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Scale. Typically I don't attribute the ability to produce an enormous sense of scale to a preamp. Scale and power typically reference amplifiers or speakers. The Tenor’s effortless top-to-bottom dynamics however altered my perception as to the role of the preamp. The dynamic range and explosive bass drum of Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite/The Song of the Nightingale [Minnesota Orchestra, Reference Recordings] showed the Tenor to be effortlessly adept at both small and large-scale music. Yes, a system can mimic scale and dynamics by cranking up the volume. A good full-range system will give you a sense of dynamics but the Line1/Power1 added an effortless ease to these dynamics. Even with explosive and electrifying recordings, the Tenor maintained its refinement, control and authority.
Large-scale orchestrations provide unique challenges to even the best systems. A simple instrument can be realistically produced by many but a full orchestra during a mass crescendo often becomes congested, hard with the air around the individual instruments and collapsing into homogeny. "Brazilian Sleigh Bells" from Hi-Fi a la Española [Eastman-Rochester Pop Orchestra, Mercury SR90144] is particularly challenging. With building forces and fast leading edges, the bells maintained their purity, sparkle and air regardless of complexity. This is a very dynamic piece that shows off transients and natural decay.


From the simplest presentation of Bach's Suites for Unaccompanied Cello [Janos Starker, Mercury SR3-9016] through intimate jazz  up to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 [Cincinnati Orchestra, Telarc], the Tenors presented the music at appropriate scale with each instrument in its own acoustical space. Those who treasure live acoustic music will surely appreciate the Line1/Power1.

Clearly the Tenor excels at classical and jazz but unless it rocked, it’d never make my list. Classic rock is a staple in my abode and several components over the years have appeared then quickly disappeared because while beautiful sweeping and elegant on jazz voices and orchestra, they didn't have the raw power, excitement and even anger of rock. Rock is not pretty. It’s hard, rough but not hard like the MP3 hardness of today's music. I’m talking about innate roughness like Janis Joplin. Did the Tenor rock and roll? With its spectacular dynamic range it presented rock with exciting visceral toe-tapping rhythmic drive and demanded that I turn it up. It served up the music accurately without euphonic sheen or softening. If the recording was bad, it sounded bad. But on well-recorded rock such as Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, Led Zeppelin and Heart; the Tenor will blow you away with sheer power dynamics and detail you've never heard.
Detail. The rendering of precise detail is often perceived as the antithesis of emotion. Overly detailed and analytical components provide a strong outline of the music without filling in the fleshy innards. You get a wonderful picture of the music but no meaning. The Tenor gives you the best of both – detail resolution and an emotional connection that would make most SET owners proud. The Line1/Power1 presents subtle details like the fingering of the clefs of a piano, the rich vibrating strings of a bass, the subtle intonations of the female voice, which in the past were only hinted at. Interestingly when you sit down and listen, you don't focus on details. You don’t think transparency. You’re lost in the music, not in its individual constituents. So the sound of theLine1/Power1 produced some apparent contradictions. While you would never describe it as clinical or bright, it did have spectacular resolution with a soaring extended treble that was clean and open. The Tenor is not warm yet with the right recordings one could swim in liquidity reminiscent of a SET. The bass was nimble and quick but with the correct recording staggeringly prodigious. After living with the Tenor, you realize that it defies classification. Neutral is best but the word itself belies the emotional power and involvement of the Tenor which simply channels the essence of the recording.

Soundstage. I previously wrote about the advantages of listening in the dark. Without your eyes sending conflicting messages, your brain can focus on the sound, enhancing the musical illusion and creating suspension of disbelief. The Tenor in the dark is magical – a focused soundstage in immense three-dimensioned space. It projects the soundstage forward. If your preference is a laid-back sound emanating politely from behind the speakers, the Tenor might not be your cup of tea. The Line1/Power1 immerses the listener front row and center to feel as if you could almost reach out and touch the musicians. The music is vividly illuminated yet very natural.


A perfect example is an old direct-to-disk record of Tommy Newsom from the Tonight Show, Live From beautiful Downtown Burbank [Tommy Newsom, Direct-Disk Labs]. Recorded in the 70s, he applied big-band treatment to contemporary songs to feel slightly corny and dated but still fun. In one song he took the NBC theme chimes and built a composition around those three familiar tones. In the middle a soaring trumpet explodes from the score. It soars with laser-like intensity and appears almost lifelike in the room. For 35 years this has been one of my show-off pieces. It was interesting to hear how the Tenor presented a slightly different perspective of deeper harmonic richness and texture. It had a more natural balance with requisite bite yet a touch of sweetness. The recording was still exciting but far more natural.


