August 1998 Symfonia Opus 10 Amplifier
by Todd Warnke
Who
At CES 97, in the off-site exhibit space of
the incredibly eerie Debby Reynolds Hotel, I stumbled across the Symfonia room. While
their name is largely unknown in the States, I have a friend who spent some time in the
companys native Australia, and based on his opinion, I figured I ought to look in.
The display was manned by one Victor Testa, company president and as personable an
audio-dweeb as has been my pleasure to meet. As we talked and listened to the setup, I
warmed to both him and his products. After the show we exchanged several e-mails, but
considering the distance, we were unable to set up a review.
Then, at CES 98, while busting a hump just
to cover my assigned rooms, word reached me that Victor needed to talk to me. So on my way
out of town, I literally ran to his room. After a hearty handshake and an explanation of
my rush to catch a plane Victor asked if I had room in my luggage for an amp! Now, I
dont know about you, but I usually plan on leaving Las Vegas with less than I came
with -- worries, and especially money. But even with a pocket considerably lightened by
the one-armed bandits, I didnt have room for a 39-pound amp, so I had to pass. But,
fortunately, we were able to make other arrangements which resulted in the show unit, an
Opus 10 amp, making its way to me about the first of February. Since then its seen
service with many speakers and preamps -- first because of its impressive sonic skills,
and second because trying to pin down its defining characteristics has been a pleasant but
difficult task.
What
The $3700 Opus 10 is easy on the eyes. While very
solid looking, it has neither the ostentatiousness of a Rowland, nor the
small-gravity-field look of a Krell. Rather, like a Brooks Brothers suit, it is clean and
classically lined. In fact, the front plate is exceedingly clean, having neither a power
light nor a power switch. The only marking on the 3/8"-thick, gun-metal gray fascia
is an inlaid brass strip that runs the width of the plate and which intersects the brass
name plate near the lower-right corner.
The back of the amp is just as sharp. The hefty
Neotech five-way binding posts are, from a reviewers viewpoint, the best Ive
come across. The post has an integral locking nut that makes hand-tightening nearly as
effective as soldering. With a pair of these posts a side, I biwired using the spade and
banana connections. Other than a name plate, an IEC power jack and a pair of gold-plated
RCA jacks, thats it for the rear. As for the power switch, its mounted on the
bottom of the amp near the front, and it includes an internal light that reflects off the
surface of your equipment stand. I really like this mounting location. It keeps the amp
face very clean and elegant looking while avoiding the hassle of finding an on/off switch
on the back.
Rated at 100Wpc into an 8-ohm load, the Opus 10
is capable of 200Wpc into a 4-ohm load. Since the speakers I have on hand are relatively
easy on amps, I was unable to test the amps "grunt" ability. However, I am
happy to report that it drove the Platinum Audio Studio 1s (at 87dB/W/m, the least
efficient speakers on hand) to near insane levels without the slightest of ruffled
feathers.
Where
As I said, the Opus 10 saw duty with a menagerie
of equipment. Analog sources were but two: a borrowed, full-boat Linn setup and my own NAD
533 with Sumiko Blue Point cartridge. Digital sources were my Theta Miles CD player, a
Sony ES20 player, and a JVC XL-1050 used as a transport feeding an Assemblage DAC-2
(upgraded and modified). Preamps were (in alphabetical order) Audible Illusions L-1,
Balanced Audio Technology VK-3i (review in the works), Joule Electra LA-100 Mk III, Kora
Eclipse (review on the way), Thor Audio TA-2000 and Transcendent Sound preamp (review
upcoming). Comparison amps were the Blue Circle BC6, Warner Imaging VTE-201S and
Assemblage ST-40. Speakers included the Dunlavy SC-III, Triangle Antal (review in a bit),
Platinum Audio Studio 1, Kharma Ceramique 2.0, and Greybeard KB/2/2 (just arrived for
review). The various systems were lashed together with wire from Audio Magic, Cardas, JPS
Labs and Nordost, and with power cords by VansEvers, Audio Magic and MIT. Equipment was
set on the SoundRack Reference stand and usually on a combination of Golden Sound DH cones
and squares. Power is filtered by an Audio Power Wedge 116. House Scotch is either
Lagavulin or Macallan 12 year (thanks Les for the recommendation), taken straight-up.
