Arne is one of my most beloved amps by Engström. Today, I changed all the tubes to Engström Zirconium 300B Tubes. It is the statement amp for AE Sheung Wan over a year driving the Cessaro Firebird into every moment of astonishment. Wow, the upgrade is substantial. Will report more as they age.
This first pair of “ERIC ENCORE” in the world arrived at Divin Lab. This is the ultimate statement amplifier from Engstrom Sound based in Sweden. This artisanal creation is engineered/crafted by Lars Engstrom/Timo Engstrom.
The ENCORE utilises a pair of 845 tube per channel generating 70 watt of Class A power alongside new circuitry and components achieving much lower noise floor than previous generation. The filament voltage of 845 tube is 32 watt, compared with 10 watt from T100 tube, thereby releasing much more transient power.
The tonal orientation of ERIC ENCORE is akin to Lars 300B push pull Type 2 mono amplifier. It perfectly blends the mesmerising tonal purity of 300B with the explosive dynamics of 845.
Audio Connoseuir looking for very fine tube amplifier knows well Engstrom is the real deal representing the pinnacle of the Scandinavian School.
2021
is certainly a year of commemoration for Engstrom & Engstrom. This Swedish Hi End brand founded by Dr Lars and Timo delivered 2 ground breaking products: The cost-no-object Eric Encore monoblock power amp, and the Monica MkIII preamp. My maiden experience with Engstrom electronics was in 2014 pairing the Monica Mk1 with the Lars Type 2 300B mono block amplifiers.
Monica Mk3 was finally delivered several weeks ago after relentless researches and field works done in the past few years. Aesthetically, the new preamp has 2 separate knobs
controlling the input selection and volume, which differs from the previous co-axial knob controlling both functions. It is still a 2-chassis design with the
power and control circuits housed in one box and the audio inputs/outputs in
another. This intelligent design isolates the control circuits from noises induced by AC
power.
If the chassis configuration is the same, what are the changes inside? I was
told it is a total revamp with a mandate striving for a statement like Eric Encore.
The Scandinavian scent from the Monica/Eric combo chills me with immediate musicality. This balanced tube preamp has a very refreshing
sound delivering crystal clear piano percussion alongside snappy transient attacks through the Gobel Marquis. My favourite piano recording is Maria Joao Pires Mozart piano
sonata. Her crispy notes strike me with intimacy and virtues as though she plays solely for me. Contrasting
the cello performance between Shafran and Rostropovich on Schubert Arpeggione has never
been so apparent. I can distinctively tell the minute differences on the
subtleties, twists, pacing and energy placements. Aida conducted by Karajan sparkled with textural details, harmonic patterns, and dimensionality
of concert hall.
The recording of Rodrigo Gabriela - Live in Japan, and Dua Lipa’s Levitating, thrill me to the hair buds because of tremendous rhythmic dexterity and dynamic contrast.
Timo, you visited my home system several years ago. I was deeply impressed by your humbleness in
accepting my feedbacks on the previous
version of Monica. Today, I am even more
impressed by a promised delivery exceeding much of my expectation. Not only does it deliver an unprecedented silence and resolution relative to its ancestor, it compares favourably to other super preamps such as Zanden Chukoh and Robert Koda K15EX.
The arrival of the beautiful LARS in piano white triggered me to re-read my own review of it written in March 2014. Even after 8 years, my conclusion is the same: LARS remains as the champion of all 300B push pull amplifier. There will always be new winners however the vigor of past champions. But LARS passes the test of time.
And I finally understand why. It is because Mr Lars Engstrom has always been singing in a choir since his childhood until now. He understands music. Technical knowledge acquired during his professional years specialising in railway signal processing system was subsequently applied to audio electronics design. The knowhow serves as the means to an end. The merits of LARS stems from his comprehension of music. And the elegant aesthetic design of the amplifier by Timo Engström radiates the unspoken aura of purity.
