Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
From what I heard at my house, kudos to Angus and Gary as the award is well deserved
WestminsterLab Re-imagining Amplification
- Thread starter gleeds
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As we previously announced, the prestigious German magazine, Fidelity Magazine has awarded Westminster Lab with its Innovation award for the Quest Preamplifier and Rei Class A mono amplifiers. For those interested in the brand below is a link to the review that accompanied the award that also includes an interview with Angus and the writer. Enjoy!
www.fidelity-online.de
WestminsterLab Quest und Rei - FIDELITY online
WestminsterLab schafft es, das Class-A-Prinzip innovativ ins 21. Jahrhundert zu hieven, ohne traditionelle Tugenden zu vernachlässigen.
www.fidelity-online.de
Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Agree 100%. I am pleased to say I have ordered a pair of the REI monoblocks after testing a demo set. Thank You Gary, and also thank you Fred at Lampizator NA as we are customizing my Horizon to run the REI’s seamlessly, with no preamp.
Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I can tell you that they sounded incredible with my Horizon
I’m not sure the manufacturer is really shedding light on any of the scepticism here. Every few months, a new kid on the block arrives purporting to have made a breakthrough that has confounded others for years/decades but I don’t see any evidence of anything groundbreaking here with respect to performance. Thermal images of dissipation and the usual internal shots isn’t it. The are many lines devoted to build, sprinkled with internal shots and the usual subjective audiophile cliched lines about sonics glazed in a deep lacquer of marketing speak veering into the dangerous and counterproductive topic of cables. Some intimation that is a groundbreaking product but it begs the question - what’s so special about this product? Why am I being asked to reimagine anything - sounds a bit grandiose and contrived.
King Rex, it’s hard to answer in words without delving into “cliched lines about sonics …” that Mr. Roundhead finds unpersuasive
(hope Mr. Roundhead knows I am kidding). That said, I believe we are taking another noticeable, significant step towards the illusion of live music in our living room. For me, the test is that simple. The REI’s aced this test on the wide variety of music we enjoy, from symphony and opera to Chicago Blues, the pride of our hometown, and everything in between.
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Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
like you I was a doubter....so much so that I invited Gary to bring the amp and preamp to my house for an audition which he graciously did. My amps are 32 watts per channel pure class A which I love and are a permanent part of my system
I can tell you that these 33 lb mono blocks produced sound in my room that was simply breath taking. I would suggest you reach out for a demo as I know Gary has been sending demo units to interested people across the country several of whom Im told have purchased the amp. Hearing for me was the de facto test
It's easy to speculate when you haven't listened. I was a skeptic and then listened. I'm not a skeptic any more
I just wanted to take a minute to mention a lovely listening session I shared with Gary and the Westminster amps and pre yesterday afternoon. Gary was back in his old stomping grounds on Long Island, NY and paid me a visit with the Westminsters in tote. We set them up in my main living room space which consists of Tobian 12FH speakers an assortment of Final Touch Audio cabling, an assortment of LampizatOr sources (yesterday we used the Amber 4) a Taiko Extreme and of course Gary's amplification.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect as the Tobian speakers are quite efficient, utterly transparent and in the past have seemed to favor tubes. What the Rei's brought to the table though was indeed quite special--it took some time to wrap my head around what I was hearing as well as for the amps to warm up and hit their stride, but once we got there it was indeed a glorious place..
The Westminster amplification has fantastic transparency, speed, control, acceleration and appropriate weight. These amps provided a fantastic top to bottom foundation that was palpable while everything remained super agile and dynamic.
I was a big fan of what I heard and I believe Gary felt the pairing to be better than anticipated as well. I can make a strong recommendation of pairing these amps with LampizatOr sources as they both achieve a similar sonic aspiration (compliments one another) and the Tobian speakers are also a fabulous option as well.
A very fun and enlightening day, Gary--thanks again for making time for me while you were out here!
I wasn't quite sure what to expect as the Tobian speakers are quite efficient, utterly transparent and in the past have seemed to favor tubes. What the Rei's brought to the table though was indeed quite special--it took some time to wrap my head around what I was hearing as well as for the amps to warm up and hit their stride, but once we got there it was indeed a glorious place..
The Westminster amplification has fantastic transparency, speed, control, acceleration and appropriate weight. These amps provided a fantastic top to bottom foundation that was palpable while everything remained super agile and dynamic.
I was a big fan of what I heard and I believe Gary felt the pairing to be better than anticipated as well. I can make a strong recommendation of pairing these amps with LampizatOr sources as they both achieve a similar sonic aspiration (compliments one another) and the Tobian speakers are also a fabulous option as well.
A very fun and enlightening day, Gary--thanks again for making time for me while you were out here!
Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I loved listening to these amps in my room and yes they performed magnificent with my Lampizator. I still have to pinch myself every time Gary mentions the MSRP to me. These are giant slayers
in the next couple of weeks, I will have my new REI’s paired with the Horizon and at that moment, will declare victory in building out my system. Thanks Fred and Gary, and thanks to WBF as I learned of both Lampizator and Westminster Labs on this Forum.
Congratulations on a new level of enjoyment coming to fruition. I loved the REI's in our space. The only thing left to do, is to expand to 4 REI's, which the Westminster Quest Preamp is made to accommodate.
Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I never heard the amps bridged at my house but I would have to bet that they would compete easily with the top Class A amps
We're working with Soul Sonic on a very unique planar hybrid speaker that will almost span the height of our rather tall ceilinged listening space (the speaker being so tall is by design, certainly not necessity) and the Westminster Amplification will figure into that proto-system very pointedly.
Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Good for you Fred. I am amazed that one can put together such an amazing system with amps of this size yet magnitude
Thanks Steve, yes, that's the mandate of this particular system. It will fill a 20,000 cubic foot room with sound at or near the summit of what's possible, while not requiring a large visual commitment, and despite the speakers being north of 10ft. tall. (okay, you can laugh here...but they're only about 10 inches wide and modularly connect..so they could be stand mounts or any height in about 2.3ft increments.) Pardon me for running on...the point is that Westminsters play at the top level for many applications, are small enough not to call attention to themselves, while also being elegant when you do see them. That's my last 'cheer' for them. We will likely sell them some day and I don't want to mar all the positive responses to them by anything that could be perceived as self interest.
Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Fred
what also I thought an elegant piece of work is the matching preamp which uses the same remote as my Lampi Horizon
what also I thought an elegant piece of work is the matching preamp which uses the same remote as my Lampi Horizon
Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
People seem to still scoff at this little amp until they hear it in their systems. And the footprint is tiny. The sound is huge. Dynamics are superb. Timbre and tone are dead on. If I weren’t so married to my system I’d buy these having heard what I did and I’d likely buy a bridged set as well as the preamp
the equipment is designed by an architect and this is true when you visualize the art form.
the equipment is designed by an architect and this is true when you visualize the art form.
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