When and Why
When the Opus 10 arrived here, I was deep into
several other reviews, so the amp sat for a week or so. After stubbing my toe on it a
couple of times, I figured it was time to get it off the floor and, at least, into the
office system. So one night, just before bed, I popped it in the office system with the
Sony CD player feeding it directly and with it powering the Platinum Audio speakers. When
I got up the next morning I put a CD in, hit play and left to see a client. When I got
home, I opened a Pepsi and wandered back to the office. My first reaction to the system
was that someone had stolen in during the day and wired a moderately sized subwoofer into
the system! After checking that I wasnt drinking Jolt Cola instead, I sat down and
did a bit of serious listening.
The Platinum speakers are capable of bass
performance that belie their size, but what I was hearing was beyond anything they had
shown me in the past. Bass was deep, powerful, detailed and controlled. Did I say deep? It
was as deep as the hole that Hoffas hid in. Powerful? Were talking V-12 here.
Detailed? Like Microsofts plans to take over the world. And controlled? Like Tina
Turner before she left Ike. Best of all, it didnt matter whether I played funk with
popping electric bass, jazz with upright acoustic bass or a full classical orchestra. If
it was on the recording, it was in my room.
And as good as that sounds, the clarity of
images, regardless of frequency range, was also astounding. Each layer of sound was
concrete, but didnt obscure what lay behind. Images at the back of the stage were
vividly portrayed and fully fleshed out. An example. My wife Robin has difficulty hearing
depth. To her, the softer and slightly rolled sounds that are one of the aural clues of
positioning are no more than muffles. With the Symfonia in place, for the first time she
heard depth, no doubt due the exceptionally clear and open view the Opus 10 serves up.
Well, after this performance I could hardly wait
to move the amp into the main room, but I had to wait until other components had finished
their time. Surprisingly, when the time did come to move the amp, I found it hard to do.
While the office system is not as fine-tuned for ultimate listening as the main room is,
of necessity I spend a lot of time there. So when something gels like the Platinum
speakers and Symfonia amp did, its hard to break them up. But, being your humble
servant, I did it.
For its first go-round in the main room, I paired
the Symfonia with Kharma speakers, Thor Audio preamp, sources by Theta and Linn, and a
combination of Audio Magic and Nordost wire. Call me good or call me fortunate, but this
proved to be an absolute jewel of a setup. The control the Symfonia exercised over the
bass of the Kharma speakers was revelatory. I simply could not resist dragging out all the
deep-tone show-off tracks in my collection. Peter Gabriels Passion (music
for The Last Temptation of Christ) [Geffen M2G 24206] has many, many deep bass
parts, some very natural, others synthesized, but all well recorded. The tracks "The
Feeling Begins," "A Different Drum" and "Zaar," especially
showcased the skill of the Symfonia/Kharma combo. Both natural and studio-effect bass were
easily felt and distinctly different. And the physical punch that ends "The Feeling
Begins" was near Tysonian in impact.
Over the rest of the frequency range, the Opus 10
proved to be nearly as outstanding. The midrange was detailed, exactly as it should be in
order to fully convey the illusion of music. The highs were ever so slightly tilted up and
a tiny bit dry as well, but, in this system, this was more of an observation than a
criticism.
Depth was as equally adept. As I said earlier,
Robin was able to hear layering as a natural thing with the Opus 10 in the system. For my
part, the way the amp threw layers up made it very easy to visualize the layout of every
single recording I played. With live, minimally miked recordings, this was a joy. On the
other hand, studio, multi-miked and EQed hack jobs sounded precisely like the
assembly-line products they are.
