TRIODE GUILD AWARDS 1999

THE GOLDEN EINSTEIN AWARD TO DAVID BERNING

It is well known that Einstein listened to his H. H. Scott "Stradivarius" tube radio while he worked away in his study at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Studies while he refined his revolutionary view of reality, which was his attempt at discovering the "whole-osity" of creation..

There haven’t been many true breakthroughs in the audio arts, and that is a good thing because it takes decades to perfect an old idea. The last time we experienced an Einstein-like new paradigm in tube circuitry was in 1954 when Julius Futterman perfected the first OTL amplifier. Just as we are about to stumble into the next millennia David Berning, one of America’s most ultra thermionic savant, comes along and creates a revolutionary new tube amplifier paradigm. His new ZOTL circuit, takes the core impulse of OTL amplifiers, which is to remove the output transformer from the signal path, to staggering new realms of expression because for the first time we can experience le plus ultra simple signal paths; single-ended directly heated triodes circuits, with no output transformer, and uniform interaction with speakers.

David is the first thermionic savant to combine ultra high frequency switching power supplies, radio frequency power conversion/impedance mapping with directly coupled circuits, and regulated power supplies, which in and by itself is a staggering achievement, and the good news is that it results in a completely unique experience of music. The courageous among our tribe will experience his SET 300B ZOTL for inspiration. The limpid will throw stones and hide their heads in the sand.

In effect David has created the ultimate in "Less Is More", and by doing that has created the most rigorous tool for examining every other component in an audio chain, which means that he has created the ultimate test instrument for a designer of any piece of audio gear from cables to capacitors. No test instrument will reveal better the unique personality of different brands of tubes, wire, capacitors, and circuits upstream.. This is the first single-ended directly heated triode amplifier that presents a completely uniform dynamic wavefront from the highest to lowest frequencies, and reveals the unfettered dynamic potential of different 300B brands. Those seeking the most subtle aroma of triode harmonics now know where to search.

This patented breakthrough is an evolutionary step in David’s life long passion for tube circuits, and like Einstein’s early work, few will understand it, and most will be threatened by it. David is still a young man, and with decades of creative expression ahead of him, we are guaranteed of more fodder for the revolutionary canon.

Thank you David for demonstrating that there is no boundary to creativity in tube circuits.

THE GOLDEN LAMB AWARD TO PHIL MARCHAND:

In the Old Testament, when we hear the expression..."He Knew Her" we were being told that carnal knowledge, deep intimate knowledge was being shared. Even men who worshipped during the time of the Golden Lamb wanted maximum intimacy, and as you know you can not "know" triodes without a tube crossover.

Phil Marchand is one of us, and expresses the dream energy of our tribe so sublimely that he is being given this award. During the day Phil works as an engineer for Xerox, but we know what he dreams about, because he has started his own small audio business...on the side, and has produced, among his range of products a tube crossover.

As you know (please forgive me hammering on this subject) your speakers passive crossovers are the weakest link in your audio system, and the only definition of a state or the audio system that has any integrity includes the term...TUBE CROSSOVERS. Phil is the only person in America manufacturing a tube crossover and for that reason alone he deserve this award...no one else yet has the brains or intelligence to create this absolute essential device. How can anyone evaluate an amplifier without one? The reason I love Phil is because he has made it possible for me to know, and I mean that in the Old Testament sense of the word, the true nature of directly heated triode amplifiers. So I feel justified to preach once again...you can not know the nascent beauty of directly heated triode amplifiers unless your amplifier is directly connected to your driver, and that means using a Marchand tube crossover.

Why would I give an award for a component in a loudspeaker crossover network? Because it is impossible to disconnect art from politics, and I am waging a war against mediocre passive crossover networks that limit our knowledge of directly heated triode nascent beauty. Triode whole-osity is all about clarity and balance, and the enormous advances in tube amplifiers demand a comparable advance in loudspeaker design. The AlphaCore foil crossover inductors are a major step forward in lifting crossover fog, but let me go further. We all know the inherent weakness of single-ended circuits in the lower register, which puts a great burden on us to make sure that the inductor that is in series with our woofer is of the highest possible quality, which is why the AlphaCore silver foil inductors are so seductive, so clear, so able to reveal the rich, complex structure of the lower register harmonics that are so hypnotic in directly heated triodes. These are the foil inductors I use in my own custom-made passive crossovers for both my Tannoy Westminsters and Sunlight Engineering 308s. They are very expensive and they are worth it.

Their copper foil inductors, which are more affordable, are still a major advancement from "normal" inductors, and this simply means that there are no more excuses for being a victim of mediocre crossovers....and the good news is that upgrading your speakers is so easy, requiring the same degree of mechanical skill as making a cup of coffee.

