Bakoon shp 5516 100 Watt monoblock current drive amplifier

As some of you will have seen I have been searching for a great amplifier for my ML CLX

My beloved Blue circles were damaged in an electrician accident.... too complicated to explain.....

I havent had the time or where with all to pack them and and ship off to have repaired

No one where I live can fix them.... anyway....


My good friend Pat Obrien of WAR Audio had been working on a pair of these Bakoon amplifiers that he hoped would work with the CLXs

There are some issue potentially with the Bakoon and the CLX... vide infra

Short description of Bakoon 100 watters

- Most advanced amplifier made by Akira San of Bakoon ( ie Japan made; not korean... same circuit)

- Super high precision satri circuit
- No Slew induced distortion

- No NFB global or local

- 1mhz plus frequency Satri Link current input/voltage input

As there is no NFB and no Zobel network much the same as Spectral, the worry was over the BACK EMF from the CLX

Also the rest of my system is DC coupled and running current input can be a bit scary

The Bakoon 100 watters arrived 2 weeks ago

Pat suggested running voltage input first to be safe

This I duly did with no issues and noted the usual painful break in of the amplifiers

One thing stood out on the CLX at this stage

The bass

The bass was unbelievably, deep fast and musical

I had been using the idescent with CLX

I turned it off

Bass was better without

I measured in room response down to 15 hz with clx

So my ears werent lying

My wife said " where is the subwoofer" how can the bass be this good?

Finally after two weeks I decided to try current mode

As my accuphase has a low output impedance it will drive directly the bakoon amp

But Pat cautioned against this and made some special balanced cables with a 1000ohm high quality resistor in it ( apologies I forgot if dale or vishay I am not an expert).....

OMG....

The bass was still there, but now the mdrange and highs were equivalent

But was accompanied by a sense of rightness

Instead of you mind having to think what was that instrument, where was that person standing and what is the room like

It was all just layed out in front of you and audiophile nervosa was replaced with sheer enjoyment

Several pieces of music stood out such as Beethoven's 6th, Holst planets, and Bartok's Concerto for orchestra

String tone was outstanding the differences between all four sections of the string section with different timbral qualities standing out

Especially woodwind sounded natural, and the differences between clarinet, oboe, etc quite clear.

Brass was stupendous and differences in the brass section clearly heard

Piano sounded like the natural big instrument it is

This morning, I placed a piece with percussion.... the after vibrations of the strike were all captured never heard this before

Interesting there was great air and extension in treble but if the music called for it great sweetness and delicacy I noted this a lot on classical guitar and solo violin

The one this that stood out most was the woodiness of instruments

This is something the CLX never seems to have done well for me in the past

Others experience may differ, but not for me

However on many track and especially vinyl... the essential woodiness was there

I am very pleased thus far

I will report back with more time

The only other thing I have noticed is the amps ability to display the acoustics of the recording including bounce off rear and side walls, and depth of orchestra to microphones and how far away instruments are

I have not experienced the Spectral amps personally

Being also high band width designs, I suspect them may work well also

Being in Australia, the issues of hum with the high voltage(240 Volt) and need to use MIT cables.. is off putting...

Happy for comments and questions

I should for clarity point out Pat Obrien is a very close friend and also the distributor of Bakoon in Australia

I have no pecuniary interest in Pat's business or Bakoon

In fact any one who knows me will tll you I was long a doubter about these unusal amplifiers

6 moons have reviewed the little bakoon amplifiers made in Korea ( I believe) with Satri circuits : 15 watters I think

These are the "big boys" 100 watters made in japan..... need I say more

Andrew

Yes Keith separates most definitely available on Japanese versions

There is a new pre, dac, and phonos:- 1, and 2 box versions

The phonos use current mode on cartridges (which are i believe a current source)

Need low internal impedance cartridges though… which many are

The two box phonos is pretty amazing…. dynavectors in particular incredible!, as well as myabi, and Ortofon A90

Price in Australia for 100 watt monos is $7500 a piece

However these amps really seem to exceed their power rating

Pat tells me they some how recirculate unused power

I have " no idea " what that means, however on listening…..

I have heard the 15 and 30 watt unit play very loud and without much distortion in huge rooms

The 100 watter I have is much more powerful ( i.e. can play louder without distortion) it would seem than BC208 ( though this is a low gain design)

Pat tells me the 15 water on horns is pretty amazing and he has had some 'die hard' tube fanatics switch to these

To tell you a funny story one client came in to listen ; a man who only has Kondo gear… he had a listen looked at the amps and asked what tubes did they run


Yes these are photos

I must confess the aesthetics are ummm…. something "only a mother could love", the incredibly long title on the front in um yellow ? not so sure why

So not any great pride of ownership factor in looks till you hear them play….

Please try to get to hear the phono preamplifier its quite surprising

Also the little integrated with head amplifier is great headphone amp

Also current mode amplifier

Drove HD800s and LCD 2 with ease and great definition yet not harsh in anyway…..

Keith I don't know the ins and outs of the business arrangement

I know the Korean made units are made with Satri designs I believe Europe wanted a more modern looking unit

The Orange knob versions are available in Australia thru Pat Obrien

There have been quite a few variants of these units over the last couple of years

Seems to be continual updates

I agree phono is really spectacular

The japanese version have a 15 watt, 30 watt; stereos 50 watt monos, 100 monos and 300 watt monos
A Dac, two versions of the pre and phono, i.e. with and without separate power supply

Pat, has sold quite a lot of these units

Mine has the latest version of the Satri boards I believe