Tube Research Labs Platinum Golden Triode Reference 800 Mono Amplifiers

Geardaddy · Oct 1, 2012

Roysen, I would be interested to see pictures of your room. Can you tell us anything about its construction? What about power conditioning?

What does your current system consist of?

Roysen · Apr 11, 2014

After six years in the making now, these amps are two months away from delivery. Paul says they Are the best he ever made and that they would retail USD $250K from a dealer.

LL21 · Apr 11, 2014

Roysen said:
After six years in the making now, these amps are two months away from delivery. Paul says they Are the best he ever made and that they would retail USD $250K from a dealer.

Well...2 months after 6 years probably still feels like an eternity...but on a % basis, you are practically there!

Hope they arrive safely and work perfectly. You should make sure to ask them to triple check performance and triple pack the equipment before they ship it to you!!! No repairs...for at least 25 years! At this point, I think its fair to say you deserve to hear nothing but effortless beauty and flawless performance from those amps...good luck.

audio.bill · Apr 11, 2014

Many years ago I recall walking the halls at CES and hearing incredibly lifelike sound from one particular room. As we approached the doorway you could literally feel the heat waves travelling through the air and passing into the hallway. Needless to say it was the TRL room where they had their electronics playing and I remember seeing row after row of tubes glowing brightly in the mono power amps and separate tube driven power supply chassis. Very impressive sound, but personally I couldn't deal with the heat. I'm sure you'll love your new amps, and you definitely deserve an award for your patience after a long six years!

Elberoth · Apr 12, 2014

In the opening sentence of that thread, you said the amps are 'now finally about to arrive shortly'. That was four years ago.

What happened, that the amps were delayed 4 years ? It is hard to even imagine how one can wait for the amps to be manufactured 7+ years.

I mean - they they may be the best amps in the world, but I'm not even finding the right word to describe 7+ years waiting time.

Roysen · Apr 13, 2014

4th of July is the date when they are supposed to be finished now. This is a really big thing for me. I can't wait. I really look forward to getting these amps more than anything in my audiophile life.

audio.bill · Apr 13, 2014

Roysen said:
4th of July is the date when they are supposed to be finished now. This is a really big thing for me. I can't wait. I really look forward to getting these amps more than anything in my audiophile life.

Roysen, I have no doubt that the amps you receive will sound absolutely phenomenal! I have never heard any criticism about the performance of TRL amps anywhere. They truly design some of the best sounding amplifiers available and are reputed to be great people to deal with. I anxiously await your report on their performance once you can pull yourself away from listening to them as they tend to be addictive. Enjoy the tunes with your new amps!!!

Elberoth · Apr 13, 2014

Hopefully they will make the deadline this time. Looking forward to read your comments on those super rare amps.

Brian Walsh · Apr 14, 2014

I heard the pair of these at CES '92 in the old Sahara Bi-Level, driving Avalon Ascents. Presumably they were the original pair made. You could feel the heat coming off them about 15 feet away, and they took up nearly half the room. The most efficient way to deal with the heat is to put return and/or exhaust grilles above them, although even that could be a challenge.

There may only be a couple of pairs of the 800s, and I expect these will be the last pair built, of which there may only be a couple of other pairs in existence, Winston's old amps being one of them. Six years of waiting is absurd.

Assuming you get them when promised, I'll be curious to hear what you have to say about them after having them for a while, not only sonically but also in terms of reliability.

Jeffy · May 20, 2014

I agree with Brian Walsh six years to build an amp is crazy. I'm sure he wanted a substantial amount of money to fund the project. I wonder what would have happened to your money if something happened to him during this time. I would never do this no matter how good the amp unless it was a family member building it. I heard the same amp at CES 94? driving Soundlabs A-1 and the room was a shwitch (sauna).

Roysen · May 20, 2014

Jeffy said:
I agree with Brian Walsh six years to build an amp is crazy. I'm sure he wanted a substantial amount of money to fund the project. I wonder what would have happened to your money if something happened to him during this time. I would never do this no matter how good the amp unless it was a family member building it. I heard the same amp at CES 94? driving Soundlabs A-1 and the room was a shwitch (sauna).

