Concero Series of SET amplifiers update

[Aries Cerat]

Hello to WBF

We proudly announce the completion of the Concero family of mono amplifiers,with the launch of Concero Sig and Concero Limited Edition.
Official launch in Q4 2018

Stay tuned for more details.

 

[Aries Cerat]

First auditions of the Limited edition version

 

[Thieliste]

Hi Stavros can you give us the price for the Signature version ?

 

[Aries Cerat]

Hi Stavros can you give us the price for the Signature version ?

Hello Thieliste

The Sig version is at 45.000e

Cheers
Stavros

 

[Thieliste]

Hi guys, just got back from my Swiss trip and i have to thank Brad and René from http://soundcastles.ch/ for all they did for me and my wife.
We listened to the Impera ll + Kassandra + Diana Forte driving Thiel CS 3.7s.
That pairing was absolutely beautiful, the sound coming from the Thiels was full body, very organic, tranparent, fast, engaging and very dynamic.
This is most likely the best gear i have ever heard to date on the 3.7s, even better than the awsome Ypsilon pre-power combo.
I have found that the Aries cerat combo had much more meat than the Ypsilon combo, this is something important to me.
We also drove to Liechtenstein to visit Michael to listen to his Impera ll Concero 65 combo driving a pair of Dynamikks, very nice set up.
We ended our Liechtenstein trip at Christoph's place to listen to his horns Universum that i liked very much driven by Aries Cerat Incito, Kronzilla stereo and Lampizator Pacific DAC.
I have to say Bravo to Stavros for the beautiful gear he makes, to my taste Aries Cerat is the real deal in the tube world.
Cheers

 

[Aries Cerat]

Finally complete.More details to be uploaded to the official Concero Series page.Till then,some elevation drawings of the three versions.

 

[Legolas]

I just spotted the new pics on FB. I can see the new Concero LE 4 chassis MBs, the Kassandra Signature and the Symphonia's. Maybe a phono stage? Very nice indeed. 65 watt SETs into horns, I bet the dynamics are off the scale good.

I am coming back to SETs after a 4 year gap with SS power amps. The magic of SETs is addictive, but my previous MBs by Audio Note didn't do the bass very well, and were rolled off in the upper treble. AN use tiny transformers and underspecified power supplies. The Aries Cerat amps are NOT in that camp, we are talking HUGE transformers and over specified power supplies. Really the best of SS and SET IMO, beautiful mids, super smooth treble and tuneful and tight bass. My amp will be the 'baby' Genus, but will still embarrass many SETs.

 

[GMKF]

Finally complete.More details to be uploaded to the official Concero Series page.Till then,some elevation drawings of the three versions.

View attachment 45447

View attachment 45448

View attachment 45449

View attachment 45450

If I may ask:
What are the main differences between the Sig and the limited edition ?
I am hoping Stavros can provide some spec's soon.
If available measurements as well?

 

[Ron Resnick]

Wonderful photos of beautiful components!

 

[kodomo]

I can be interested in a concero, I don't need high power though. I was checking the concero 25's, my horns are about 109db efficient.

Can you give us some details Stavros?

 

[Legolas]

Some new photos of the Concero 65.

 

[Aries Cerat]

If I may ask:
What are the main differences between the Sig and the limited edition ?
I am hoping Stavros can provide some spec's soon.
If available measurements as well?

Hello GMFK

The Sig is an improved version of the Concero 65 model,with improved PSU design,part and layout.

All the filaments of the DH tubes are inductively isolated from their PSU as well.

The Limited Edition is a different design,based on the 813-drives-813 concept.
The amplifier only uses 813 tubes on it's signal path,as another 813 is used to drive via a special transformer the twin 813 of the output stage.

A nice sideeffect of using a same type tube for driver,(apart from the obvious unsurpassed driving for the output stage) is the distortion cancellation present when output and driver are of same type.Of course for this to happen you need to tune the driver stage accordingly.


As you can imagine the power supplies of the LE are very differently designed,as well as their bias circuits.

Both the Sig and LE have 65W power output,with a very low <-105db unweighted noise floor.
Distortions at 1W is at -72db H2 and H3 and above is unmeasurable.