It had uncanny three-dimensional image projection from a velvety background, expansive yet precise. I'll go back to art and photography as analogy. A beautiful three-dimensional picture by itself can be cold and sterile unless it stirs your emotion. The Tenor soundstage, while beautifully sculptured, rich and dimensional, would be mere academic exercise if the music didn't draw you in. But it does. The realism is at times breathtaking and creates the connection to the music.
Comparison. My current preamp is the VTL 7.5 II upgraded with Mullard NOS tubes. It has been my consistent reference for over six years. It’s a spectacular preamp in its own right and I believe one of the world's best though I have not heard the newest series III version. Based on price a comparison would have been unfair yet amazingly it held its own and by no means embarrassed itself. Actually the comparison was fairer than you might think. The VTL and Tenor are conceptually similar. Both have separate power supplies, microprocessor control, are hybrid designs with transistor outputs and having spent significant time talking to both Luke Manley and Michel Vanden Broeck, both brilliant designers share a similar philosophy. Yet their units are not clones.


The VTL is fully differential, the Tenor is not. Differing volume controls, tubes, circuits and build quality separate these units further. While there is a similar sonic signature, there was no free lunch. The Tenor significantly bested the VTL in virtually all respects. The VTL 7.5 is a state-of-the-art contender but missing the last word in background blackness. There is a touch of tube noise that by itself is barely notable. The Tenor by comparison simply was an order of magnitude quieter. The low bass was cleaner deeper and faster and individual notes far more distinct. The overall textures of the music were finer, the soundstage wider and deeper with greater harmonic richness. The speed of transients was faster, instrumental decay more natural. The VTL showed me the door, the Tenor opened it. But this was something one would expect costing three to four times more. Even so these qualities and distinctions only became apparent in a direct A/B. It thus did not diminish the VTL. It simply recognized the amazing Tenor.

Summary. When a company spends five years and $1.5 million to develop a preamp to arguably become the world’s best, how to determine value? I can’t answer that. The marketplace will. Yet I do have a position. Those who strive to extend the bounds of the bleeding edge improve the industry for all. Sadly you almost get the feeling that the masses in audio root for failure at the top. That’s a shame. The underdog gets championed whilst stones are cast at the elite. Search any forum for a Wilson or Magico discussion. You will find a significant group of posters getting perverse pleasure from reporting unfavorable comments on these industry leaders. It’s always a feel-good story when an inexpensive component becomes a giant killer. Although I am not an autophile, it seems that unlike in our audio world, expensive exotic cars are revered and cherished. Functionally no typical family needs more than a Camry, Accord or Taurus. Yet millions purchase high-end cars, designer clothes, exotic watches, expensive wines and even high-end audio. It is overly simplistic to equate such purchases with the mere availability of wealth. It’s far more complex.


At some level of excellence, a product transcends function and merges with art. The value of a painting has no correlation to the materials of paint and canvas. An exotic watch might not keep time as well as a $20 Timex. Compare a $20 vase with a priceless antique. Both sit on the mantle and hold flowers. There is reason why people aspire to the rare and beautiful. This is no defense or explanation of Tenor’s pricing. I have no idea as to their internal cost or profit margins. But when anyone sets out to build the best regardless of cost, I proffer that at least to some degree we venture into a hybrid of function and art. Solely based on purpose, there would be no raison d'être for the Line1/Power1. So there are no simple answers.

It would be easier to just describe component and sound and not discuss price. But in Tenor’s case, price is the invisible elephant in the room. In the end it becomes a matter of degree. If the unit were $2.000 every audiophile in the world might consider purchasing it. If it were a million dollars, it would never sell. So there is a dilemma of an exquisitely built extravagantly expensive component with a sumptuous elegant design befitting its aspirations. Jim describes the Line1/Power1 as generational, each buyer ultimately passing the preamp to their heirs. Yet in the end what truly distinguishes this design from all others is sound. For my humble ears it has set a new standard for astonishingly beautiful timbers and tube-like bloom combined with transparent resolution. The imaging of the Line1/Power1 offers the best of tubes and solid state, showing real acoustic instruments with an almost tactile presentation while rock is visceral, dynamic and vibrant.

The Tenor is a no-compromise design with compulsive attention to details. It is the realization of one man’s obsessive dedication to the musical truth via psychoacoustics and engineering. For your money you're getting a unique approach to amplification where distortions are carefully managed so the brain cancels residual distortion to inaudibility and only the purity of music remains. Yes it's outrageously expensive but in life the best unfortunately often is.
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