AUDIO SPACE
AS-8i
When I first
saw this massive block of beauty, I thought to myself, it must have been
carefully and painstakingly crafted to achieve such aesthetic appeal,
especially the front panel which has a gold finish. The other parts of the amp looks
standard, with a chrome body and three huge black transformers surrounded by
vacuum tubes. Nevertheless, it takes more than looks to impress audiophiles.
The AS-8i has
four KT88 pentodes, one 12AX7 and four 12AU7 triodes. The front panel consist
of the power switch, a triode-ultralinear switch selector, volume knob and a
source selector. On the right side are four inputs. The back consist of the
output binding posts with a choice of 4 or 8 Ohms. There is also a fuse near
the AC power connector.
The output
for this Hong Kong made integrated tube amp is 55 watts per channel in
ultralinear mode, dropping to 28 watts in triode mode. In this review, the amp
is connected to a Marantz CD 6311 KI-S player, Parasound P-PHP-850 preamp and
Focus Audio FR6 Reference Series speakers. Cables: Cardas Crosslink S1.
Interconnects: QED Qunex2 with gold plated RCA connectors.
In my first
audition, I felt that the amp lacked bass and tried to introduce a sub-woofer
to enhance it which made it worse. Finally, I decided on the pre-amp and that
did the trick. The AS-8i handles most jazz and slow rock superbly. It is able
to deliver the detailed notes of Miles with ease, you could practically hear
his breath. Grover Washington Jr’s Take Five is brilliant as the amp manages to
capture the high and low notes together without any distortion.The vocals by
the Corrs is absolutely breath taking with amazing soundstage.
In conclusion, the
amp is a good amp and is able to deliver beyond expectations. The drawback is,
I reckon as with most valve amplifiers, rock and heavy metal is not its forte.
