"Let me start with two new projects just announced for Ancient Audio. First is the new Lektor Grand, our latest flagship 3-chassis CD player. It includes an analog preamplifier, my digital speaker processor and a 24/192 DAC with S/PDIF. This new line does away with the original granite builds in favor of monolithic aluminium blocks."

"Look and sound were very promising very quickly but the biggest obstacle was the short supply of the original Philips CD-Pro 2 mechanism and spare parts for it. So we adopted the replacement current-production CD-Pro 8 from Austrian company Stream Unlimited." [Regular readers encountered this drive already in the Gryphon Ethos – Ed.]

"The next new Ancient Audio project is my new Single Silver Mono, a no-compromise four-piece stereo power amplifier."

"This further evolves the original Silver Grand Mono platform as one of the best SET amplifiers ever made. It's still a classic 300B direct-heated single-ended triode design with premium silver-wired output transformers. But the classic power supply is modernized as a true 21st-century solution. The external power supplies provide +24V DC for galvanic isolation of the first stabilization stage. The final switch-mode power supply with precison low-noise linear regulators covers the HT and tube heaters. It provides a high degree of voltage stability, low noise and slow start for extended tube life."

"The Single Silver Monos deliver 9 watts into 8Ω and also take on the new all-aluminium look." For more on why switching power even for tube gear is superior…

…  see this video from Manley Labs.