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Description: The Emillé KI-40L is an integrated tube amp with a solid-state power supply. There are different opinions on the latter. I personally observed the evolution from GZ34 tube rectifier to transistor diodes in the Ancient Audio Silver amplifier now called Silver Grand Mono. For that particular design the solid-state power supply was inarguably superior but I would never make that into a general conclusion. The KI-40L runs a push/pull circuit with KT-77 beam-power tetrodes. Initially outfitted with Slovakian JJ power tubes, Emillé since adopted the more expensive and reliable Genalex Golden Lion equivalent made for them in Russia without raising the amp’s base price.
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The phase inverter and first gain stage use JJ ECC82 double triodes and there is an ECC81 input buffer. Orange LEDs embedded in the tube sockets light up before the tubes do. The valves are protected by transparent covers to fulfil European safety standards. This specific solution might have been first popularised by Wavac of Japan but with glass. The very expensive The Lars 2 from Engstrøm & Engstrøm of Sweden adopts a variation thereof now but the Swedish and Japanese amps are many times more expensive than the KI-40L which uses acrylic instead. It nicely complements the 8mm thick aluminium panels of the chassis.
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The chassis is different from anything I’ve seen before. The frontal profile with its two corner stanchions and central saddle separating the left and right valve sectors shows a power tube bias meter, four bias adjustments pots and a bias selector for each output tube. Below that sits the input selector which is flanked by the mono attenuators. Here I can’t help but complain a bit. This solution is a logical extension of Emillé’s championed dual-mono approach but setting the volume by hand for each channel separately isn’t too convenient especially since there’s no remote. There are clutched or dual-concentric linked solutions such as TEAC used for its DAT and compact cassette machines. But that’s mere digression. If you acquire a KI-40L you buy into the entire concept. Don't complain.
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The amplifier is supported by four adjustable aluminium cone footers which integrate with the four corner stanchions to allow leveling. The speaker terminals on the rear panel sports 4Ω and 8Ω taps. Below those are five RCA inputs for each channel. They look very solid, are gold-plated and bear no markings. In the middle sits the IEC power inlet, fuse socket and ground post. The latter is typical for many Japanese amplifiers and also shows up in my CS-300 custom version Leben and former Luxman M-800A reference. Finally none of the main identifier markings are silk-screened but actually engraved in the metal. They’ll be as legible 10 years from now as they are today.
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It took me a while to open up the Emillé for a peek inside. It not only looks like a tank from the outside but is built like one, with the bottom panel made from the same aluminium stock.
It bolts to the back and side panels and to remove it one needs to unscrew all four corner footers. When I finally got inside I saw that the circuitry is distributed over three large PCBs and one small one. The latter sports hermetic Japanese Takamisawa relays. The wiring entering and exiting these relays is made in house from silver-plated copper wire with Teflon dielectric. I found interesting the thick wires, separate for each channel, which run from the gain-stage PCBs to the input connectors.
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Each channel has its own PCB with extra-thick gold-plated traces. Apparently the signal proceeds from each input to a Japanese Blue Velvet Alps pot, then a quality German Mundorf M-Cap Supreme coupling capacitor (a previous version sported Jantzen). Subsequent stages are coupled with AuraCap capacitors made by the American Audience company which also manufactures power conditioners, loudspeakers and electronics. There are also some very large resistors.
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Apart from the input switching and voltage gain boards for each channel there is the power supply board with 12 x 100μF capacitors, 3 smaller ones and 2 more. Because Emillé calls the KI-40L a full dual-mono design one would expect two power transformers but I saw only one accompanied perhaps by a choke but even the secondary windings were common to both channels. There are however separate windings and hence rectifiers for the power tubes and drivers. The large output transformers on top are marked with the Emillé logo. Emillé Labs is a brand owned by Kwangwoo Electronics Co as indicated on all the circuit boards.
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Emillé’s KI-40Lis an excellent execution both from a mechanical and electrical point of view.
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opinia @ highfidelity.pl
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Technical data (according to manufacturer):
• Power consumption: 240W
• Tubes: 4 x KT77, 2 x ECC82, 2 x ECC81
• Input sensitivity: 0.3V RMS
• Output power: 2 x 40W (T.H.D.+N.: 2%)
• Frequency response: 15Hz – 30kHz (±1dB)
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 457 x 460 x 256mm
• Weight: 28kg
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