Just wanted to share impressions of my new LampizatOr Pacific solid state amp. Yep, you read that right, solid state. The amp is a wonderful addition replacing a pair of mono Melody 845 tube amps. I was lucky enough to receive one of the demos before official release. It is the brainchild of Taras, LampizatOr’s North American technician, and Fred and Berto, the N.A. reps. I was a little worried that replacing the low watt tube amps with a solid state one might lose some warmth that I enjoyed but that has not been the case so far. Before I get into too many specifics, my other system components remain the same: mac mini ? ethernet? NUC? LampizatOr Atlantic Plus DAC with tube rectifier & superclocks? Pacific amp? Triode Wire Labs speaker cables? Vapor über Aurora speakers with Jupiter caps, Dueland resistors, and Jensen inductors. My room is rather small: 12’ by 13’ in an early 19th century brick rowhome in Philly. My system always sounded good but the Pacific lets the Vapors sing with newfound strength and passion. I heard the Vapors liked a little more power than the Melody’s 22 wpc could offer and it’s true. The Melody amps provided a natural and well-presented soundstage but the Pacific takes you into the studio/concert hall. The whole presence is more 3-D without sounding clinical. The instruments are finely detailed but integrated into a presentation that allows me to listen for hours.
The Pacific amp is rated at 300 wpc, class A/B, heavily class A biased with no global feedback, weighs about 50 pounds with dimensions of 19” x 15.5” x 8”. I listen to mainly rock n’ roll (classic, indie, punk, old school r&b, funk), electronica (Kraftwerk, Four Tet, Moby, etc.), jazz (bop, hard bop, fusion), folk, blues, some classical; the whole gamut.
Here are some impressions what the Pacific brings to several of my favorite songs.
“Misery is the River of the World” - Tom Waits: Waits’ gravely voice is right in front of my face, the chimes, gong, rattles, metal clang take on more weight and presence than ever. The bass drum reverberates. The whole song stays with you and made me as giddy as a 8-year old with all afternoon to play Fortnite.
“Collarbone” - Fujiya & Miyagi: the song starts with the bass and the Pacific bounces this right off you, with the crispness of the strokes of the guitar strings and the breathy vocals.
“White Winter Hymnal” - Fleet Foxes: the reverb from the voices linger more, and when the bass drum kicks in the instruments are right next and in front of me.
“Moonlight Mile” - Stones: really make out the individual strings of the guitar, the cymbals crash harder, Mick’s voice wavers more than I remember. When those strings kick in with Charlie’s drum fills, the emotion conveyed through the Pacific is quite rich and exquisite.
“Four Gardens” - Julia Holter: new classical trained instrumentalist that creates finely crafted pop songs. The layering of her voice can be found at different heights around the speakes, the brass instruments weave in and out, the bass drum gives the stage a deepness, and the clarinet is sharp, as the synthesizer drone has a richness that accents her fragile voice.
“Walking Dark” - Phronesis: wonderful jazz trio from Europe. The piano hangs in space right in front, The drum sticks on the edge of the kit clear and crisp. The bass is deep but not boomy and is right where it should be as the foundation of the song. The Pacific lets you know that jazz can rock out as hard and intense as any metal or punk.
Just like my LampizatOr DACs I have had starting from a Level 4 several years ago, the Pacific amp is powerful enough to create a truly visceral experience; a huge soundstage but without sacrificing any of the natural tones and clarity of the music. If you’re looking for a new amp, I recommend you give it a try.
The specs are below:
LampizatOr Solid State Amplifier
The Pacific amp is rated at 300 wpc, class A/B, heavily class A biased with no global feedback, weighs about 50 pounds with dimensions of 19” x 15.5” x 8”. I listen to mainly rock n’ roll (classic, indie, punk, old school r&b, funk), electronica (Kraftwerk, Four Tet, Moby, etc.), jazz (bop, hard bop, fusion), folk, blues, some classical; the whole gamut.
Here are some impressions what the Pacific brings to several of my favorite songs.
“Misery is the River of the World” - Tom Waits: Waits’ gravely voice is right in front of my face, the chimes, gong, rattles, metal clang take on more weight and presence than ever. The bass drum reverberates. The whole song stays with you and made me as giddy as a 8-year old with all afternoon to play Fortnite.
“Collarbone” - Fujiya & Miyagi: the song starts with the bass and the Pacific bounces this right off you, with the crispness of the strokes of the guitar strings and the breathy vocals.
“White Winter Hymnal” - Fleet Foxes: the reverb from the voices linger more, and when the bass drum kicks in the instruments are right next and in front of me.
“Moonlight Mile” - Stones: really make out the individual strings of the guitar, the cymbals crash harder, Mick’s voice wavers more than I remember. When those strings kick in with Charlie’s drum fills, the emotion conveyed through the Pacific is quite rich and exquisite.
“Four Gardens” - Julia Holter: new classical trained instrumentalist that creates finely crafted pop songs. The layering of her voice can be found at different heights around the speakes, the brass instruments weave in and out, the bass drum gives the stage a deepness, and the clarinet is sharp, as the synthesizer drone has a richness that accents her fragile voice.
“Walking Dark” - Phronesis: wonderful jazz trio from Europe. The piano hangs in space right in front, The drum sticks on the edge of the kit clear and crisp. The bass is deep but not boomy and is right where it should be as the foundation of the song. The Pacific lets you know that jazz can rock out as hard and intense as any metal or punk.
Just like my LampizatOr DACs I have had starting from a Level 4 several years ago, the Pacific amp is powerful enough to create a truly visceral experience; a huge soundstage but without sacrificing any of the natural tones and clarity of the music. If you’re looking for a new amp, I recommend you give it a try.
The specs are below:
LampizatOr Solid State Amplifier
- Lampizator original ladder/discrete relay-controlled volume control
- Four pairs of inputs, each allows custom configuration and naming
- OLED graphical display with large font and automatic dimming
- Large toroidal power transformers engineered above specs to allow smooth and cold operation and monumental bass
- Top quality large filter capacitors chosen after years of testing and experiments
- No total feedback design. Carefully designed local feedback for natural and dynamic sound.
- Unique mirror amplification topology with extreme level of PSR
- Unique load-neutral lateral MOSFET output stage
- Ultra-Precision DC servo
- Proved after 10 years of testing speaker protection and delayed start circuit
- Soft clipping and decaying harmonic distortion spectrum
- Top audiophile quality connectors and terminals
- Continuous output power 300W (500W version possible)
- Peak Output Power 600W into 4 ?
- Bandwidth 2 Hz – 100 kHz (+/- 3dB)
- THD at continuous power 20 Hz to 20 kHz: 0.005% at max input
- Input sensitivity 0.5 Vrms
- Input impedance 32 k? min
- Signal-to-noise ratio -100 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz
- Voltage gain 38 dB max
- Volume control 64 dB range, 1 dB steps
- AC Power Requirements 100-120V, 220-240V, 50-60 Hz
