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The fact that the Bravos so controlled the FJs even from their 8-ohm taps seems testimony to current capacity and quality output transformers. What completely blew me away though and reminded me that amongst all the things the Zu Essence does well, upper midrange resolution is not one of them was just how well the FJs and Bravo monos complemented each other throughout that critical area. Right after connecting the FJs, I cued up Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, a disc I just recently began to fully appreciate (I am a late bloomer with Jazz).
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I was amazed by how much more information and texture I could hear in Miles' trumpet and the saxophones. The upright bass showed the same depth, the piano was equally dynamic but the critical brass instruments just shone compared to the MA2275. The 2A3/805 effect was plainly obvious by throwing a big spotlight on the upper midrange to show its every detail without any tonal bleaching at all.
I then grabbed Joyce DiDonato's Furore to reach the same conclusion. The association of FJs and Bravos plainly had more presence, texture and lifelike tonal colors than the same amplifiers driving the Zu Essence.
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Of course no miracle can be expected from a 2-way with a 7-inch boomer as us French call a woofer. On bass depth, macro dynamics, symphonic orchestra or church organ, the Zus went farther but on chamber music, vocal music and midrange believability, the FJs and Bravos were the best I heard to date at my house. For an hour listening to Jacques Brel's Les Marquises, I actually felt the same goose bumps I remember from that Audio Note system twenty years ago. That's what hifi is all about in my opinion, those all-too-rare goose bumps when disbelief is suspended. The point here is not that this association got everything right. It did not. The FJs have limitations that simply cannot be denied.
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The point is that no low-power SET could have wrought such synergy from these speakers. More than real high-sensitivity speakers for which the Bravos may be a little too noisy, I actually think the Chinese monos will truly shine with mid/high-sensitivity speakers of 88 to 95dB whose owners value musicality and midrange intensification over other qualities and want the benefits of SETs yet can't or won't live with 8 watts.
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Time to wrap it up with a few notes from discs on frequent rotation these days. I start with Joyce DiDonato's newer album of Rossini arias. This is not a particularly original program as it groups together a number of arias composed by Rossini for his wife Isabella Colbran, one of the most famous divas of the 19th century. These pieces were primarily composed during the second half of Isabella's career when critics were becoming increasingly aggressive, even rude towards her aging and darkening voice. Rossini's arias for his wife are very touching since it's obvious how the composer took great care in showcasing her in the best light possible by not piling up technical difficulties but instead asking for nuances and subtle vocal refinements.
As such the music presents no real challenge for Joyce DiDonato who can sing Strauss' Composer so effortlessly. Still the disc gives her a great opportunity to prove that beyond technical ease she is also capable of tremendous acting and vocal nuancing.
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That's where a great SET shows its colors. I listened to the disc twice, first on the Bravos and then on the Genesis. The Bravos projecting Joyce's voice forward seemed to reveal more differences in articulation and intonation. I equivocate because very attentive listening revealed this to not really be the case. The Genesis had a much flatter presentation with no specific emphasis in any part of the range while the Bravos truly magnified female voices. In the end the GR360 revealed at least as much subtle variations in the Mezzo's intonation as the Bravos but being blended with the orchestra, her voice was not as easily heard. The Bravos pushed the voice forward, Joyce DiDonato stood in front of and separate from the orchestra and this made her singing easier to appreciate.
If I were to guess, I'd call the Genesis' presentation truer to the recording, the Bravos' truer to what one would have heard during the recording session if sitting in row one or two.
On this specific disc though, the Yamamoto A08s put the other two to shame. I now understand why Srajan considers it one of the best 45 amps made. In comparison the Bravos made Joyce's voice sound oversized and a little rough (although none of that had been obvious until I swapped the Bravos 3.1 for the Yamamoto). The Genesis lacked the midrange highlighting ability of the triodes.
