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Asked how he felt about his amps in this unfamiliar context, Gino merely shook his head. "Eh bihn total begeischtert" he gushed in that charmingly mild Swiss-German Basel accent I can make out completely unlike real deep Schwyzerdütsch. Having heard widebanders in Musical Affair's PHY-based models, he still hadn't known single drivers could completely energize a space like Dan's to this extent. To be able and offer their clients complete turn-key systems where desired, the Colombos had silently shopped around for suitable speaker mates. For now they'd settled on Tannoy and Avantgarde Acoustic but Gino confessed that as amp builder, the latter's semi-active nature (their bass systems are self-powered) bothers him. He'd prefer his amps to exert complete control over final sonics rather than share the spoils with transistor bass amps.
Colotube monos on temporary Combak footers until they find a permanent home in the rack

With PHY's legendary Bernard Salabert no more and his family squabbling over the estate, ongoing availability of the drivers wasn't guaranteed. Voxativ's distribution model and business association with Schimmel to manufacture and lacquer their cabinets meanwhile entails the kind of pricing structure Colotube's direct model wants to avoid. I could sense Gino's conflict. Having just met the perfect speaker mate, it might ultimately be less attractive from a max-value business perspective. Reviewers of course never concern themselves with complex realities. We wear blinders and report on performance only. On that score the Swiss 300B monos and Voxativ Ampeggios from Berlin were sensational and did not require Dan's massive JL Audio subwoofer for augmentation.

Yes there was some noise with my ear directly at the driver but no more than is the norm for no-feedback SETs into 100dB speakers and as such inaudible from the seat (for truly zero noise you'd want to switch to Dan's high-power Devialet). With the Lundahl stepup input transformer and 20A drivers, gain was plenty sufficient to drive the Colotubes without a preamp and achieve lease-breaking levels. Sources for the occasion were either Dan's rebuilt Esoteric or the surprising €700 Metrum Acoustics Octave DAC where four industrial 'super' chips per channel are the D/A and I/V converters and output devices. Gino's precision attenuators of course mandate getting up to change volume but with Alex Peychev's hybrid digital/analog volume control Dan has remote trim convenience if desired.

The upshot of this outtake—besides relinquishing my earmarked review pair to a good friend and thus stall a loaner dispatch by another two weeks—was simple. As a diehard valve fancier who's played early patron saint of the thermionic custom arts to Electronluv's young Josh Stippich, Dan over the years has taken himself on a self-guided tour through the terrain. As an enthusiast collector he's lived with very exotic tube amps like TL75s with mercury vapor rectifiers and all the usual suspects from Art Audio, Jeffrey Jackson, Kondo, Korneff, Supratek, Wavac, Wavelength, Wyetech Labs et al. He routinely commissioned things when curiosity over a particular valve meant no commercial amp specimens existed to hear them. Dan's hifi journey at this precise juncture had returned him to living with Devialet's brilliant class A/class D amplifier. He also conceded that the best tube amps still offer that little bit different/extra which he wants to enjoy as an alternate flavor on occasion. To go after that flavor simply can't involve common liabilities. A useful reference like the hi-tech Devialet would instantly betray those. The Colotube amps fit that bill perfectly then.


On a relevant aside, Dan expressed what lovely people he felt the Colombos were. As I learned, Pia Colombo used to work in international media relations for domestic telecom giant Swisscom and studied at the universities of California/Los Angeles, della Svizzera Italiana and Fribourg. She has serious experience in business and customer affairs. I was pleased to have rendered solid introductions. At this level of investiture I proceed very carefully whenever personal friends or family are involved. The artisanal hifi world has products that not always are backed up by the kind of professionalism that would be concomitant with pricing and performance. If our combined instincts are anything to go by, Colotube isn't that by a long shot.
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