Well, the original deal was that the amps should be delivered in two months after order. I paid 50% on order and the remainig is to be paid on delivery. Since this it has been and endless changes and delays. Some of it is my fault. You have to remember that the original design is quite old. These amps haven't been made for quite a few years. So a lot of components and technology available in the market now would be beneficial to use in these amps to improve their performance. That is exactly what has happend. Paul and I have discussed and endless row of changes to the original design and decided wether it would improve the amps or not. If we have thought it would make them better we have decided to change the old design. This has resultet in delay. Some delays are also a result of a lack of funding to continue the project. I have now paid more than 50% but still I have not paid the full amount. At this point I don't intend to pay any more until they are ready.

Paul has finally given me a delivery date of 4th of July.

Roysen · May 20, 2014

Brian Walsh said:
The most efficient way to deal with the heat is to put return and/or exhaust grilles above them, although even that could be a challenge

I am not sure what you mean by "return and/or exhaust grilles". Can you visualize that for me by providing a link to a picture?

Jeffy · May 20, 2014

I can't find Texas Heat on Audiogon, does he go by a different name?

Mike Lavigne · May 20, 2014

Jeffy said:
I can't find Texas Heat on Audiogon, does he go by a different name?

'Texas Heat' is not his audiogon name; it is (or was last time i looked) 'Gallant Diva'. the gentleman is a friend of mine too, and lives in Texas. i have been to his home and listened to the amps. i also heard them when Winston had them.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vaslt&1387316993&read&keyw&zzgallant=diva

MylesBAstor · May 20, 2014

Roysen said:
Well, the original deal was that the amps should be delivered in two months after order. I paid 50% on order and the remainig is to be paid on delivery. Since this it has been and endless changes and delays. Some of it is my fault. You have to remember that the original design is quite old. These amps haven't been made for quite a few years. So a lot of components and technology available in the market now would be beneficial to use in these amps to improve their performance. That is exactly what has happend. Paul and I have discussed and endless row of changes to the original design and decided wether it would improve the amps or not. If we have thought it would make them better we have decided to change the old design. This has resultet in delay. Some delays are also a result of a lack of funding to continue the project. I have now paid more than 50% but still I have not paid the full amount. At this point I don't intend to pay any more until they are ready.

Paul has finally given me a delivery date of 4th of July.

Hope there are no fireworks!

Jeffy · May 20, 2014

Thanks Mike it works.

Geardaddy · May 20, 2014

audio.bill said:
Many years ago I recall walking the halls at CES and hearing incredibly lifelike sound from one particular room. As we approached the doorway you could literally feel the heat waves travelling through the air and passing into the hallway. Needless to say it was the TRL room where they had their electronics playing and I remember seeing row after row of tubes glowing brightly in the mono power amps and separate tube driven power supply chassis. Very impressive sound....

Quite a memory. Sounds like a description of the holy of holies using audio terminology. I owned the ST100 and it ran cooler when placed on Starsound Sistrum stands. Roysen I would recommend you look at those. How big is your room? My hunch is its not your standard dinky audio dungeon. I am sure they will sound spectacular. Besides, they can keep you warm during those Norwegian winters...

Post pics and feedback when you receive them.

Brian Walsh · May 21, 2014

MylesBAstor said:
Hope there are no fireworks!

You took the words right out of my mouth! LOL!

Brian Walsh · May 21, 2014

Roysen said:
I am not sure what you mean by "return and/or exhaust grilles". Can you visualize that for me by providing a link to a picture?

The most efficient way to get rid of the heat is to draw the hot air out of the room which will be above the amplifiers (heat rises). Depending upon the quantity of air (CFM) taken out and energy cost at a given time, the air may be returned back to the HVAC unit or exhausted to the outdoors, or some of both, with the exhaust air quantity made up by intake air from outdoors.

I hope this clarifies.

Roysen · May 22, 2014

Brian Walsh said:
You took the words right out of my mouth! LOL!

These are the two concerns I have about these amplifiers. Their stability and how to handle the heat. So I hope to turn our discussion in that direction. Does anyone have any suggestion for actual appliances I can use to handle that heat? Brian has given me a suggested theoretical solution below. What kind of products would do what he describes. A requirement is that it has to be dead quiet.

Secondly I hope to hear from other TRL owners and their long term relationships with their amplifiers. What are their experience in terms of stability. What have they learned to do as control routines. How often do the change bias (a lot of tubes for me). How do they otherwise care for their amplifiers. This is my first tube amplifier. The minimum of equipment I should own is a soldering iron and a multimeter. Anything else?

Tube Research Labs Platinum Golden Triode Reference 800 Mono Amplifiers

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