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Switching to Renaud Garcia-Fons' Arcoluz also proved that if anybody expects rounded transients or timing imperfections, the Bravos won't comply. The guitar sounded more metallic with the Bravos than Genesis, probably as a result of harmonic doubling in the upper frequencies—a toned-down version of that ringing I heard on the failing tubes maybe?—and every little impact, percussive flurry and rhythm change was brilliantly showcased. There's something to be said for preserving signal integrity and timing. Everything remains where it belongs to not overlap or muddy the rest of the music. This increases our ability to hear through the complexity of the music. Inferior gear achieves a mere illusion thereof by sharpening transients and shortening decays. The Bravos played no such tricks. Decays were long but not artificially so, transients snappy but not harsh and the result was a new-found rigor in how signals start and stop.
This is not a quality I typically associate with triodes but whether it was the 805 or highly regulated power supply, timing precision over and over again struck me as being of the highest order. Perhaps it was the amps' ability to control Zu's large widebander but it was unexpected. The Bravos rushed through transient and rhythm changes with ease ('rushed' might have a negative connotation but here means transitioning with enthusiasm). Again it might very well have been harmonic octave doubling in the upper frequencies but it still made the Genesis sound flatter, more recessed and less energetic than the Bravos if also more neutral, less systematic and less editorializing. The 2wpc Yamamoto A08s managed quite well until one reached the bottom octaves. With the exception of the lower reaches of an upright which lacked control by comparison, the 45 SET sounded extremely natural from the mid-bass up - not as sharp and quick as the Bravos but harmonically more developed.
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Moving on to Ella Fitzgerald's Clap Hands, here comes Charlie proved the same point. When mated to the FJ Oms, the Bravos gave a highly convincing reproduction of Ella's voice. She was standing in the room, there's no better way to say it. Although not usually dry, the Genesis did sound a little drier and more congested than the Bravos (these 2A3s really give the monos a lot of their character) but also less edgy at times. The Bravos push the upper midrange magnification to its very limit and with harsh discs, harshness would pass enhanced as well.
One of the things triodes often get accused of is to be confusing and fuzzy with large orchestral forces. Pulling up Paavo Järvi's recording of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony on SACD put this assumption to the test. Although they did a better job than expected, the Bravos and FJs indeed could not conjure up the full impression of the orchestra. The soundstage was the right size, the energy liberated but the dynamics truncated – more a function of the speakers than the amplifiers by the way.
Putting the Zus back in grew everything to more realistic scale. No, this was no full-size symphonic orchestra in my music room (I would not want that in 300sq. ft) but the surges became more lifelike and the dynamics and attacks sounded much closer to what one experiences in a concert hall.
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The overall sound pressure was thankfully lower but everything else seemed pretty well preserved. There was little blame to lay on the Bravos versus the 360-watt Genesis - a little less bass depth and resolution, a hint of confusion on massed strings but better imaging and soundstaging. Mushiness? Lack of control? None to speak of. The Essence can use some help with tonal violin accuracy and resolution which the Bravos delivered happily. Again and again the Bravos were less neutral and linear to showcase and enhance the upper midrange. This spiced up the presentation in the most enjoyable fashion. The Genesis played the cards of sobriety, linearity, neutrality and honesty. On first and second listen the presentation of the Bravos was doubtless the more seductive and enticing. The real question is whether you'd want to listen to spiced-up music at all times. Only you can decide.
The Yamamoto cannot operate quite on the same level when it comes to large orchestral pieces especially once the volume is pushed up a little yet it does wonderfully well at lower levels. It's an amp for late night listening if ever there was one! At higher levels it did run out of steam compared to the Bravos. The qualities brought out by the 805s became very obvious. The Yamamoto walked on the edge, with some omissions and elegant compression here and there (elegant but distortion nonetheless) while the Bravos never came close to that point.
