Overview
Karan Acoustics KA-180i MK2 Integrated Amplifier (Made In Europe)
The Karan integrated amp has a cult following. Milan Karan doesn’t change his products on a regular basis, so Karan doesn’t get the brand coverage a more profligate revamper might and the company is up against some of the bigger names in the industry with marketing powers to match. And yet, the Karan integrated has become the doyen of those ‘in the know’, any mention of the product on even the most vituperative forum is met with praise instead of hostility. There are many folks who traded in well-respected Big Brand amps for the Karan… and never looked back. Only Lavardin receives similarly universal reverence and owning one (a Karan or a Lavardin) bestows upon the listener a kind of classy anti-hero chic, akin to ordering an Armagnac when it’s brandy time. So a new version of the 180W Karan integrated amp is a must-hear if only to stay one of hi-fi’s underground fashionistas.
Karan has adopted an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach to the KA I-180, and much of what was good about the original amp is retained. The amplifier is built along differential lines but drops comfortably down to a single-ended operation. It delivers 180watts into eight ohms and 300watts into four and has a frequency response from DC to light (well, from DC to 300kHz). The rest of the specs are identical, as is much of the amplifier board layout and even the internal geography of the amp. It also has that unique – as in ‘how does he do it?’ – Class A sound without Class A inefficiency. The secret, apparently, is sliding bias, low current, and treating the whole voltage rail like the base of a transistor.
Fyne Audio F502 SP 8″ Floorstanding Speakers
Improving on the F502, the UK built SP edition uses the premium 200mm (8″) IsoFlareTM driver and 200mm (8″) bass/mid driver from the F702, featuring rigid multi-fibre cones and FyneFluteTM roll surrounds. The IsoFlare’s 25mm magnesium compression tweeter has a unique HF wave guide pole piece delivering an incredibly even, full-range frequency response and outstanding Hi-Fi musical imaging. The F502SP also benefits from the F700’s advanced crossover components and aluminium sandwich type plinth with BassTrax tractrix profile bass diffuser, re-engineered to precisely tune the F502SP’s more compact cabinet. The SP is available in high-gloss black and high gloss white as standard, or a luxurious deep gloss lacquered walnut veneer with a diamond machine cut finish on the aluminium driver chassis.
FREE GIFT:
- MS HD Power S20 V3 6 Way Filtered UK Mains Block (worth RM990)
- QED Reference Qonduit Power Cord 2m (worth RM995)
- QED Silver Anniversary XT Biwire 3m pair (worth RM1,248)
- Contact : Dicky Ng 012-3308893
- Contact : John Yew 016-2861000
- Email : [email protected]
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