AE picks products by person whom dictates the soul of the electronics. Mr. Lars Engstrom is a calm man. There is not a single question he answers without facts. There are no inflation of pros and deflation of cons when I questioned him about the amplifier many moons ago. I still remember vividly his timid elation when I made the final decision to bring Engstrom and Engstrom on board in 2013. Without Engstrom, I probably may never be able to develop a friendship with superstar Aaron Kwok, after he decided to bring Engstrom’s flagship amplifier Eric Encore home after 2 hours of auditioning at AE Central Showroom in Jan 2021.
Eric Encore - flagship amplifier of Engstrom and Engstrom
The design thesis of Mr. Lars’ focuses on “authentication of tonality”. It is important to differentiate amongst neutrality, musicality and tonal authenticity. Neutrality assumes everything from the recordings is favourably reproduced with nothing being added and subtracted. Neutrality is thus a window. And I attribute it to the speakers that determine almost the entirety. The presence of such window, however, does not guarantee musicality immediately. If the recording standard and the rest of the hardwares are not up to the standard, we are not able to consume musicality however authentic the tonal colour could the amplifier reproduce.
Tonal authenticity is one of the many elements of musicality, which is also a multivariate function of transient resolution, control of energy, spatial resolution, and many more other factors. This is the philosophy that I had harnessed from managing three mega systems in the past 3 years.
Cessaro Carmen at AE Singapore
I remember vividly the tremendous performance of Lars amplifier driving the Cessaro Carmen speakers with a built in active woofer (the speaker that is showcasing in AE Singapore main room now) with vinyl as source revealing layers after layers of tonal structure down to the microscopic stratum. Macro-dynamics of symphonic recordings are articulated with punch, slam and energy with control. The performing orchestra is always encapsulated in a spherical “space”. There is no inflation of airiness. Yet the decaying tones of harmonics can always be traced and never mixes up with hall ambience. The bass tails are just so well naturally decayed with continuity. The transient of Spanish guitar is lightning fast. The textural resolution down to the resonances of the guitar body alongside each different string is kaleidoscopic.
The spatial resolution of the recording venue is faithfully reproduced with right proportion (some degree of subjectivity here). Some of the live recordings on vinyl can really generate a “spherical” space in the showroom engulfing me within. As far as piano playback is concerned, each single key on the piano from the highest pitch notes all the way to the lowest registers on the left hand are always delivered with palpable clarity. The communications between left hand and right hand revealed the soul of the pianist.
This amp is EGO-LESS. It is the first 300B tube amplifier that completely disappears into music. The opulence of tonal color is solely determined by the recording.
In a few occasions, the “resolution of time” is truly felt. This is a time machine for music.
The immediate knee jerk reaction to blame Covid and work would be the norm..... Now that I have time for myself, allow me to reconnect with my brothers and sisters from AE. This hiatus in penning down my journey has lead to hours of reading, digesting and reflecting on what I was aiming for. The subjectivity of the matter was the infinite goal which keeps moving the more I was lead to understand. Contentment is and will probably never be as the subjectivity of this matter will always challenged. THIS is what makes this hobby so interesting. For me, it is an in vivo quest and a fantastic ex vivo discussion with Wahidah, my wife. I have chosen this column because I would like to tribute this to Lars and Timo Engstrom. We have been living with the Monica 2 and Lars 2 set up for a good part of 7 years. We have learnt so much during this time. Countless anxiety regarding the voltage of the house leading to the total reinstallation of the power supply, ELCB, voltage regulators etc. We are short of having a specific small nuclear reactor to help us out. But I must say, Timo, Chris (PT) and Frankie (Malaysia's grid guru) have been instrumental in this. For those who know of the Monica 2 and Lars 2 300bXLS setup, would testify that this push pull number is no slouch. Im not going to adjectize the description what what it has delivered as I am not going to be accused of hyperbole. It is what it is. BUT as human as I am, well I think I am, I was not getting that golden investment banker seat in the auditorium sound which I thought I knew. A slew of advice have been iterated over the years eg. they are tubes, 300b xls, you need subs, your room is square etc. Infinite parameters to say the least. I agree on all accounts but I would like to share on aspect that was not shared widely and that is Tube selection.
Tubes / Valves, new or old.....