Switching to Dvorak's Seventh Symphony under Giulini—one of my favorite vinyl recordings for orchestral colors—the Bravos again played to their magic on depth and width of presentation. The Genesis offered a back-of-the-hall perspective which was flatter and pushed behind the speakers. The Bravos moved me to the front rows with the first violins in front of the speakers and phenomenal depth reaching all the way back to the timpani. Of course the JAS' ability to lay out a soundstage this precisely did not mean as much when moving to ZZ Top or James Brown. On symphonic orchestra and chorus however, they provided a visual dimension I simply was not used to. Incidentally ZZ Top's electric guitars had more zing, metal and bite than with the Genesis. I don't think this was fully accurate but ZZ + spice had real draw, the kind that got me outa the chair and air-guitar for a while, hoping my wife and kids wouldn't come entering the room just then.
The physical relief the Bravos created by bringing the midrange forward had another benefit besides this irrepressible desire to look like a fool (although a happy fool to be sure). At low levels and even though they don't, the Bravos seemed to reveal more detail than the Genesis. This had to do with physiological contouring, not actual resolution. Still, the upshot was that the Bravos could sound more interesting at lower levels when dealing with instruments centered on the midrange. With bass meanwhile, the Genesis remains superb at whisper levels when the Bravos had long since folded tent and left the scene. When it comes to low-level listening in general, the Yamamoto settles the argument until I get a chance to compare it to the First Watt F5. For now the A08s rules in this department.
You should now have my take on those amplifiers – 2A3 beauty with its upper midrange focus and touch of sparkle yet surprising extension overall. These are 32 fully useable watts with high current coupled to more transformer hum than fully desirable for high-sensitivity speakers. That's why once again, I packed up the gear and headed towards northern Philadelphia to hear the Bravos on Quest For Sound's 97dB horns, the same setup which had convinced me to review these amplifiers in the first place. I wanted to see whether I could reproduce the hum issue which plagued listening at my house on a few occasions.
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Once in Bensalem we set up the Bravos 3.1 monoblocks in a system comprised of the SQH-12 horns (97db/m with a 12 inch paper woofer crossed at 1000Hz to a horn-loaded mid/tweeter) and a Raysonic CD228 using its variable output and volume control. Astute readers will immediately notice that this system missed a preamp compared to mine but this should not have impacted transformer hum. You'll decide whether it's good or bad news but in Bensalem the amplifiers proved completely silent. With my ears to the horns all I could detect on either side was a very faint hum akin to what I hear with the Yamamoto connected to the Zu Essence – impossible to hear from the listening seat with music playing or not, a very faint transformer whisper I also get with the class D Genesis GR360.
It may be that the SQH-12s were more forgiving than the Zus though they certainly did not sound like it, being outgoing, dynamic and plain fun to listen to. Using the Zus as my main speakers for a year has made me very sensitive to any sense of slowing down, rounding of transients or lack of dynamics and the SQH-12 showed none of these limitations. Actually the SQH-12 and Bravos 3.1 were really an ideal match. The very deep bass was a little loose but beyond that had detail. This was a stunning combination, highly resolved, with micro and macro dynamics that were explosive yet with the rich and saturated sound of a triode driving a paper transducer. I had loved this association the first time I heard it and I loved it again this time.
I need to conclude that what happened at my house was linked to AC voltage vagaries and that one amp may have become more sensitive to it from prior damage. It's apparently not normal behavior. It puts me in an awkward spot as I must report on personal experiences yet am convinced that my experience was simply not typical. I must also say that the Opera Cyber 211 walked away with a Blue Moon award a few years ago and that these Bravo monoblocks are every bit as fun, endowed and exciting and with twice the power to boot. While I cannot in all honesty give the Bravos 3.1 an award because they would not quite operate to that standard in my house, I certainly encourage you to listen to these amplifiers in your setup. I can guarantee that they will light your fire and won't leave you indifferent.
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Quality of packing: Fair but do not expect many uses.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: Very heavy, not easy to lift out of packaging.
Condition of component received: One channel showed signs of previous shipping damage.
Quality of owner's manual: Fair
Website comments: Minimal information available.
Human interactions: As always friendly and helpful.
Suggestions: JAS should forego the variable input and invest in sturdier RCA connectors.
Remark: JAS power cords are a natural complement to these amps..
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