Amp/Preamp Asylum: REVIEW: Hovland Company Radia Amplifier (SS) by Steve K Looking for a new Amp or Preamp? If you're after tubes, post over here.

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Model:	Radia
Category:	Amplifier (SS)
Suggested Retail Price:	$9500
Description:	Stereo, solid-state power amp
Manufacturer URL:	Hovland Company
Model Picture:	View

Review by Steve K ( P ) on September 22, 2003 at 10:05:11 IP Address: 64.7.168.99

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I’ve never been a big fan of transistorized audio gear.

I’ve always thought the majority solid state amps to fall into one of two basic categories [obviously to greater and lesser degrees]: The first is the more typical amp that has lots of dynamic drive, but lacks a soul…the bass is low and taught, but bleached harmonically, the midband recessed, and the upper frequencies grainy. The second sounds like the designer listened to the first amp and tried to [and to some extent, did] fix the problems…while creating a whopper of a new one…a lifeless sounding amp. Smooth, and often grain free, but with little impact.

Those are two quite sweeping generalizations…but, to my ears, not untruthful, as such. I’m not saying I’ve never heard good sounding solid-state before…but let’s just say that it ain’t happened too often.

For some time, I’ve been curious about what might be if I could find a solid-state amp that did what I want an amp to do [and not what I don’t]. I like the notion of not having output transformers and some extra horsepower. I hadn’t heard a transistorized amp I thought fit that bill, but I felt I was open to the notion that it could happen [though I can see you could have a hard time believing that after the first two paragraphs;-)…but I really felt I was open-minded about the possibilities].

When I first fired up the Radia it sounded pretty ok. This is not my first experience with Hovland electronics [I've become a faithful customer, over the years] so it was with past experience in mind I decided to get several hundred hours on the amp before I attempted any sort of real evaluation. I’ve found that good electronics almost always benefit greatly from 3-400 hours of break-in time. Best to just fire it up and walk away…let it burn in. Actually I did one better…as I was leaving on a business trip; I gave the amp to a friend to run for a week or so, straight.

When I got the amp back and started to spend some time with it I was immediately taken by the things I heard it do quite well. Namely speed, transparency, and a tight-fisted and realistic sounding grip on the lower octaves. That’s what I liked…but in some way’s it sounded like it possessed some of the typical tonally bleached upper bass and midrange that I’ve associated with many solid-state amps. All the I’s dotted and T’s crossed, but missing something…little “life”…first impressions don’t always tell the whole tale, however.

I’d switch back and forth between my tube amp and the Radia and time and time again come to the same conclusion…but with less conviction. Perhaps it was the need to unlearn years of, shall we say “distrust” of transistors? Perhaps because I really do like my tube amp, irrespective of the Radia? Continuing break-in? For whatever reason, an amp that I was quite sure I would not truly want to own at first listen [I liked it, but I didn’t “like” it] seemed to be slowly sinking its hooks into me. What I began to zero in on was the Radia’s speed. Perhaps better described as quickness, as it’s more that just slamming the woofers with power, but rather sounding sonically nimble…able to sound “light on it’s feet” [something I would not typically associate with solid state]. The Radia seems to do an amazing job of just getting out of the way. It makes one feel that the musicians are playing “tighter”, for lack of any better description. Clean without a loss of soul might be another description.

Listening to Ricky Scaggs, Doc Watson and Earl Scruggs “The Three Pickers” [CD] you can more distinctly hear the instruments of the individual musicians, and therefore [my opinion] get a better sense of what was actually going on, and how unbelievably good those three guys are. The sound is amazingly delicate, fast, transparent and balanced top to bottom. A similar experience was had listening to the various efforts of Mark Knopfler…in particular was the first Straits album [Dire Straits, Vertigo LP, Japan]. I head more of the same…what I said of the Scaggs, Watson, Scruggs CD all applies here. Perhaps even more so, as the Scaggs CD is something new to my collection, while the Straits disc is most certainly not. I think Dire Straits is THE best and tightest rock and roll band to get anywhere near these ears and the first Straits album is an all time favorite of mine…something I’m intimately familiar with. The Radia definitely did its thing on this disc…quicker, better balanced and tighter than I’ve ever heard…impressive.

The lower octave drive/boogie factor is most certainly present as well. The new Steely Dan CD is one of the best engineered recordings I’ve got and there’s more than one track that can really get ya in a groove without too much trouble. The Radia really does it here too…while I’ve always appreciated the lower end control of a good solid state amp, I’ve always preferred most of what a good tube amp does with bass. While I’d never accuse many tube amps of having the iron-fisted grip on the woofers that the better SS amps have, I do think they often produce more realistic, tuneful bass. Here the Radia seems to walk the line between the two quite well. It’s very tight and very much in control [perhaps not THE best I’ve heard in that dept…but woofer control was just about the only redeeming feature of the amps I’ve heard that better it there]. It does grip the lower frequencies noticeably better than my tube amp...no real surprise, as it’s a transformer coupled design. The odd thing is it doesn’t harmonically bleach the lower frequencies at the same time. Everything sounds wonderfully alive and real [in so much as a recording can sound real]. Back to the Steely Dan CD…track 4 “Godwhacker” is a wonderful way to show this off. Tight, tuneful, extended [both up and down] and it’s got soul! It’s not too hard to make Becker, Fagen, et all sound tight…they typically use the finest musicians around, and it shows. The Radia [in part] lets this disc put on a wonderful show!

As I said above, coming to the decision that I preferred the Radia to my tube amp was not something I came up with in a day or two…I had the Radia a couple months before I began to say anything of the sort in public. I found the Radia’s output to be a very honest, clean, and generally better balanced presentation that, when I realized and accepted it for what it was, I preferred. Listening now it seems like it should have been more obvious for me to hear what the Radia was doing? Still, I do like how a good tube amp makes music, and in fact feel that I still haven’t heard a solid-state amp that outperforms a the best tube designs in ALL respects. So, I guess while I do truly like the Radia, and even prefer it to other amps I’ve had in my home, I still don’t think it is, in every single respect, the best amp in the world…I would make that claim of no audio hardware. Fundamental to any engineering process is balancing a series of trade-offs to achieve a goal. Perhaps the Radia doesn’t have that last bit of emotion or body found in the heart of the midrange in a really good tube amp? Is that a case of the transistors leaving something out or the tubes [and transformers] adding something that’s not really there? I don’t even wanna go there, except to re-state that a good tube amp can sound mighty good to these ears. Reality is all well and good [and near impossible to accurately define in cases like this], but what I really strive for is enjoyment.

Better that I say that the Radia is, on overall score, the best amp I’ve had in my system. Better than anything in my experience in many [even most] ways, almost as good in others, and in some ways, just plain different. For whatever reason, it was a hard decision to come to, but I think an easy one to live with.

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Product Weakness:	see review
Product Strengths:	see review

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Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Hovland Sapphire/Radia
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Hovland HP100mc
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Sony XA7es / Denon DP59L
Speakers:	Dynaudio Special Twenty-Five
Cables/Interconnects:	Hovland MG2, G3, Reference
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	see review
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

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