PX25 SET amps-Art Audio, Audion, Wavelength???

I've listened to the Art Audio and Audion PX25 amps in my home. Where are you located? If you are buying in the US, Audion's US distributor here in Los Angeles has an excellent local technician and he stands solidly behind everything he sells. You should not worry about Audion reliability. I have 6 Audion products in my various systems and have had no problems with them.

Of the two amps, the Art Audio is the more romantic sounding. It is warm and euphonic, certainly very good. The Audion is the more accurate however. It is fast and defined, highly resolving, especially the hand-wired Mark II version. I've heard it with KR PX25 tubes and it was sensational if you prefer an objective presentation of fidelity. The bass from this amp is about the tightest I've heard from a triode tube amp and in fact it didn't sound triodey at all -- very much better on the bottom than any 300B. The PX25 is a slightly lean sounding tube, not lush like the 300B on top. But mids are breathtakingly clear, an Audion strength. I'd go with the Audion.

Phil

agreed with Kenzoe- I ordered an Audion preamp a couple of years ago, and there was delay after delay. The distributor actually refused to refund my $$, saying 'the order had already been placed' over in the UK, even though it was months later the product arrived- whatever- point is, I will not deal with Audion again- besides, there are better products out there...

We owned an Audion amp for eight months, during which time it was 'repaired' four times, the last of which took over three months. Eventually, the amp was returned to us in worse condition than it was when we had driven six hours to hand-deliver it for repair. I won't go into further detail--Kevinzoe, you already know the story--but this was the worst customer service experience I've ever had, bar none. They were downright ruthless, both the manufacturer as well as the distributor. It was unfortunate, because the amp sounded great...when it played. Joe Fratus (Art Audio) and Gordon Rankin (Wavelength) have outstanding reputations for good reason. That's where I would put my money.

After a bit more thought, I'll throw up a more concrete opinion. Unless you have a good local dealer with excellent technical capabilities I'd be wary of buying Audion. My story turned out OK in the end, but there were serious bumps in the road. The amp arrived with both assembly and shipping damage that required replacement parts ( a cap and power transformer) to be obtained from Audion. That added about two months to the already extended delivery time. Fortunately the repairs were done here and didn't require the amp to make two more Atlantic crossings. If I hadn't had such a good dealer I'd have been in real trouble. I'm glad the things turned out well, because the amp I got is exceptional in every way, but I'd be hard pressed to recommend that someone else expose themselves to this kind of risk.

I have no way of choosing between Wavelength and Art Audio, but if I had to do it again I would definitely choose one of them.

Boa2 - thanks again for sharing your experience. Certainly a case of buyer beware . . .

Gliderguider - I wasn't aware of your extended waiting period (memories of the Blowtorch preamp, eed gad) followed by the dissapointing realization that it now needed some repair work - man, you must have been mad as hell. Thanks for sharing the 'war' story.

I spoke with Joe of Art Audio today - what a nice guy. He talked about the differences between the PX25 tube in his PX25 amp and the 300B in the Symphany II amp saying that the extra power of his 300B amp would produce more dynamics but that the PX25 was better in pretty much all other areas including frequency extremes, noise level, resolution and maybe 1 or 2 more metrics I've missed. We also discuss what he saw as the differences between his PX25 amp and Gordon's at Wavelength. The guy's a real gentleman and had nothing but praise for his competitor's (Wavelength) product and designer. A class act . . . unlike what Boa2 experienced from Audion . . .

Tomorrow I hope to have a fireside chat with Gordon of Wavelength.