Bandwidth at full power is 9-100,000Hz
Amplifier has very low gain,but can be driven into class A2,getting twice max peak power,if the preamplifier is up to the task.

No feedback,local or global is used throughout.

Our special Supercaps are used throughout and heavy iron at each stage,resulting in a 170kg per ch weight.

Distortions at 10W vary from -40 to -60db H2 depending on bias points/tuning.Note,lower does not mean better sounding.So we give user ability to play around.


Also distortions and output impedence/damping factor can be modified on the fly,with the impedance selector system on the back.This system allows you to reconfigure the multiple secondaries to achieve optimum impedance for your speakers with the use of switches. The effect can be dramatic,as you can configure the OTP for use down to 1 ohm.

Of course,no-one is on the search for this kind of amplifiers and is going around comparing H2 and H3 figures.These have little merit on amplifier choice.Other wise all would buy a cheap AV class D received and call it a day.

Cheers
Stavros

 

[Aries Cerat]

I can be interested in a concero, I don't need high power though. I was checking the concero 25's, my horns are about 109db efficient.

Can you give us some details Stavros?

Hello

The Concero 25 comes in two versions,the high and low gain.
Depending on system overall gain(including speakers),you can choose accordingly.

Both designs have a very low -100db noise floor,thus a great match for true high efficiency systems.

In their low gain version,the driver stage is the same stage as used in the Concero 65 amplifiers.

Power is 20-30W depending on bias settings.

Both versions come with original RCA 813 tubes for output tubes.Low gain version uses the RCA 814 DHT tube and the high gain the E280F tube for driver.Both versions are only two-stage amplifiers.

For your system,without any more information,but with an estimated guess,i think the low gain would be ideal.

The Concero uses the same filament design ,passive triple pi filtering on the DH filaments,for very low noise.
Also they now use the impedance selector circuits used in our bigger models.
Same special Supercapacitor technology on the high voltage PSU as well.

Of course NF is not used ,both local and global.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers
Stavros

 

[Thieliste]

Hi Stavros, some of us might want to know if there is more driving headroom with the Concero 65 Sig compared to the Ref version.
The Sig version beeing a 4 chassis monoblocks i guess the separates PSU makes a difference ?
Thanks.

 

[Aries Cerat]

Hello
Both the Ref and Sig are rated at 65w.
However as you have noticed from recent auditions of the Ref and Diana,power is only half the story,an amp rated at less power can sound significantly more powerful than an other with higher ratings.
That said,the Signature has even more grunt than the Reference.It is a better amp in general.

The Sig was unofficially launched in 2017.The first pair sounded restricted in comparison to the Ref.Culprit was the internal mains filters.The three big toroidal power transformer with their very low Dcr ratings reaped havoc on the mains filters.The filters end chocking the four chassis amp.
Gone are the filters and hell is unleashed again

 

[Thieliste]

Hello
Both the Ref and Sig are rated at 65w.
However as you have noticed from recent auditions of the Ref and Diana,power is only half the story,an amp rated at less power can sound significantly more powerful than an other with higher ratings.
That said,the Signature has even more grunt than the Reference.It is a better amp in general.

The Sig was unofficially launched in 2017.The first pair sounded restricted in comparison to the Ref.Culprit was the internal mains filters.The three big toroidal power transformer with their very low Dcr ratings reaped havoc on the mains filters.The filters end chocking the four chassis amp.
Gone are the filters and hell is unleashed again

So if i understand the Concero 65 Signature is now a finished product with no more issues ? did you start shiping some customers ?

 

[Aries Cerat]

Yes it is available for orders

 

[Thieliste]

Would like to have feedbacks from customers who have ordered Impera ll Sig/Concero 65 Sig if there are any ?

 

[Aries Cerat]

Would like to have feedbacks from customers who have ordered Impera ll Sig/Concero 65 Sig if there are any ?

The exact combo you are asking is within driving distance(London) ,though the owner does not write(at least often ) to WBF.

Here is the system: https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/concero-series-of-set-amplifiers-update.25831/post-542610