Sorry Brian for starting a new thread but I cannot seem to post to the a205a reviews page :dunno: Just to let you and Ski know that I have received the Almarro today, it arrived unharmed and is playing Miles in the background!!!

Hi Patrick,

Glad to hear that the Almarro arrived safe and sound! Can't wait to hear what you think of the amp when paired with your Klipsch speakers...

Cheers,
Brian

I have had mine for 2 weeks now. Time has been scarce for any real serious review, but some things I found interesting.

I changed the 12AX7 to a 12AX7A(Magnavox) short gray plate-clear top(I have many to chose from, this was my best pick of the night).

I had some Russian military 7189's(labeled "6N14N" on tube front). These are new with no burn-in time on them.

These tubes gave me the brightest detail with only a slight loss of bass response driving my "1958" JBL D123 and 075 (2-way) with N2400 crossover(2.4khz crossover) in a GE older style corner cabinet.

I prefer this setup used with a powered sub(Titanic 12) as it has the best detail. My experience without the sub has some bass notes weak, and others such as "Bella Fleck" shows the amp/speaker flaws(plus the speakers are 16 ohm and the Almorro is set up for 8 ohms).

What I really like about this amp is that it is just plain good "FUN"!!!!!! :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:


Unlike Jeff Day (6 moons review), I would never confuse this amp with my Yamamoto 45 amp. But for the price difference, if you are on a budget and can't afford a Yamamoto, the Almorro will not dissappoint you at all.

Acoustic music brings out the best of the Almorro, and I'm sure if I used 8 ohm speakers, the bass response would be back where it should.

I have let the Yamamoto sit and take a rest lately, I have only run the Almorro on my Sony 608 cd player with not preamp, so that is why I can say that to put a cd player and Almorro together with med-high eff speakers would get a damn nice starter system in the high end world.

Oh, I also tried some mullard 6BQ5/EL84's also, while they were the best sound, I kind of like the extra sparkle the Russian 7189's give. Just a slight deviation from the textbook mode.

Ron

What I really like about this amp is that it is just plain good "FUN"!!!!!! :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

You know, I consider that to be high praise indeed for the little Almarro! Regardless of how many audiophile "tricks" a high-end amp can perform, if it doesn't make listening fun, then it's not worth purchasing, in my opinion. And let's face it - there are lots of good-sounding but ultimately "unfun" high-end audio components out there at every price point...

If I had to ask for another feature on the Almorro amp, it would be a 16 ohm speaker tap to go with the 8 ohm. I use a lot of vintage speaker systems that are 16 ohm and miss that feature.
Ron