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Review 5 of 13 Summary:
I always believed that once the distortion measures got small enough, one amp would sound the same as another. The Alpha 4 proved me wrong. I heard better definition and a much more effortless sound from my homebrew (time and phase aligned) speakers than I had ever thought possible. Initially I thought the high end was missing based on the extreme smoothness of the vocals. But further listening and measurements convinced me it was a more accurate reproduction. Since purchasing the Alpha 4, I've built a hybrid ESL-T/L speaker pair to replace my previous design (see http://pluto.njcc.com/~genashor/Speaker for pix). It drives the reactive ESLs without a hint of struggling. I'm still in awe listening after a few months... it's like listening to much of my vinyl for the first time. The main drawback of the Alpha 4 is the heat it dissipates. When on, it get uncomfortable to touch. I've had to keep it out of my custom cabinets for fear of it overheating. The 1 hour warmup time is usually not a problem for me, since I usually set aside a few hours when I listen seriously anyway. Strengths:
clean, effortless sound. Drives almost any load. Weaknesses:
High heat producer. Relatively large. Similar Products Used:
Leech, Krell, Bryston, AR.
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