Cutting the story short, I had 2 tubes on my wish list which I managed to purchase 5 years apart due to their scarcity.
These are my babies. A quad matched 1963 British Mullard GZ34 (acquired 2019) and a recently acquired quad matched 1955 military grade Bendix 5992 to replace my Phillips 6V6GTs.
The Mullards replaced my previous Solvtek rectifiers. Wahidah and I agreed that these tubes gave the sonority, ambience and even more of that "Scandinavian Sound" which is unmistakably Engstrom. As time went by, genres of music and movements became overtly complicated and demanding. This is akin a change from quartz to automatic to tourbillions. Hungry to satisfy my desires for a permanent golden seat, we went through barrage of experiments which has had good effect which we may share in future journals but we wanted that earth shattering, chest pounding visceral delineation of the lower frequencies which will undoubtedly resonate with the mids and highs for an exponential gain. Hence my quest for these Bendix 5992.
Without a doubt, these quad army grade tubes were the missing link for now. Straight out of the 69 year old boxes, these tubes were fitted and lit. Why these tubes? Why not any other 6V6GT replacement? Named the mother of 6V6GT tubes and the rest is history. AND I literally got more of everything. I was immediately worried of clipping the power amps. Hello golden seat!
Now Im not advocating anything and this is merely me sharing my experiences. If Im cooking my amps to unchartered electrical levels, I wouldn't know either. I wanted a plug and play tube and that is what I did. No bias control, no changes.
As roaring kitty said and not transcended to me "I like these tubes!"
I have been using the Engström Lars2 with Bendix 5992 tubes for 3 years.
My sincere thanks to Lars and Timo for creating this miracle! I have not found anything better than the EML 300 B XLS. In other places I use the following tubes in the Lars2 and Monica2:
Comments
what is the slope of the low pass filter?
jeff
I am using BES filter with low pass set to 55hz, high pass off.
2021 is certainly a year of commemoration for Engstrom & Engstrom. This Swedish Hi End brand founded by Dr Lars and Timo delivered 2 ground breaking products: The cost-no-object Eric Encore monoblock power amp, and the Monica MkIII preamp. My maiden experience with Engstrom electronics was in 2014 pairing the Monica Mk1 with the Lars Type 2 300B mono block amplifiers.
Monica Mk3 was finally delivered several weeks ago after relentless researches and field works done in the past few years. Aesthetically, the new preamp has 2 separate knobs controlling the input selection and volume, which differs from the previous co-axial knob controlling both functions. It is still a 2-chassis design with the power and control circuits housed in one box and the audio inputs/outputs in another. This intelligent design isolates the control circuits from noises induced by AC power.
If the chassis configuration is the same, what are the changes inside? I was told it is a total revamp with a mandate striving for a statement like Eric Encore.
The Scandinavian scent from the Monica/Eric combo chills me with immediate musicality. This balanced tube preamp has a very refreshing sound delivering crystal clear piano percussion alongside snappy transient attacks through the Gobel Marquis. My favourite piano recording is Maria Joao Pires Mozart piano sonata. Her crispy notes strike me with intimacy and virtues as though she plays solely for me. Contrasting the cello performance between Shafran and Rostropovich on Schubert Arpeggione has never been so apparent. I can distinctively tell the minute differences on the subtleties, twists, pacing and energy placements. Aida conducted by Karajan sparkled with textural details, harmonic patterns, and dimensionality of concert hall.
The recording of Rodrigo Gabriela - Live in Japan, and Dua Lipa’s Levitating, thrill me to the hair buds because of tremendous rhythmic dexterity and dynamic contrast.
Timo, you visited my home system several years ago. I was deeply impressed by your humbleness in accepting my feedbacks on the previous version of Monica. Today, I am even more impressed by a promised delivery exceeding much of my expectation. Not only does it deliver an unprecedented silence and resolution relative to its ancestor, it compares favourably to other super preamps such as Zanden Chukoh and Robert Koda K15EX.
My salute to Dr Lars and your good self.
