But this isn't a review of the Neepers. Actually, they aren't exactly my kind of speaker. But in this context as we shall see, they actually held a distinct retrograde sort of advantage. They of course also represented a particular transducer class that was conveniently on hand to judge Ancient Audio's claims by. And indeed, I had zero issues with SPLs, control, compression, distortion or impinged software fitness. I could play anything I wanted at the volumes I wanted. For the real skinny however, I had to roll Franck Tchang's Tango Rs. Prior to that, I strapped on the WLM La Scala towers for additional impression. Those confirmed the showings on the Danish and French boxes. To keep the component count solid, preamps for these exercises were Hegel's single-stage, single-ended, no-feedback P-10 (transistors) and Thorens' TEP 3800 (valves). The source was my APL Hifi/Esoteric NWO 3.0 GO/UX-1.

On more 'comfort food' speakers like the Perfection Ones or WLM La Scalas (the latter with big Visaton paper-cone tweeters), these upper odd-order effects created subjective separation power and transient pep. When I diluted the inner color pressurization effects by swapping out the tube Circlotron Thorens preamp for the transistorized top-line Hegel, that spicier Single Six flavor came more to the fore. Now attractive pungency converted into something subtly strident at times. Once I repeated those experiments with the Tango Rs whose Dynaudio Esotar clone tweeter (plus Platinum, Gold and Copper resonators) expands the visibility into the harmonic envelope, I found myself in full-on pentode push-pull mode with plenty of NFB as it were. Returning to the FirstWatt, a transistor amp which doesn't fully act it, said effect utterly vanished. Granted, that more voluptuous liquidacious gestalt did too. But that merely proved how the Simple Six doesn't merely produce higher-order effects. It also rides the expected second harmonic.


Leashing up my frame-grid pentode-driven Yamamoto returned me to familiar triode land. Bass was arguably not quite as grippy as over the Single Sixes and treble not quite as extended. But none of the undue glassy sharpness was in evidence either. To be sure, the latter was a function of software choices -- emphatically recorded massed strings, close-miked Selmer guitar Gypsy Jazz, operatic sopranos and upper right-hand piano action were the most notorious trouble makers -- and speaker mates. Even on the least copasetic speakers, I could play material that would trigger the described effects only mildly. On copasetic (lower treble resolution) speakers, this effect was akin merely to a tertiary perfume note. It doesn't overpower or stand out. It blends in well below the key note to add complexity.


The above descriptions pertained predominantly to the Tango R then as my best and most favored in-house transducer. Chances are of course that a customer with a €10,000 amplifier budget will have speakers costing as much or significantly more. Then I would expect similar overtone resolution as my Acoustic System International towers provide. Spending sufficient time on this topic hence seemed mandatory.

On the other hand, when everything gelled -- despite their in this context low price, the WLM La Scalas filled that job description nicely -- Ancient Audio's granite-clad monos excelled at bullish low-frequency drive; wide-open highs; and a phenomenal casting of space. These monos clearly have unusual bass control for their kind and power rating. As the Neeper precedent suggests, they might in fact thrive to a certain extent on being asked to put out. On the Perfection Ones -- and to a similar extent on the WLMs though their overall timing seems better -- the triode flavor was dominant. The pentode sheen was sublimated to play supporting cast where it created agreeable tension and organization.


Those results nearly approximated the 80/20 triode/pentode mix of my Yamamoto A-09S. On speakers which the 300Bs couldn't properly drive. While due the above, I wouldn't reference the Single Sixes as exactly 300B stand-ins for the 'next up' tier of speaker loads, the notion itself isn't so far-fetched if you throw in some lit-up 45-ness. Compared to the Almarro A318B integrated, the Ancient Audio amplifiers are higher resolution machines with a rather superior S/N ratio. Whether that reveals the 6C33C's inherent THD behavior more; or whether the use of silver ribbon wire and 'fast' Teflon caps emphasizes or shifts a certain spectral content; I cannot know. Certainly I have never heard Lamm amps described in the above vein. It simply means that like thorough-bred stallions, these amplifiers are fussier about their ancillaries than others. Care must be taken not to turn a possible asset -- incisiveness and upper-end extension -- into a demerit.


Another note of caution pertains to the limited power tube rolling options. Jarek maintains that only one Russian plant ever produced the 6C33C. I've heard conflicting reports. Some insist how other vintages exist as well. No matter, the options are certainly far slimmer than with designer triodes of the 300B, 2A3 and 45 ilk which to this day can be had in all manner of flavors. If you commit to the Single Sixes, you commit to their sound as is. Mostly. Rolling the small-signal valves will certainly have some effect. I didn't experiment though.