EMPRESS (Silver + Signature)

The EMPRESS are Pure Class A Parallel Singled Ended valve amplifiers that use a pair of the highly regarded 2A3 triode valves per channel, producing a level of performance that is radically superior to the vast majority of current designs.
 
 
 
It has been specifically engineered for sonic performance rather than technical specification, and fulfils all Audio Note (UK) Level 3 criteria:
 
 
 
Pure Class A operation
 
 
Zero Negative Feedback
 
 
Single Ended Output Stage 
 
 
Valve Rectification
 
 
Directly Heated Triode operation
 
 
Materials and component quality
 
 
 
 
The Silver Signature version builds upon the already superb performance of the standard EMPRESS, and features the following additions: 
 
 
 
Audio Note Copper Foil signal capacitors
 
 
Audio Note Tantalum film resistors
 
 
Audio Note IHiB Double C-core output transformers
 
 
 
 
It is available with a single stage input using a 6J5, this is to accommodate the need for ultra quiet replay, the standard circuit has very high input sensitivity making it extremely difficult to make the system quiet if very efficient speakers (100dB plus) are used. It is important to understand that sonically it is desirable to have as much gain available in the circuit as possible, as the wider the dynamic gain window is the better the amplifier/system handles wide dynamic signal levels (contrary to popular belief, dynamics have NOTHING to do with power, it is a function of how much each stage in a circuits gain window limits the dynamic peaks), having very high gain and therefore sensitivity in a power amplifier creates problems with background noise levels.