[Afterimage]

I think they said is was around 12 grand for the Exotica IIIs.

[Stercom]

I think they said is was around 12 grand for the Exotica IIIs.

Thanks. Thats all I wanted was a ballpark figure.  I'm sure Jim will make an official announcement as soon as he can.

[roscoeiii]

Yes, the Exotica's clarity is what stood out for me. And its immediacy. That midrange driver is stunning and the whole speaker is nicely integrated.

[philt56]

He told me $11k

[steve f]

One of the really good rooms at AXPONA.   

[avahifi]

If you are interested, we had a really fun and thorough interview with Enjoy the Music at the Axpona show.

It is already posted at their web site.  It is in the segment that has a total 94 minute run time and starts about 22 minutes in from the beginning.

We had time to talk semi-intelligently about lot of stuff.

Frank

[avahifi]

The AVA setup driving the Exotica Threes were a new Fet Valve CF vacuum tube preamp, Fet Valve Hybrid DAC, and Fet Valve 600R hybrid power amp, sourced from Jim's music server.

The system worked wonderfully.

Frank

[Bob2]

The system worked wonderfully.

Yes it did!

[Austin08]

The AVA setup driving the Exotica Threes were a new Fet Valve CF vacuum tube preamp, Fet Valve Hybrid DAC, and Fet Valve 600R hybrid power amp, sourced from Jim's music server.

The system worked wonderfully.

Frank

What about the Ultravalve amp? Isn't it powerful enough to drive the high efficiency Exotica 3? Is there any reason why you choose the 600R over the valve amp?

[Carl V]

What about the Ultravalve amp? Isn't it powerful enough to drive the high efficiency Exotica 3? Is there any reason why you choose the 600R over the valve amp?

good question just what I was thinking.
unless the two Servo 8" drivers & amp
are not filtering the midwoofer....Dennis Murphy
did not say if they are.

Jim will have to give you the details.  All I know is that the top half is basically the original Exotica with a passive Xover from mid to tweet.  The bottom half is a new sub integrated into the cabinet, and it's actively driven.  The sub provides the active low pass filter for the woofer.  I don't remember whether the midrange (formally the woofer) goes full range on the bottom, or whether there's a high pass filter provided by the sub.

 

[ricardojoa]

My guess is that any amp from Ava would drive the exoctica since the bottom is actively power by the servo amp. It may make better logistic sense just to bring the most poweful amp, as it will be better suited for hungry speakers.

[JerryM]

What about the Ultravalve amp? Isn't it powerful enough to drive the high efficiency Exotica 3? Is there any reason why you choose the 600R over the valve amp?

Three questions, three answers. 

   The Ultravalve is a very fine tube amplifier available only from AVA.
 
   Of course it is.

   Yes; think about it.

Of course, I'll defer to Frank. The above answers are JMHO. 

Have fun,

Jerry

[avahifi]

Yes, our Ultravalve 35W/Ch vacuum tube power amp can run the Exotica Three speakers just fine.  We did try this at Axpona with excellent results.

However, as nice as the Ultravalve is, the Fet Valve 600R is even more resolving and engaging, and the Exoticas deserved the best amp we could do.  It may have been overkill as far as power goes, but musically, combined with our new Fet Valve CF preamp and Fet Valve hybrid DAC, the sound was fantastic.

Frank

[roscoeiii]

musically, combined with our new Fet Valve CF preamp and Fet Valve hybrid DAC, the sound was fantastic.

Frank

+1

[Tom Alverson]

What about the Ultravalve amp? Isn't it powerful enough to drive the high efficiency Exotica 3? Is there any reason why you choose the 600R over the valve amp?

The 600r IS a valve amp.  It's even an SET (Single Ended Triode) amp which the Ultra-Valve is not (the tubes are not triodes).  The 600r just uses some FET's for current buffering. 

[martyo]

The 600R has 8 Exicon "double-die" power mos-fets.

[Minn Mark]

If you are interested, we had a really fun and thorough interview with Enjoy the Music at the Axpona show.

It is already posted at their web site.  It is in the segment that has a total 94 minute run time and starts about 22 minutes in from the beginning.

We had time to talk semi-intelligently about lot of stuff.

Frank

Very enjoyable to watch. Highly recommended !   


Mark

[jtwrace]

However, as nice as the Ultravalve is, the Fet Valve 600R is even more resolving and engaging, and the Exoticas deserved the best amp we could do.
Frank

Do you think the 600R will always sound better than the Ultravalve?

[avahifi]

I think that even if price and power was not a consideration, I would choose a Fet Valve amp over the Ultravalve because the Fet Valve gives away nothing.  Of course with efficient speakers the Ultravalve is a keeper.  It is a tiny bit "milder" sounding and that would be useful on speakers that can be a bit hot, like some ribbon designs.  The Ultravalve certainly made the the standard dome tweeter version of the Salk Songtowers sound glorious at Axpona (just as The Absolute Sound has previously reported).  Some listeners assumed the Exotica Threes were playing. 

We do know that the Fet Valve amplifiers do a great job driving dynamic speakers, ribbon tweeters, Magnapans, electrostatics, basically anything.

David Janszen told me that before hearing the Fet Valve 400R on his electrostats that he was firmly in the camp that felt all well designed big power amplifiers sound the same.  But after experiencing the Fet Valve amplifier, he admits he had been wrong.  And of course he bought one and he had pretty amazing sound at Axpona too.  We are building a second Fet Valve 400R for him, wired for 240V, to use at the Munich, Germany show in May.

Frank

[avahifi]

Audio by Van Alstine got very nice mentions, both with good photos of our equipment, from The Absolute Sound and from Stereophile in their respective Axpona show reports.

We even got very nice comments about our Fet Valve Hybrid DAC.

Frank