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test test

valve amplifier valve amplifier

Then we encountered what was for us smooth, even through transition from
its highlight — delivering vinyl. The phono nudging down to ramping down, and
stage on the V80 SE is an option, and the fade occurs sufficiently fast to
comes dedicated to either moving magnet be used as a mute if, say, the
($POA) or moving coil ($999) curves, not phone rings.
switchable. Distributor BusiSoft AV kindly You might
supplied a V 80 SE with a moving-coil just want
phono stage though, shamefaced to relate, to park
we had no moving-coil cartridge to hand. So that call,
instead we used our usual Musical Fidelity mind you,
phono stage and preamp in order to connect given the heights
our Thorens turntable, taking advantage of of delight this amplifier conjured from the
one of the Octave’s points of versatility to do grooves of the very first disc we randomly ability to deliver such spectacularly snappy
so. If you switch the righthand small knob to plucked, side three of a 2-LP Morricone dynamics with such authority. Some can
what Octave calls the ‘Extern’ function, you compilation, and from Once Upon A Time turn the tap on quickly but not off; this was
can use the V 80 SE as a two-channel power in America to The Falls from ‘The Mission’, slam without overhang. Riveting listening. A higher Octave — the auto ‘switch off’ wasn’t on by default
amp, in this case with our separate preamp there was a scintillating spiritually musical With everything firmly warmed up by We remembered, then, that the V 80 SE can be when the amp reached us. But after leaving it
plugged into the “Master Input”. This delivery of every element; the combination now, we rechecked the bias. Still perfect. upgraded with one of two levels of Black Box. That’s glowing away for a couple of days by mistake
doesn’t, however, head at full level direct to of richness and clarity to the strings was Of course, one downside of this amplifier what they’re called — the Black Box and the Super and returning to rather over-radiated room
the power amps, since the Octave’s volume glorious. Ruthlessly revealing too — indeed is the lack of a DAC — there are no digital Black Box (pictured above left). Both upgrade the warmth, we engaged Ecomode via the second
knob is still in circuit — certainly safer, but on the climax of The Falls the difficulty of inputs, no USB, no optical. But we had our power supply by adding additional capacitance, the DIP switch on the back, so the amplifier’s
leaving you a choice of two volume controls. cutting the complex and rich bass to the usual Musical Fidelity USB DAC wired into Black Box ($1699) said to quadruple the original valve circuitry would be turned off during
The manual says “When using this option, inner grooves was clear to hear. It barely it, and listened to all kinds of files, high-res farad count, and the Super Black Box ($3999) to perceived breaks of more than 10 minutes
you should generally set the volume control dented our enthusiasm. and low, both playing through our own multiply it by ten. in playback. That’s a pretty short break, with
on the V 80 SE to maximum and adjust With sound this good, we were quick to preamp and through the V 80 SE’s own Well we’d been sent a Super Black Box, so we the price of a minute’s SoftStart wait when
the volume with the external preamplifier.” head to our Led Zeppelin 180g remasters. unbalanced CD input. plugged it in alongside... you couldn’t be putting it you return, but the reward is longer valve
It seems curious to suggest crushing the We span up the main disc of ‘Zep II’. Again the sound was solid-edged in on top, since the Octave runs hot — not quite hand- life, less heat, and a lower power bill from
waveform at source in this way (also raising Dear God. The size of the bass on the presentation, the piano entry percussive burning hot, but pretty close. (The cage is a safety those forgotten moments, since its normal
the noise-floor of the not silent V 80 SE), intro to Moby Dick; the weight and speed of on Diana Krall’s Alone Again Naturally, necessity, as well as a legal one.) The Super Black idling consumes 180W while the Ecomode
unless perhaps the V 80 SE’s performance Bonham’s kick drums.! If you’re one who a delightful delicacy to the brushwork Box requires no mains, looped in via a multi-pole consumes 30W — it’s not a full standby mode,
