Zanden Aiudio Chouku - new statement mono amp from Zanden Audio

Roysen · Jul 23, 2013

andromedaaudio said:
Roysen tip :why dont you buy a pair of choukus plus a pair of XLFs and get the whole amplification problem (biamping what ever ) over with , 40 watts per channel should work fine.

Well,

There is only made one pair of the Zanden Chouku amplifiers yet and they have not been tested properly. So they are not working yet. Secondly that tube is so rare. They have only managed to come up with one NOS pair. Psvane claims to have started production of new tubes. Once the amps in the picture is working properly, the Psvane tubes will be tested. If they are working in the amplifier, the amplifier might be made to order. Until then they are a one off custom order for Audio Exotics.

The Wilson speakers are unfortunatly not my cup of tea.

andromedaaudio · Jul 23, 2013

okay fair enough .
Magazines ,...Not Tested??? , who cares , most mags are commercially drenched anyway , this would be a design that would be in the ultimate category, merely based on previous work of mr yamada
Reviewers ,..Not really independant views to start in my opinion with and on what authority do they speak anyway , its not like there is a university for reviewers anywhere.
The level in holland is very low .

i like the way bruce stated it somewhere else:

A reviewer would never want his credibility questioned, thus always using "audiophile approved" references .

Roysen · Jul 23, 2013

Sorry for the confusion. I am not talking about testing by the press. I am talking about Mr Yamada testing if these new tubes are reliable, up to spec and working in the amplifier. The currently produced Chouku is not working yet because it is not gone through final testing by Mr. Yamada. I was not refering to the press at all.

andromedaaudio · Jul 24, 2013

Its standing and playing i suppose in the shop in Hong kong.

Not ready with possible unrelyable tubes ?
Strange story and i find that hard to believe, i m sure any tubeamp designer will design an amp around a high quality /relyable tube with sufficient reservestock if the tube isnt produced currently.
What youre saying is, that it is a prototype which may never go in production because they only have 1 pair of tubes which are currently in the amp and if that blows you can toss the whole thing in the bin

Roysen · Jul 24, 2013

andromedaaudio said:
Its standing and playing i suppose in the shop in Hong kong.

Not ready with possible unrelyable tubes ?
Strange story and i find that hard to believe, i m sure any tubeamp designer will design an amp around a high quality /relyable tube with sufficient reservestock if the tube isnt produced currently.
What youre saying is, that it is a prototype which may never go in production

Its not playing yet. It is at Audio Exotics in Hong Kong but has never been playing. It was intended as a one pair only for Audio Exotics based on that one NOS pair of tubes. Then they have found out that new tubes are in production from Psvane. Obviously they have to test the Psvane tubes for reliability before moving amps out with those tubes.