NEW LIMITED EDITION 'TUBE' AMPLIFIER

Swedish car audio manufacturer DLS is well recognised for producing some of the world’s finest high-end 12V amplifiers. DLS Ultimate and Reference series amplifiers are the most popular amplifiers used by winning cars in the European EMMA Competitions in recent years, and SQ competitors worldwide will agree they are amongst the best sounding car amplifiers money can buy. Well according to Dawid Koniarski from DLS, the highly acclaimed DLS Ultimate and Reference amplifiers “sound awful after hearing the soon to be released DLS TA2 Tube Amplifier!” He claims the new ‘Tube’ amplifier sounds far better than any other car amplifier on the market today.

Using ‘Tubes’ (or ‘valves’ as they are correctly known) in amplifiers is not new. Valves have been around since the first amplifiers were designed, but cost, size and their slow warm up stage before they start to work saw them almost completely vanish from amplifiers after the transistor was invented. Musicians and true audiophiles will tell you that valve amplifiers produce a more pleasant to the ear sound when compared to transistor amplifiers. The sound from valve amplifiers is often described as “warmer” and “more natural”. Valve amplifiers are still used today for guitar amplification and ultra high-end home audio.

DLS are renowned for continuously striving to improve car audio sound while setting new benchmarks. It appears they may have done it again. By utilising valves and their unique sound quality, and combining the best modern amplifier design concepts and technology, they claim to have come up with a new benchmark in car amplification. DLS say the TA2 is designed for high quality speakers and not subwoofers. They further claim it will have “controlled bass” when compared to other tube amplifiers, and “extraordinary midrange and high frequencies”. The amplifier incorporates many unique components, and some of the highest quality ‘military spec’ components available anywhere. You can see from the prototype pictured that there is a small ‘window’ on top of the amplifier. The valves can be seen from this window, and while they are warming up they glow blue. When they are warm and the amplifier is ready to start working, the valves glow red.

The new DLS TA2 Tube Amplifier will be available late 2006, but is a Limited Edition production. This is due to the extremely limited availability of suitable high quality valves on the market. The TA2 is rated at 2 x 100 WRMS, and is be 2 ohm stable. A 4-channel version will be produced later on. Exact pricing is not available yet, but they will not be cheap. Expect to pay well over $3,000, …if you can get one. Presently back orders exceed the quantity that will be produced, but DLS are attempting to have more valves manufactured for so it can produce a larger quantity to supply international demand.

More Information:
Eurotech Imports (08) 8340 1333
Email: info@dlsaustralia.com.au
Web: www.dlsaustralia.com.au

hmmm, they describe their own amps as sounding "awful" - great marketing

Don't take it out of context mate

i know, just found an amusing comment for one to make about their own products...i would have at least said it sounds better than anything else offered in the car audio market, rather than make a negative comment about my own products

100rms seems pretty god from a tube amp, most of the ones i have seen are around 2 x 35rms.

I wonder what power consumption is to make that sort of power?

they look like very small tube's, anyone know what they are?

they look like there on the imput only.. curious to see how they sound.

thats what i thought you arent going to get 100wrms from 2 small tubes
i'd say they amplify the signal and give it that 'warm' valve sound then there is the solid state after it giving it that 100wrms tubes sorta act as a preamp to give it that sound?

interested to know how it works

if it's only on the pre-amp why diddent they just make a Valve preamp that you can run with any of there amps?

Wonder what this'd sound like that Bflat tube pre-amp HU.
The idea of a warm tube sound, and some glowing bling, cant hurt

edit : actually, that brings something up. Weren't tubes relatively fragile? Do they really suit a car environment?

You havent seen my VALVE preamplifier have you Liquidity .

Perhaps one day you can come past and audition the difference .


George
Adelaide Pro Sound

for designers it would be easier to build the tube into the voltage gain stage of an amp rather than just use it in a outboard pre-amp. power amps have 30volt plus rails in something this big so you would assume that the valves will be easier to interface and power with a relatively high voltage source. An outboard line driver would only require something like a +/-15volt rail which really isnt the best for tubes.

The tubes are on the output stage.

i've heard the differences before, just not car-audio specific.

I've heard a valve pre-amp versus all-valve amplification before, but only in guitar amps :/

I'd love to hear the difference with one of these one day

Wonder what the life of the tube is....

are you sure about this, it just looks like the tubes are used for voltage gain stage only.

how can they get such high ouput numbers with only 2 tubes, damn that is very impressive.

every tube home amp ive seen needed 4 tubes to get this type of power output (most amp ive seen have used LE34 output tubes).

Maybe its a new tube specially designed for this application.

I was told by a reliable source in DLS Sweeden.

I dont know all of the details but I am wokring on getting a closer look at one. They are military spec tubes and apparently were quite hard to get and they could only get 700 of them.

They are well and truley sold out before they have finished being produced but are working on getting some more to be able to produce te 4 channel ones.

Yeah I agree Jas ....

I would be fairly confident that the tubes are on the input stage only and not the output stage.

A pair of EL34's or KT88's (per channel) will get no where near 100 watts RMS, more like 30 to 40 watts, so I don't see how those 2 small tubes could do 100 watts .... and that would have to be 100 watt's PER tube! in this case.

Common practice in a hybrid amp is to have a valve input stage with a transistor output stage.

What makes them "militairy spec"? Shock resisitance? operating temp/voltages? effeciency?