AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!

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avahifi

Hot flash, our amazing Ultravalve purist vacuum tube amplifier was just rated a "Product of the Year 2010" by The Absolute Sound in the now mailing issue 209, January 20111.

We are in there with more highly favorable comments, among the $10,000 and up crowd.

Not too shabby for so called "mid-fi" equipment.

Note too that our 15% off sale continues until January 15th, so the cost for a new Ultravalve right now is just $1444.15 plus $40 shipping.

Best regards,

Frank Van Alstine

charmerci

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #1 on: 7 Dec 2010, 03:43 pm »
This is great news! I'm really happy for you.

Congratulations, Frank!  :thumb:


Big Red Machine

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #2 on: 7 Dec 2010, 03:49 pm »
Nice frank.

rollo

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #3 on: 7 Dec 2010, 03:53 pm »
 Hard work does pay off. Congratulations.



charles

turkey

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #4 on: 7 Dec 2010, 04:17 pm »
Hot flash, our amazing Ultravalve purist vacuum tube amplifier was just rated a "Product of the Year 2010" by The Absolute Sound in the now mailing issue 209, January 20111.

We are in there with more highly favorable comments, among the $10,000 and up crowd.

Not too shabby for so called "mid-fi" equipment.

Just think how much higher they'd have rated it if it had an IEC receptacle for the power cord.  :thumb:

srb

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #5 on: 7 Dec 2010, 04:22 pm »
Just think how much higher they'd have rated it if it had an IEC receptacle for the power cord.  :thumb:

Maybe not.  They're pretty picky about sound and if they had the chance to compare, may have preferred the sonics with a directly soldered power cord versus having a second AC plug to socket interface.
 
Steve

Brett Buck

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #6 on: 7 Dec 2010, 04:53 pm »
Maybe not.  They're pretty picky about sound and if they had the chance to compare, may have preferred the sonics with a directly soldered power cord versus having a second AC plug to socket interface.

  They'll never admit to that. Kester doesn't advertise in audiophile magazines; cyro'ed $5000 power cord suppliers do.

    Brett

Brett Buck

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #7 on: 7 Dec 2010, 04:59 pm »
Hot flash, our amazing Ultravalve purist vacuum tube amplifier was just rated a "Product of the Year 2010" by The Absolute Sound in the now mailing issue 209, January 20111.

We are in there with more highly favorable comments, among the $10,000 and up crowd.

Not too shabby for so called "mid-fi" equipment.

    Fantastic!  I have to admit, the U70 with choke mod has pretty well convinced me that you can get accurate and neutral performance from a pure tube amp. 2 years ago I wouldn't have believed it, and I have heard *lots and lots* of "salon" tube amps. It's an amazing achievement.

    One might imagine the same engineering principles applied to a new-design amp using 6550s - Ultravalve 120?  Although you might do better with bridged U70s.

   Brett

saisunil

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #8 on: 7 Dec 2010, 05:05 pm »
Congratulations!
 
One day - may be one day - I'll get over the idea of captive cord and get Ultra Valve ...

turkey

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #9 on: 7 Dec 2010, 05:22 pm »
 
    One might imagine the same engineering principles applied to a new-design amp using 6550s - Ultravalve 120?  Although you might do better with bridged U70s.

I've always thought that the best thing about the St-70 was that David Hafler designed the transformers. Is there anyone left that could do as well for a new design?


jtwrace

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #10 on: 7 Dec 2010, 05:33 pm »
Hot flash, our amazing Ultravalve purist vacuum tube amplifier was just rated a "Product of the Year 2010" by The Absolute Sound in the now mailing issue 209, January 20111.

We are in there with more highly favorable comments, among the $10,000 and up crowd.

Not too shabby for so called "mid-fi" equipment.

Note too that our 15% off sale continues until January 15th, so the cost for a new Ultravalve right now is just $1444.15 plus $40 shipping.

Best regards,

Frank Van Alstine

Congrats Frank!   :thumb:

I'm happy that you're happy with the same people that like expensive power cords and IEC connections like your amp.  Yet, you totally disagree with that and you like when they speak highly of your amp.  Hmm.   

I must say though, the Ultravavle is my favorite product that you make.  Maybe one day I'll give it a try.   :thumb:

turkey

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #11 on: 7 Dec 2010, 05:38 pm »

Maybe not.  They're pretty picky about sound and if they had the chance to compare, may have preferred the sonics with a directly soldered power cord versus having a second AC plug to socket interface.

IEC receptacles add 33 picoseconds of Lamarckian Phase Latency. What you really have to do is clip the leads on your power transformer as short as possible and then ultrasonically weld the power cord to the leads. You have to do this in the presence of nobility to avoid contamination from bad gas. (Noble gas is ok.)

Solder joints are no good for this, because the electrons get all confused when they are forced to travel through solder. It's simple quantum physics and the technical term for it is that the electrons get "crazed."




jhm731

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #12 on: 7 Dec 2010, 05:53 pm »
Congratulations to Mr.Van Alstine and his team.
 
Wonder how the Ultravalve would do with the TAS "Cost-no-object Floorstanding Loudspeaker of the Year" the Wilson Sasha.

Brett Buck

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #13 on: 7 Dec 2010, 06:03 pm »
Solder joints are no good for this, because the electrons get all confused when they are forced to travel through solder. It's simple quantum physics and the technical term for it is that the electrons get "crazed."

     Uh, you are joking but I have heard and seen people make exactly that argument about solder, and that you should therefore connect all your components point-to-point using silver wire and silver solder - not the silver-bearing solder you can melt with a soldering iron, honest-to-goodness silver braze you have apply with a torch.

    Presumably, too, you should only connect it to a domestic power supply that uses silver wire in the generators at the power plant and silver wire to get it from the Hoover dam to your house.

    Brett

turkey

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #14 on: 7 Dec 2010, 06:04 pm »
Wonder how the Ultravalve would do with the TAS "Cost-no-object Floorstanding Loudspeaker of the Year" the Wilson Sasha.

The slick magazine's love affair with Wilson's speakers are one reason why I don't find their reviews useful.

jhm731

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #15 on: 7 Dec 2010, 06:09 pm »
The slick magazine's love affair with Wilson's speakers are one reason why I don't find their reviews useful.

Have you by any chance heard the Sashas or the Sophia 3s?


rlee8394

Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #16 on: 7 Dec 2010, 06:12 pm »
Mid-Fi my @$$  :nono:

It's as Hi-Fi as anything else out there, regardless of price!

Thank you Frank for a great product, and especially from those of us who like to sling solder!!  :thumb:

turkey

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #17 on: 7 Dec 2010, 06:15 pm »
     Presumably, too, you should only connect it to a domestic power supply that uses silver wire in the generators at the power plant and silver wire to get it from the Hoover dam to your house.

That's why they stopped making US coins out of silver in the '60s. They needed all they could get for the electric utilities. That's also why Frank stopped working on power lines; he has werewolf blood from his mother's father's mother's family, and the silver gave him a rash.

jtwrace

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #18 on: 7 Dec 2010, 06:18 pm »
Have you by any chance heard the Sashas or the Sophia 3s?

Me puking > :drool:

I cringe everytime I hear those speakers.  I've yet to hear them (any Wilson) and think they were nice.  Just horrible!

turkey

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Re: AVA Ultravalve, TAS Product of the Year 2010 Award!
« Reply #19 on: 7 Dec 2010, 06:19 pm »
Have you by any chance heard the Sashas or the Sophia 3s?

Sasha yes, Sophia 3 no. I once heard the original Sophia and it sounded about the same as the rest of the Wilson speakers.