Beyond cool

[Atjan]

This afternoon I disappeared. I am told I am still missing. The Valve Audio Revelation pre amplifier arrived. To say I was nervous was an understatement. Surely Schalk Havenga can’t beat the big names. What would this thing sound like? Was I  after 3 years of waiting, going to send a polite ”Thank you” and pack it away?

Well, firstly the fit and finish: This is beyond anything high end I have seen. The pictures do not even come close to telling the story.

But what would it sound like? The idea was that I would hook it up on tuner and let it run while I returned the office, except I never made it to the door. I sat nailed to a radio broadcast! I had no choice I switched to the best source I have-that would be the Studer/Mark Levinson ML5 Reel to Reel recorder. This thing takes hours to even start sounding decent –and now it was ice cold.

First up the Tape Project release of Dave Alvin’s “Blackjack David “The title track starts and is underpinned by a deep bass grumble. I have heard it countless times but now for the first time was the source of the sound plainly laid bare. The gently picked banjo was revealed to be a vital rhythmic component present through the whole song. As the system warmed up Alvin’s voice became more and more organic changing from a recording to a sonic imprint of man standing behind the chair 2 feet in front of the speakers. Scary stuff!

Having recently struggled through the memoirs of Carol Ann Harris, ex girlfriend of Lindsey Buckingham, I became thoroughly disgusted by Fleetwood Mac and their bizarre hedonistic lives. Still Rumours has formed such an integral part of my life that I almost automatically turned to it: During the mix down Buckingham and fellow pothead Richard Dashnut to and fro’d the 24 track master tape so many times that it lost most of its high frequencies and dynamics before even getting to 2 tracks. Still from the opening bars of “Second hand news “it became obvious that the Rev is something very special. Bass was solid, solid, solid and it plays tunes unlike anything I ever heard. As usual on “Dreams “Stevie Nicks’s cocaine induced sinusitis can clearly be heard. Also the ghost image of her to the left and slightly behind singing counterpoint. What scared the hell out of me was hearing (for the first time in almost 35 years) a third and fourth counterpoint one to the right and the fourth slightly behind. How did Havenga achieve this-low noise, improved phase response, better channel separation-? What did he do?

 On “Never going back again “I could clearly hear Buckingham moving to and fro in front of the mic. What was this? His voice would almost become less clear at points-Then it dawned on me he probable leaned backwards to look down at his guitar!

Finally I could not resist: “What could I possibly hear on ‘Dark Side of the Moon “that I have not heard a million times before. Well duh. Right there at the intro between the start of the heartbeat and “I’ve been mad for ****** years…” there are noises. Yes I knew that but what I did not know was that those are individual snippets from every song on DSOTM rolled as a kaleidoscope from right to left across the soundstage. From then on it became just more of a revelation: How many “doo wop” girls behind (actually slightly to the left) behind Rick Wright on “Time“. Well I now count three with one starting slightly before the others.

All of the above with the smoothest silkiest non electronic sound I have ever heard. Oh and the bass, let me tell you about the bass…..

Bravo Schalkie Bravo!!!

Now it sounds great too!
 

[Rudi]

This afternoon I disappeared. I am told I am still missing. The Valve Audio Revelation pre amplifier arrived. To say I was nervous was an understatement. Surely Schalk Havenga can’t beat the big names. What would this thing sound like? Was I  after 3 years of waiting, going to send a polite ”Thank you” and pack it away?

Well, firstly the fit and finish: This is beyond anything high end I have seen. The pictures do not even come close to telling the story.

that is how long it took for those teflon caps to run it. Schalk had them in the background on a jig being conditioned.

I am extremely happy for you............ it is always incredibly rewarding being jolted into a new realm. (specially of you own the equipment that does that  )

[Agaton Sax]

New at HiFiDo today.Uesugi Pre amp.

[Family_Dog]

Very neat construction! Nice.


-F_D