Marvel
AE picks products by person whom dictates the soul of the electronics. Mr. Lars Engstrom is a calm man. There is not a single question he answers without facts. There are no inflation of pros and deflation of cons when I questioned him about the amplifier many moons ago. I still remember vividly his timid elation when I made the final decision to bring Engstrom and Engstrom on board in 2013. Without Engstrom, I probably may never be able to develop a friendship with superstar Aaron Kwok, after he decided to bring Engstrom’s flagship amplifier Eric Encore home after 2 hours of auditioning at AE Central Showroom in Jan 2021.
Eric Encore - flagship amplifier of Engstrom and Engstrom
REFLECTION OF MY SILENCE
The immediate knee jerk reaction to blame Covid and work would be the norm..... Now that I have time for myself, allow me to reconnect with my brothers and sisters from AE.
This hiatus in penning down my journey has lead to hours of reading, digesting and reflecting on what I was aiming for. The subjectivity of the matter was the infinite goal which keeps moving the more I was lead to understand. Contentment is and will probably never be as the subjectivity of this matter will always challenged. THIS is what makes this hobby so interesting. For me, it is an in vivo quest and a fantastic ex vivo discussion with Wahidah, my wife.
I have chosen this column because I would like to tribute this to Lars and Timo Engstrom.
We have been living with the Monica 2 and Lars 2 set up for a good part of 7 years. We have learnt so much during this time. Countless anxiety regarding the voltage of the house leading to the total reinstallation of the power supply, ELCB, voltage regulators etc. We are short of having a specific small nuclear reactor to help us out. But I must say, Timo, Chris (PT) and Frankie (Malaysia's grid guru) have been instrumental in this.
For those who know of the Monica 2 and Lars 2 300bXLS setup, would testify that this push pull number is no slouch. Im not going to adjectize the description what what it has delivered as I am not going to be accused of hyperbole. It is what it is.
BUT as human as I am, well I think I am, I was not getting that golden investment banker seat in the auditorium sound which I thought I knew. A slew of advice have been iterated over the years eg. they are tubes, 300b xls, you need subs, your room is square etc. Infinite parameters to say the least.
I agree on all accounts but I would like to share on aspect that was not shared widely and that is Tube selection.
Tubes / Valves, new or old.....
Cutting the story short, I had 2 tubes on my wish list which I managed to purchase 5 years apart due to their scarcity.These are my babies. A quad matched 1963 British Mullard GZ34 (acquired 2019) and a recently acquired quad matched 1955 military grade Bendix 5992 to replace my Phillips 6V6GTs.
The Mullards replaced my previous Solvtek rectifiers. Wahidah and I agreed that these tubes gave the sonority, ambience and even more of that "Scandinavian Sound" which is unmistakably Engstrom. As time went by, genres of music and movements became overtly complicated and demanding. This is akin a change from quartz to automatic to tourbillions. Hungry to satisfy my desires for a permanent golden seat, we went through barrage of experiments which has had good effect which we may share in future journals but we wanted that earth shattering, chest pounding visceral delineation of the lower frequencies which will undoubtedly resonate with the mids and highs for an exponential gain. Hence my quest for these Bendix 5992.
Without a doubt, these quad army grade tubes were the missing link for now. Straight out of the 69 year old boxes, these tubes were fitted and lit. Why these tubes? Why not any other 6V6GT replacement? Named the mother of 6V6GT tubes and the rest is history. AND I literally got more of everything. I was immediately worried of clipping the power amps. Hello golden seat!
Now Im not advocating anything and this is merely me sharing my experiences. If Im cooking my amps to unchartered electrical levels, I wouldn't know either. I wanted a plug and play tube and that is what I did. No bias control, no changes.
As roaring kitty said and not transcended to me "I like these tubes!"
Now we have more "Scandinavian Sound"...
Best wishes,
Khairul
I have not found anything better than the EML 300 B XLS.
In other places I use the following tubes in the Lars2 and Monica2:
6188 > Mullard ECC35
Monica2 power:
6080 > TUNG SOL 6080
12AX7 > Mullard M8137/CV4004
Monica2 preamp:
5687 > Mullard E182CC D-getter, Pinchet Waist