is compromised at low levels — but this is generally skips the Moby Dick drum solo, and her voice velvet with its sibilants connector on a flying lead to the back panel. It’s not as the headphone output and ‘record’ circuits
not usually, and certainly not here, an issue well, we listened to it three times over here, impeccably human, effs and esses with no something you can easily A-B in a listening session, remain active… 30W is still a good few
with valve amplifiers, quite the reverse. So partly for the dynamics and depth that emphasis, no spit. It was still an unflap- and it will be most useful for assisting the V 80 SE lightbulbs’ worth, so we switched it off entirely
we went the other way, giving the V 80 SE made it real at a reference level, and partly pable sound, just occasionally thinning a in dominating any difficult speaker loads at times after listening. If we remembered.
a full-level direct output from the preamp/ to confirm an edit we’d never noticed where vocal — McCartney on Every Night, Glenn of high density and dynamics. We found it didn’t
DAC and having the usual control range the level jumps up and the left kick drum Shorrock on Reminiscing. We had it paired vastly alter things with our sensitive horn speakers, Conclusions
available using the Octave’s volume knob. goes from perfectly recorded to slightly over- with Dynaudio’s Special Forty speakers for though with one particularly stubborn standmount Great joys from the Octave V 80 SE during
While the knobs on the V 80 SE are modded. New discoveries on a Zep album? a while, and the imaging was downright pair it seemed to add an extra level of confidence to its stay, driving a series of visiting speakers
nicely weighted, volume control is most Music geek heaven. forensic, every instrument on its axis — performance, an unflappability when punching out as well as our usual suspects. While the Black
conveniently enjoyed using the supplied Since with all this we were using our usual those panned harmonies on Reminiscing a dynamics and handling high density music. Box concept will be useful for those pairing
heavy two-button remote. (Yes, just two phono stage and preamp, this showed the spatial thrill, if just a bit light; we found the Headphone lovers will suffer a bizarrely placed it with demanding speakers, for us the
buttons, volume up and down — that’s merits of the power amps in particular. We performance more convincing through the headphone socket, positioned between and below versatility of conjoining of a vinyl source and
enough, isn’t it? What else do you plan to have had large reserves of power to hand MF preamp to the Octave’s output stage. the speaker connections — convenient for ad hoc use separate preamp with the Octave output
do?) The response of the buttons is perfectly before, but none that so well matched the We were just loving that output stage. it ain’t. But there’s a three-position DIP switch on valves proved particularly divine, creating
the back — no headphone output, headphone and true hi-fi magnificence of reality at the
speaker output, or just headphone output. So you can highest levels. Jez Ford
have a 6.5mm extension lead permanently plugged
in at the back, then use this switch to turn it on and
off. (Why a position for both? Some people like it SPECS
that way, enjoying the detail of open headphones Octave V 80 SE $14,999
and the physical impact and room effect of speakers.
It works best with bass-light and open designs, like Quoted power output:
Sennheiser’s HD 800.) And we should thank Octave 2 x 120W (< 0.1% THD @10W into 4 ohms)
for including a headphone socket at all — it’s not Inputs: 5 x line-level RCA, 1 x XLR balanced,
unusual to omit them on valve amps, and indeed this phono optional (see text)
one uses a solid-state output stage, and one which has Outputs: 1 x record out, 1 x pre-out, 1 x Master Out,
immense headroom; our AKGs are neither especially 1 x headphone out, 2 x speakers out
high sensitivity nor low impedance but we kept them Dimensions (whd): 450 x 175 x 415mm
firmly in the first third of the dial, enough to enjoy the Weight: 23kg
V 80 SE’s preamp performance via that output.
As for Ecomode, we powered things down and up Contact: BusiSoft AV
manually most of our time with the V 80 SE using the Telephone: 03 9810 2900
rocker switch on the left side of the glowing chassis Web: www.busisoftav.com.au

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