150s. Power on.
Octave V 80 SE have that speed advantage and the delightful new headphone amplifier. We had our high-sensitivity
Price: $14,999
dichotomy of “musical” even-order distortion and speakers ready to use with this valve amp, but given Performance
+ Sensational-sounding output soft clipping, Octave introduces transistor circuits it’s rated at a full 130W RMS per channel operating One of the V 80 SE’s management (and life-saving)
stage for control, monitoring and protection. There from 20Hz to 80kHz, that’s less the requirement than techniques is a ‘soft start’, which takes about a minute
+ High power for a valve amp is soft-start technology and a controlled “power with most valve amplifiers; indeed Octave says this in normal use. But at initial set-up you wait five or more
+ Headphone output rise”, careful stabilisation and an auto-standby power amplifier enjoys excellent load stability so that minutes for the valves to warm up before checking the 1 Unpacking the KT150 valves; 2 Allen-keying the grille; 3 Looking from above: the front
- No digital inputs mode available which shuts down the valves after “neither the impedance nor the efficiency of the partnering bias settings. This is made a wonderfully simple procedure valves (2 x 12AU7, 1 x 12AT7) are pre-fitted, the KT150 tube sockets await their valves;
10 minutes, which the company claims can deliver loudspeakers will affect the V 80 SE’s sound”. here (compared to some where you have to get inside the 4 The Octave’s easy biasing system using the bottom screwholes and LED indicators.

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