This heroic ex-1960s hippy tube entrepreneur that still wears Grateful Dead T-shirts and sneakers to work has made it possible for Mr. Budweiser to join the directly heated triode revolution, and this is a big deal indeed. How many pentode love dues could take the higher directly heated triode ground when the ticket price is $300 per? The Sovtek 300Bs may not be the best 300B on the face of the earth, but it is so damn good, affordable and reliable that it has become the Volkswagen Bug, the Apple Mc Intosh of the triode revolution. Without these Russian made 300Bs the directly heated triode revolution would still be a rich man’s folly. Mike has created the first step on the ladder of 300B ascension, thereby creating a very wide base of our directly heated triode pyramid so that sooner or later thousands of gifted listener can ascend to its top. To put in another way..... a way that is less sociological...Listening to the Sovtek 300Bs is like popping your triode cherry, and once you have done it, there is no going back...carnal 300B knowledge is irreversible.

We The People, owe a great deal to Mike. God Bless him and all of his Russian associates.

Okay, there is a dark side to me. I hate audio whiners, whimps and slackers. All around us brave men are forging a new frontier for the audio arts...new tubes, new transformers, new circuits...while our Priests of the Temple of Monkey Coffins sitting around eating hot dogs and burping, scratching their butts and complaining and whining that they can’t make "optimal" speakers for tube amplifiers. Along comes Robert Grunberg and kicks sand in their face. Die, yuppy scum low efficiency speaker designers! That felt good.

Do you know the type of man who takes a Chevrolet motor and transforms it into a 1500 hp fire breathing monster and then takes it drag racing for fun? That is what Robert Grunberg does with dual concentric drivers; he creates ultimate performance hot rods. After you have been catapulted from 0-60 in 2 seconds it is hard to get back into your Dodge Mini Van. Robert’s creations for Sunlight Engineering are truly exotic expensive high performance drivers, yet they are variations on a classical theme. My experience of the Sunlight Engineering 308 is not yet complete, because I do not have them in a horn cabinet, but the combination of dual concentric, 108 db efficiency and Alnico magnets is a glimpse of triode heaven. Those wishing to explore the most esoteric form of directly heated triode beauty: those mosquito powered tubes from the 1920s and 1930s, must use such a drive. On the other hand there is no better way to know the dynamic bombastics of 2A3s and 300Bs. There is only one person in the world designing such drivers and that is enough reason to celebrate this alien dude.

THE GOLDEN BRIDGE AWARD:

MR. UCHIDA, SUN AUDIO, JAPAN

The Great Audio Wall between America and Japan is tumbling down because of the world wide web. At long last we are able to encounter an audio culture that is more subtle and advanced than ours. This is a good thing because there is much we can learn from our Japanese brothers.

Sun Audio is a bridge between our two cultures. Mr. Uchida and his son clearly understands the relationship between the quality of tone and the "quality of iron" because he learned his craft at Tamura Transformer Company. Store bought American tube amplifiers do not yet incorporate the Tamura level of quality and when you hear Sun amplifiers you are lifted to a higher level of musical experience.

I am enormously impressed by the SV 300 MKII, a 300B push/pull amplifier which incorporates a common feature in Japan, but one that is totally absent in America; a transformer phase splitter. With a pair of new Western Electric 300Bs this amplifiers presents a completely unique presentation of this tube’s mystery that CAN NOT be experienced with a single-ended circuit. I am indebted to Mr. Uchida for showing me this unknown dimension of 300Bs beauty. This is a level of refinement in push/pull directly heated circuits that is still unknown in America; it is now the high ground. Every push/pull designer, every lover of pentode push/pull amplifiers must hear what Mr. Uchida has achieved in his ultra-simple circuit, because it shoves the debate of push/pull versus single-ended to a higher plane.

This Sun amplifier, as far as I am concerned, is one of the physically most beautiful tube amplifiers I have ever encountered. It has the type of physical beauty one encounters in Japanese pottery...dark, rich, elegant, and not ostentatious.. As I was staring at it I thought that this is the amplifier that the famous sculpture Yamaguchi would create. This is an "ideal" work of tube art, and that is reflected in the beauty of its internal wiring.

Clearly my intention is to convince that we Americans must go much further in exploring the nascent musical mystery of directly heated triodes, and Mr. Uchida has created a perfect compass for that adventure.

All of the Sun products including their kits will seem like treasure from an exotic land, and they are.

My full article about Sun Audio will appear in the fall issue of PF.