Ars Sonum

[newmill]

Anyone familiar with the Ars Sonum Filarmonia tube amp? This seems to be a little gem of an amp. If anyone owns or has experience with this amp,which interconnects and/or power cables have you had success with? Any other comments or opinions about this amp would also be of interest. Thanks.

 

[jep123]

Hi.
I had it years ago with Merlin VSM speakers. The amp is really good, very open and musical sounding. No powerhouse, but you know that of course.
A gem!

 

[newmill]

Thanks for the reply Jep. Do you recall what cables you used with the Filarmonia?

 

[jep123]

Not really, but Cardas powercables used to be delivered with this amp, at least when Merlin distributed them. As always with cables; Your tase and preferences must decide. The amp is really good!

 

[newmill]

My assumption then would be that Cardas might be a preferred power and interconnect choice, since the unit has Cardas speaker cable connectors, and was shipped with a Cardas PC. I am currently using Nordost Tyr speaker cable.

 

[wstam]

I am still using this amp driving the VSM speaker. The interconnect and speaker cables are Cardas Clear.

My amp was recently updated to the latest version by the builder, plus the optional VCap capacitor. The SQ improvement is huge. Worth considering if yours is not upgraded.

 

[newmill]

On the rear of the amp, it is marked as Filarmonia SE. Is this the latest version?

 

[wstam]

On the rear of the amp, it is marked as Filarmonia SE. Is this the latest version?

The latest version is SJ. My amp was also SE prior to the upgrade. The optional VCap (TFTF) cap is not part of SJ.

You can drop a mail to the builder Ricardo (ars-sonum@ars-sonum.com) for more info. Very friendly guy. Where do you based in? US? I am from Asia.

 

[newmill]

Thanks for the reply. I am in Canada. May I asked you how much the upgrade set you back?

 

[wstam]

If you PM me your email address, I can send you the update/upgrade price list from Ars Sonum.

Since you are from NA, you may want to contact Rich Brkich from Signature Sound (richb@sigsound.com). He handles the update/upgrade for Ars Sonum US customers (not sure if it covers NA). You only need to ship the amp to him. As I have to ship my amp to Spain, the shipping cost is as much as the upgrade cost ;-( However I do enjoy the upgraded amp more and find the cost worthwhile.