[John Casler]

For all who might be curious about the Son of Ampzilla Power amp, here is the latest reviews posted by Positive Feedback.



http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue19/ampzilla2000.htm

Here are a couple excerts:

Robert H. Levi

The Son of Ampzilla 2000 does not have a single competitor at its price that will give this kind of performance.

The amp was smooth and sweet enough to be completely at home with a solid-state preamp like my Pass X-1, and it should be marvelous with any tube preamp extant. Its history is rich, and it shows. I could live happily with the Son with loudspeakers costing seven times as much—it's that good! What a superb job Jim Bongiorno has done in bringing this top-drawer amplifier to market at a real-world price. I give it a strong recommendation. Robert H. Levi

Fown-Ming Tien

I found the Son Of Ampzilla to be very enjoyable, with a wonderful sense of pace, balance, and musicality, whether I listened to Patricia Barber, Herbert Von Karajan, or Tom Petty. It did not deliver the highest levels of resolution or clarity, but it far exceeded my expectations for an amp of its price. It combined the strengths of a good solid-state amp and those of a good tube amp better than any other amplifier I have heard to date. It is also one of the few amplifiers I have heard that handles every type of music very well. The Son of Ampzilla is a fine amplifier that deserves serious consideration. While it is not perfect, it represents the least amount of compromise for those unwilling to trade excellent bass performance for an engaging midrange. If only I could live with the looks! Fown-Ming Tien

I beleive another reviewer is also currently listening to the amp for review.  If so that will be posted soon.

[Florian]

Yup, i have both the monoblocks and the stereo amp here and they are wonderfull. I am still waiting for the new preamp tough  

[muralman1]

Hey Florian, what happened to the Sphinx?

[Jon L]

Yeah, great amps.  But as both reviewers mention, what IS the reason for no IEC plug?  I'll bet something like VH Flavor 4 or VH AirSine will take it to another level.  John, maybe you can twist somebody's arm  

[JoshK]

No IEC = one less detrimental connector.

[Florian]

Hey Florian, what happened to the Sphinx?

Sphinx is still comming. The Project 18, Project 2 MKII and Unison Research  Unico CD with 192khz and tube output. Along with Rapport XLR cables.

I use the Ampzilla's and the Pathos on the RM30's and the Sphinx on the Apogee's.

-Flo

PS: The Ampzilla 2000 monos blew 3 fuses in a matter of seconds on the Ap's.

[John Casler]

Yeah, great amps.  But as both reviewers mention, what IS the reason for no IEC plug?  I'll bet something like VH Flavor 4 or VH AirSine will take it to another level.  John, maybe you can twist somebody's arm  

Hi Jon,

I have spoken to James regarding this, and he feels that more damage can be done via a "high current compression connection" IEC than could ever be gained from an exotic PC.

His power cord is "hardwired" directly to the transformer which he thinks is the best delivery route, sans another compression connection in the High Voltage Line.

While I like PC's as much as the next "audiophile" I find his reason, more "purist" for power amps.  The voltage draw traveling to large transformer equipped Power Amps, is quite substantial.

My "sideways" question to James, was can he take any Power Cord supplied by the customer and "hardwire it" as an option.

No answer on that one yet.

[ctviggen]

It couldn't be too hard to do it yourself.  Of course, you might void your warranty.