Look at the Neodio and Wattson amps in the light of this discussion and certain similarities are striking. Both amps employ a single pair of output devices per channel. But their shared path runs further and deeper than that. Both are what I would describe as “sensibly load tolerant” – meaning that they will work happily with modest speaker loads in the 4-8Ω range, but make no real attempt to tackle the demands of really awkward speaker loads. You might cite that as a disadvantage – except that when it comes to the cost/performance analysis, it means that the power transformers and reservoir caps (amongst the most expensive individual components) can all be reduced in size/capacity, with a direct impact on both price and performance. As noted earlier, if you want to load down an amp with a truly massive power supply, you’d better build it using very carefully selected (for which read, expensive) components. By not trying to do too much, by limiting their chosen operating envelope, both the Neodio and Wattson amps are actually capable of doing much, much more within their comfort zones. Give them an easy time and the results are shockingly impressive – given the modest price of the products: And these days, it’s not too difficult to find a relatively benign partnering speaker.
I don’t want to overstate this case. It’s not like either amp goes weak at the knees at the sight of half the speakers on the market. But by excluding the ambition/requirement to drive the most inefficient and awkward speakers, they deliver really significant musical benefits with less demanding partners. Combine that with the fact that both amps are reasonably affordable (more so in performance than monetary terms admittedly) and the attractions of adopting a bi-amped system topology become obvious. More than that, it becomes not just an upgrade path or option, but a sensible initial step. At €4,600 each, could a pair of Neodio HQA amplifiers bi-amping a speaker out-perform a €10K stereo amplifier driving that same speaker? Absolutely. It depends on the speaker in question, but it’s no stretch to put together a bi-amped system that would achieve that goal, especially when you consider just how agile and articulate small amplifiers can be – especially if you keep them firmly in their comfort zone.
It’s interesting to note in passing, the amount of positive press that the Stenheim A5-SX speaker received in Munich. In fact, the vast majority of commentary agrees that the Nagra Classic system teamed with the A5s outperformed both the Nagra HD rig and the Dartzeel set-up running the far more expensive Ultime Reference 2 SX speakers. It’s not the only reason but it is worth recognizing that the Classic/A5 system was a bi-amped set-up arranged exactly as I’ve described above. Sure, the U2s were bi-amped too, but what this demonstrates is the ability of bi-amping to let a relatively modest system overcome its apparent limitations.
The CH Precision amplifiers take the argument to its logical extreme, allowing users to adjust gain and GFB/damping factor independently for each channel – at a price. But the Neodio and Wattson amps are far from the only affordable options crying out to be employed in bi-amped systems. How about VTL’s soon to be released, reworked S-85, now including a KT77 option alongside the standard EL34s? Or theSugden Masterclass SPA 4?
