Antique sound sound Laboratory Limited Explorer DT Amplifier (Tube) Review by krisjan

I made the leap from solid state to push-pull tubes in January, 2000. That fully convinced me of the superiority of tube topology for sound reproduction. Now, with the ASL Explorer DT monoblocks, I’ve extended my musical journey into the single ended triode domain and am I glad I did! The fanatics are right. Done well (as in the Explorer) SET is a wonderful way to experience THE MUSIC. But before I get into the sound of these amps, let me comment on some other issues.

Negatives – The one significant negative associated with his product is the owners manual. One might think that a product from a Chinese manufacturer would have a less-than-stellar owners manual for the English-speaking populace and one would be right! The manual is abysmal – not just because of the weird and incorrect language usage but because it leaves out some very important information concerning the usage of the amps. Leaving aside the wrong words and misspelling, the manual lacks ANY reference on how to install the tubes, how to bias the amp and the use of the hum potentiometer. Not a word! I purchased mine through the internet and they were shipped to me from the Canadian distributor. Of course, the tubes must be manually installed in such cases and the manual breathes not a word on how to do it. Basically, all it says is connect the audio source, plug it in and turn it on. Being experienced now with tubes, I was able to figure out how to install the tubes and the biasing is really straight forward (assuming you purchase the unit with the external bias option with meter as I did). The 12AX7 and KT-66 tubes are straight forward to install but the massive 805c’s are a bit different because they have to be pushed into the socket and then turned about 30 degrees to lock them in place. Easy enough for many to figure out I suppose but there will be some who don’t get it and that’s where the owner’s manual completely fails. Since I’ve never owned a tube amp with a hum pot, I still don’t know how to make that adjustment. The amps have very low hum out of the box so I haven’t had a need to mess with that. Still, it would be nice to have some guidance from the manufacturer on its use. Finally, there’s no mention of how to properly bias the amp – with sigal, without signal?? My experience says with no signal after the unit is fully warmed up, but again no mention in the manual.

The Sound – It’s all positive from here on. I have about 100 hours on my set now and they sound fabulous. There was not a big change in sound during break-in. The top end was a little rough out of the box but that has now vanished and it is smooth and detailed all the way up. I would say that they really reach their stride after being on for at least 30 minutes but even the first 30 minutes are a pleasure to experience. The amp is rated at 50 watts, which is really like 100 solid state watts in practice (my former solid state integrated was a 105 watt unit and the Explorer easily competes with it dynamically). In fact the greatest virtue of tubes in general in my experience is two-fold: the excellent dynamics and the tonality. Instruments sound very realistic. There is very little of the sterile, life-less sound that I’ve come to associate with most solid state gear. Is it the second harmonic distortion component? I don’t know and I don’t care! The instruments just sound right and that’s all that matters ultimately to me. Dynamic range is excellent. I have never heard such dynamics in a solid state unit, ever (admittedly, I have not heard the mega-bucks SS gear so take that with a grain of salt). My listening is about 95% classical and I know what real acoustic instrument sound like. The Explorer’s reveal that sound exquisitely. My speakers are Spendor 1/2 ‘s which I am sure help matters. This is really a great combination. My room is fairly small (~12 x 13 ft) and the Spendor’s are reasonably sensitive (89dB) so bear that in mind when considering these amps. The high end is extended and truthful and the bottom is solid and pretty well controlled – quite nice, actually (I use a Sunfire sub to supplement the bottom octave where the Spendor’s don’t reach). But the midrange is where the glory is! These babies make MUSIC. If you know the sound of acoustic instruments, you will hear the resemblance when you listen through these amps (assuming you don’t have problems elsewhere in you system).

The build quality of the amps is superb. They are heavy (about 50 lbs apiece) and look attractive. FWIW, the 805c’s glow brightly and provide a seductive visual appearance to boot. If you are frustrated with the run-of-the-mill solid state stuff, you owe it you yourself to try these amps.

Product Weakness:	Owners manual is a travesty
Product Strengths:	Glorious midrang; fabulous build quality

• Good job! nfm Albert B. Broman 02:21:21 05/07/01 (0)