With regards to Schalk's posting about a nice-price trade-in Valve Audio Exclamé 100 in the Trade Fair:
Never say NEVER..
« on: Yesterday at 10:10:38 pm »
Around a month or two ago I announced the final 2 Exclamé's as end of line sale. ...
.... It seems the buyers of the final two production units seem to be pretty chuffed with their units..
I'm one of those buyers and have been in Valve Audio heaven ever since. It took a while for the amp to settle in and open up completely but right from the start I could tell that this was something very special indeed.
The Exclamé 100 is a hybrid design using a single double triode 6922 valve in the preamp stage with Mosfets in the power stage. It is hand built by Schalk to the highest possible standards using the best components for an amp in this class.
The valve stage brings that special magic that they're renowned for: warmth, a liquid flow to the sound and a richness and dynamic "realness" that brings the drama of music to life, while the solid state stage provides authority and control without grit or grain.
Apologies if that sounds over the top but it truly is the only way to describe it. It is a big difference from the way even a very good all solid state amp presents music. Somehow the sound cues from the performance is recreated, or rather more clearly presented in a way that is totally believable.
Being the inveterate tweaker, I experimented with different tubes in the valve stage. Tried an Electro Harmonix 6922 and a used Amperex ECC88 that I got from Peter(Andre V) - finally settled on a Genalex Gold Lion 6922 Gold pins ( indistinghuisable on the inside from the Electro Harmonix - and made by the same co ) - it provided a tad more detail over the Martin Logan's which till then were a tiny bit too mellow.With all the valves the sound was absolutely fantastic, and now, having settled in and opened up completely, .... there's only one word for it, I'm sorry... but it is "gorgeous"!!
This amp is a very good introduction to Schalk's products and hopefully he will bring a replacement on the market soon as he says he wants to do - in the meantime if you can get one, grab it!
Oh, and Schalk is totally accessible any time you want to ask him something - try and get hold of the designer and builder of your shop bought amp! He also modded the AV inputs to an HT by-pass at my request - meaning I can switch between dedicated stereo setup and full surround HT at the click of one button!
Yep, those are grammes!