With the power reserves of the Opus 10, dynamics
were never an issue. The amp drove any speaker I used with the grace and power of a Gene
Kelly dance number. Micro dynamics, if anything other than perfect, were a bit too broad,
in that same sort of way that Gene danced with obvious style but not quite the absolute
precision of Fred Astaire.
As for that indefinable term
"musicality," it is here that we both enter fully the subjective and come to the
most difficult part of the review. The Symfonia Opus 10 is more of an accuracy buff than a
music-maker. In this respect (and in many others), it is the perfect counterpart to the
Assemblage ST-40 I reviewed several months ago. Where the ST-40 is puppyish, the Opus 10
is a full-grown German shepherd. To put it another way, the Assemblage is a VW GTI, the
Opus 10 a Porsche.
I love the ST-40 because of and in spite of this
eagerness to please. It makes every listening session a "musical" one, but it
also makes each recording, regardless of performance or sound quality, a musical one. The
Opus 10, on the other hand, is even-handed. If, and only if, the recording and performance
are musical will the playback be musical. It will not make up anything on its own, and it
does everything within its power to reproduce exactly what it sees. Still, this is an
inherently unfair comparison. At $699, the ST-40 has not been designed to compete with an
amp like the Symfonia.
Closer in terms of cost and overall ability, the
$3700 Blue Circle BC6 is a much fairer match, but it is also a very different beast. The
two amps share solid-state output devices, but thats about all. The BC6 uses a
single 6922 tube per channel as an input driver. And, with 25 pure class-A watts, the BC6
is no match for the Opus 10 in raw power. This is an advantage that the Symfonia showcases
to the utmost. In its ability to control bass and to show effortless dynamic swings, the
BC6 is excellent. But in comparison, the Opus 10 is in a class alone. However, switch to
the extremely subtle points of sparkle, breath and life, and the BC6 shows why it too is a
world-class amp. Still, these are very fine points, and points that can only be weighed in
the context of a complete system. The Theta/Linn/Thor/Kharma combination was clearly
better balanced, more accurate and more musical with the Symfonia in it than with
the BC6. The pure power and analytical skills of the Opus 10 were showcased to great
effect in that system. On the other hand, use the same sources with the Joule Electra
preamp and the Dunlavy speakers, and the Opus 10 was as exacting as the nuns at catholic
school. For its part, the BC6 in that same setup was 99% as accurate and nearly that much
more involving. Without getting too pedantic, this helps proves the point that components
count, but context is everything. And in the right context, both of these amps shine, just
as the wrong one is certain death.
Ultimately, I found the Opus 10 to offer every
skill I expect from a great -- nay, from a world-class -- amp. Its frequency reach is from
hells basement to, um, heavens gate. Tonally, it is slightly cool but makes up
for that with visceral slam and power. Yes, it rocks, but it also swings, waltzes and
meditates. And it images with the proverbial Gibraltar solidity. Given an appropriate
partner, such as the Kharma Ceramique speakers, all the virtues of the Symfonia blend into
music-making of the highest degree. I cant begin to count the lost hours I spent
spinning record after record on the Linn, and listening through the Thor/Opus 10/Kharma
combo. And as much as it cost me to do so, not one of those hours would I take back.
Exit
It may appear that Ive given the Opus 10 a
powerful, stern and analytical cast. That is true, but perhaps it is more like a brutally
honest friend, the kind who will tell you about the spinach in your teeth, the scratch on
your new car, and your socks that dont match. But this is also the kind of friend
who is the first to show and last to leave when you move. Nothing gets by this amp, be it
good or bad. And this is about all you can ask from any piece of gear. So, in parting, I
want to caution you. Before picking up the Opus 10, ask yourself, "Am I ready for the
truth?" If the answer is not a resounding yes, walk away. But if you are, and if
youre willing to adjust your system to accommodate it, run to the nearest dealer
because this amp is made for you.
...Todd Warnke
todd@soundstage.com
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