|
As a manufacturer you want your product to receive good reviews, but the reaction of Andreas and his colleagues went beyond our wildest dreams and we have had some wild dreams, though fewer now since we cut out eating cheese before going to bed! Starting with the new album by Fontaines D.C. “This was recently LowBeats album of the week. A Hero's Death exudes a lot of energy. The introduction features one instrument, an electric guitar: undistorted and panned hard right. Then follows a powerful boost in the sound on the left, as the bass comes in. In the centre are the drums, with a visceral bass drum. Everything is tidy, but this is also real killer music for the amplifying electronics. It looks easy, but the bass eats up the power. Not the slightest bit of a problem for the German Physiks Emperor here. The sheer presence of drive and strength is fascinating. There are good little amplifiers that I love because of their inner harmony, but this unlimited pressure ... I've been re-discovering the fascination of Watt orgies again after a long period of abstinence. The Emperor can deliver 600 watts into four ohms. With loudspeakers like the Heco La Diva, you can demolish houses. On the next track, "Love is the Main Thing", Fontaines D.C. are no longer on a leash. This could also be punk from the eighties. Driven, wild, with a real will to destroy. The Emperor took it like a piano finger exercise. I wanted more - the potential of pure power seemed inexhaustible.” Listening to the new edition of Joy Division’s legendary album Closer: “Gosh, how fresh and up-to-date it sounds. The mix is extremely fat, as there is hardly any breathing space. “The Eternal” is of course my favourite song. The bass dominates. Each melody line is built-up from below. It was wonderful how the German Physiks set out the space. A dark, dark-black background. This is also a great ability. The contrast with which the music stands out is exceptionally strong and solid. Great values, great art from the Emperor.” “In the last few weeks all our loudspeaker tests have been conducted with the German Physiks Emperor. Again, and again I got the same impression: “Hey. I haven't heard it sound that good before”. It was particularly impressive when testing the new Dynaudio Contour 20 (now in the i-version), because we have heard it with practically all the large and expensive amplifier components of the past four years. For direct comparison however, we only had our reference amplifier: the SPL Director Mk2 (preamplifier) and SPL Performer m1000 (mono power amplifier) and the ingenious Westend Audio Monaco tube amplifier.” “The SPL Director preamplifier and Performer power amplifier combination was tonally equal, but - although roughly equally powerful and similarly distortion-free at the highest levels as the German Physiks - it didn't have much to compete with the enormous joy of playing, the rousing power and the really impressive depth representation that the German Physiks Emperor provided. The Westend Audio Monaco kept our attention for a long time. Most members of the different listening groups found its wonderfully fine openness to be at least equal to the German Physiks. But even it had to give way to the very high levels that this incredible force could produce. What the Emperor shakes out of the transistors, so seemingly effortlessly with dynamic live music (for example David Gilmour Live At Pompeij) is breath-taking. It is fantastic. It is extraordinary.”
|
