[rockadanny]

Anyone hear the two brands?
Any experience or extrapolated opinions regarding Wells Akasha vs. one of Frank's latest (DVA 4/2 or Vision SET 400)?
No need to express accolades for Frank and his company as I've owned a Fet Valve (550?) before and appreciate both Frank and his gear.
However, I have never heard any Wells gear.

[Big Red Machine]

Innamorata - super smooth, very quiet, no hums or pops or quirks, solid SS power.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Anyone hear the two brands?
Any experience or extrapolated opinions regarding Wells Akasha vs. one of Frank's latest (DVA 4/2 or Vision SET 400)?
No need to express accolades for Frank and his company as I've owned a Fet Valve (550?) before and appreciate both Frank and his gear.
However, I have never heard any Wells gear.

The Fet Valve 550 sounds like a transistor radio next to the Vision 400 SET and his newer FET Valve amps

[jriggy]

Innamorata - super smooth, very quiet, no hums or pops or quirks, solid SS power.

Agreed. Very clear and musical with no transistor artifacts. And the Akasha, I believe, is based on the same amp typology.

[rockadanny]

Pete & jriggy - thanks for the replies. would be nice if the less expensive Akasha sounded very similar to their Innamorata. specs are the same for both so not sure what you get for an extra $2k for the Inna. perhaps upgraded or extra parts?

 I.Greyhound - thanks for the reply. "transistor radio"?  yeow! wow!

[rockadanny]

Wonder if the price difference is in the Bybee rails and stuff. Perhaps Akasha does not have these.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Pete & jriggy - thanks for the replies. would be nice if the less expensive Akasha sounded very similar to their Innamorata. specs are the same for both so not sure what you get for an extra $2k for the Inna. perhaps upgraded or extra parts?

 I.Greyhound - thanks for the reply. "transistor radio"?  yeow! wow!

I took home a FET Valve 550 a few years ago and I can tell you that his new gear is that much better.  Can't help ya with the Akasha though, never heard one.

[RPM123]

I auditioned the Innamorata with DeVore 0/93 speakers (93db sensitivity) and I found it to be one of the most quiet amps amps I have heard. However, I decided that it was not the amp for me because the damping factor (200) was too high for the DeVore's and made the bass sound overdamped/tight without much decay. I chalk that up to a mis-match. The other issue was that transients sounded quite slow to my ears. The speed of attack was such that impacts were reduced and music sounded "slower" than the two tubes amps I have used - the Ultravalve and a EAR 534. I'm not sure if one can "extrapolate" down to the Akasha, but that's what I experienced.

[Kenneth Patchen]

The Fet Valve 550 sounds like a transistor radio next to the Vision 400 SET and his newer FET Valve amps

Hmmm. Can’t wait to hear the Vision 400 SET then. Before going to just a headphone set-up due to downsizing I had a FET Valve 550 and AvA pre in my system and both performed beautifully, really, really liked them. Smooth, quiet, dependable. No problems at all. Could never imagine the 550 sounding “ like a transistor radio”.
After going to headphones I sold the AVA gear to my brother to drive his Salks and Vapors. The 550 handled them admirably. If I ever decide to return to 2 channel I’d be more than happy to pick-up another 550. Frank makes good gear to last, period.

[jriggy]

I auditioned the Innamorata with DeVore 0/93 speakers (93db sensitivity) and I found it to be one of the most quiet amps amps I have heard. However, I decided that it was not the amp for me because the damping factor (200) was too high for the DeVore's and made the bass sound overdamped/tight without much decay. I chalk that up to a mis-match. The other issue was that transients sounded quite slow to my ears. The speed of attack was such that impacts were reduced and music sounded "slower" than the two tubes amps I have used - the Ultravalve and a EAR 534. I'm not sure if one can "extrapolate" down to the Akasha, but that's what I experienced.

The Innamorata or Innamorata Signature are certainly not slow amps. I’m somewhat sensitive to this and hearing the amp on a few different types of speakers, (Gibbon X, Daedalus and 40.2’s) w/ and without a preamp in the chain, I can say it’s not a Wells amp that slowed anything down or messed with any pacing or timing... the set-up/speaker placement for O/93’s could be it, as well as the mentioned mismatch —it is a very smooth sounding amp, so might not of been a good fit for the devores. I also found the Gibbon X / Wells combo to be lacking, even though both brands are exceptional when paired well in a synergistic system.

[A_shah]

I had a Inamorata amp for about two weeks ,Courtesy Mr. Jeffs Wells himself !  Very nice amp and very smooth , sounds more like a tube amp., very fast, good transients and musical decay  Did not have any mismatch with 97 db Daedalus Poseidon , however it did seem to have a flash some where inside the unit of  led light when i turned it off . Eventually I short listed 3 amps Viva Solista , Ear 509 mono's  and QuickSilver 60 Mono I found the QS -60 gave me I would say 85% to 90 % of of what I was listening to with the other amps with only 10 % of the price of the other amps. I have never regretted that decision of purchasing the QS-60 's I have  a friend who who owns a Decware ZMA 40 watt  tube amp. come over with it and had a fews hours of listening experience . All I can say is well both sounded different ! 

Asghar