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The audition
From where this music lover was raised, there's never been one negative comment about Audio Space. All reviews I've read were highly positive so there was no good reason at all why I'd never yet hunkered down for a serious listen with this kit. When I was finally face to face with these components in my own room now, I could hear my heart thumping. When I loaded a CD and turned up the volume, the thumping was quickly drowned by a loud hum from the speakers. Impassioned anticipation quickly evaporated. Impossible. Every reviewer had always told me just how quiet Audio Space amps are. Must be some audio gremlins on my part. I checked and double-checked. My digital source was a Restek Radiant CDP and speakers were Klipsch Synergy F2. Everything was connected just as I always do with all my rigs. "What's wrong?" I asked Bernard on the phone. "Must be a ground loop" he volunteered. He told me to float the CD player but I told him that none of my CD players were grounded. No, wait. I forgot the Assemblage D2D/DAC, which was connected and powered up but not selected as an active input. I've done that by habit with all preamps, tube or solid-state, and never had ground loop hum whatsoever.


When I floated the ground with 3-to-2-prong AC adapters, bingo! The Audio Space was quiet. I had all my favorite CDs lined up and eagerly played through the first few. I wasn't impressed. At all. It sounded just like any other ordinary amp, forget tube or solid state. Music flat-out wasn't engaging. I guessed on lack of break-in and left the pieces in the good hands of a Marantz tuner and checked back occasionally. Time flew. Before I knew it, six months had passed and I still couldn't get involved. This was odd. To be honest, it wasn't bad nor was anything overtly wrong. Perhaps the high-efficient Klipsch were not the right match to sound a little grainy compared to being driven by 300B or 2A3 SETs. Maybe I had set expectations too high but with that kind of reputation, I had every right to expect more.


When I shared my frustration with Bernard, he admitted that the Pre-2 was actually the weakest link in the chain and upgrading it had been on Peter's must-do list for some time though he'd never gotten around to it. [A somewhat questionable choice then to provide our reviewer with a known sub-par component - Ed.] Bernard then expedited a personal delivery of some NOS tubes including Sylvania 6SL7GT/VT-229 and Valve Electronic C. V. 1985 6SL7GT. With due respect for NOS tubes (and I couldn't thank Bernard enough), my problem didn't vanish. The sore thumb was still - ahem, sore. All the sonic attributes were there but they did not jive to deliver that final magic musicality. Even imaging seemed to be fickle at times and refused to lock down. To remain conscientious, I mobilized my entire inventory and played the merry-go-round through many months. I paraded through the Dynaudio Facette, the Mark & Daniel Maximus-Monitor, Maximus-Ruby, Sapphire and Topaz, the Apogee Centaur Minor and by December finally, the Apogee Stage. I rotated the Philips DVP-9000S with the Marantz SA8260. I threw in the Deltec PDM Two DAC and all the interconnects, speaker cables and power cables in my arsenal, owned or loaned for review. Those efforts changed a few minor things in different perspectives but didn't address the full picture.


As a last resort, I tried to separate the Audio Space preamp and power amps to assess them individually. First, I hooked up the Pre-2 with my Dared VP-20 driving the Klipsch F2. My major hang-up of being unmusical still bothered me. It seemed to confirm Bernard's speculation that the preamp needed a tweak. Then I connected the Pre-2 to my Symphonic Line RG4 Mk3 monoblocks driving the Apogee Stage. The circuit protection fuses inside the RG4 blew instantly on turn-on. I now performed some research and learned that the Audio Space preamp's SRPP circuit was tailor-made for tube power amps and should not be mated to DC amps without minor modification (adding a servo circuit to regulate or lock out ripple current). So I returned to the Nova M-34 and used the Dared MC-7P as preamp. I deliberately checked and confirmed that I didn't have to float the ground of the Assemblage D2D/DAC to enjoy no hum. Now I enjoyed what I heard from the Apogee Stage. Finally I heard music. Changing out the scene a bit with the passive Audio Zone Pre T-1 preamp, a small percentage of the magical valve bloom was replaced by more crystalline resolution and thinner bass yet enough magic remained to get me carried away. I began liking the Nova M-34...


Then I did something I should not have done. I was curious how the Nova M-34 would fare with a solid-state preamp. The Symphonic Line RG3 Mk3 was the perfect contender due to its warm natural sound. But then the RG3 has two sets of outputs, tempting me to attempt tricky hybrid bi-amping. I connected the first outputs to the Nova M-34s driving the tweeters and the second set to the RG4 driving the woofers of the Apogee Stage. To my despair, the four fuses of the RG4 went up in smoke in the midst of a Rossini overture. I replaced the fuses the second time in a week. I took the Nova M-34 out of the equation and the Symphonic Line system was alive and kicking through the entire Rossini CD. Why did the Nova M-34 refuse to work in partnership with transistor amps? This proved beyond my technical abilities to sort out. Could there be DC irregularities fed back to the RG3 through the return paths of the interconnects? Bernard could not put a finger on that either.


By now it was close to Christmas and I sadly concluded that the Audio Space Pre-2 wasn't for me. At the same time, I regretted my suspicion that somehow, I had failed to fully uncovered the potential of the Nova M-34. I penned down my findings on various software choices and carefully crafted my wordings in the most diplomatic way. Then I was struck by the holiday mood - and who wasn't? I decided to postpone the final conclusion for the New Year. Who would want to read such a depressing review at this time of the year anyway? Maybe 2008 would shed new light, bring new hope.


The revelation
One fine day during the first week of the new year, Bernard called. He asked how I was getting on. I told him I was wrapping up. He then asked if I'd give him a few days to retrofit the Pre-2. Peter had finally tweaked it. Of course I wouldn't mind! Bernard brought back the Pre-2 in a few days. Now I almost swore that the amps had transformed. My feeling for the Audio Space system took a 180-degree swing, from a cold shoulder to a warm embrace. The true identity of an undercover agent was revealed. Gotcha! The bug was finally exposed. What a relief.


I went through the same exercise of finding the best speaker match except now they all worked beautifully. The Mark & Daniels in particular were a sonic thrill. All this time I had believed that you had to feed these giant killers a full throttle muscular amp diet. The Winsome Labs Mouse proved a small miracle exception (only on the Sapphire, Topaz and Mini models mind you) but deep down I knew the NuForce and even my old Sim Audio Celeste W-4070 were more potent. Now this Audio Space combo eradicated my last bit of reservation. These valved components are simply perfect for the Mark & Daniel stable and offer authoritative drive even with the earlier power-hungry models of Maximus-Monitor and Maximus-Ruby. Reflexes remain fast yet the pace is unhurried. Bass is still clean. The sonic density I admire so much with these speakers is now delivered with relaxed spontaneity and a cantabile warmth that perhaps only finds its true affinity with tubes.