DEVOTION - to the old ways... to triodes... to iron....

The devotion is an all choke loaded, shunt feed, single ended triode integrated amplifier possessing a deep and strong midrange tone.

Although my favorites have always been the smaller triodes, when I first heard the perforated plate 300B made by Tianjan, I knew I had finally found a tube around which I could craft a higher powered amp. After trying many driver topologies, I kept coming back to a simple triode driver - it was just cleaner and more transparent. However, the only driver that was up to the task of driving it with authority on the low end was the very high transconductance 6C45P. This driver is robust enough to be used as an output tube, but requires a precisely designed circuit to maintain stability beyond the audio band. The extreme gain of this tube also allows the elimination of a gain stage and renders the preamp unnecessary. This last point is not to be taken lightly. In my humble opinion, the added circuitry of the preamp has always detracted from the natural transparency and flow of high quality, simple signal path single ended triode amplifiers. The volume control is of a quality never before seen in high-end audio. It is not a variable resistive control of any sort. It is actually a multiple tapped transformer. The transformer allows for the full power of the source component to be directly transferred to the amplifier at any volume level, instead of routed to ground as in all resistive attenuators. This greatly increases dynamics at low listening levels.

Sonic merit was the highest criteria in the selection of the passive parts, never measurements. I crafted the amplifier with an open mind, and consequently, chose topologies, operating points, and component values that seem unorthodox in the power quest of today's commercial marketplace. The results: an amplifier of the highest sonic quality. Yes, the amp has impressively low distortion and wide bandwidth at real world power levels, but the goal was to craft an amplifier that will bring years of enjoyment to the music listener. I hope that owners of this amplifier make it the cornerstone of their legacy system. I know it is the amplifier I choose when I want the great musicians past and present to visit my listening room...

SPECIFICATIONS