Single Six
hi-end mono power amplifier
Three years ago Ancient Audio launched its flagship “Silver Grand Mono Amplifier”, to immediately become a benchmark for competition products.
The Silver Grand Mono came onto the market as a result of time consuming and expensive audio experiments with tube technology. Apart from traditional single-ended typology of the amplifier which makes use of 300B tube, silver transformers, a lot of additional ground-breaking solutions were applied to enhance the sonic quality of the particular audio components and the amplifier as a whole.
A new audio product, Ancient Audio is proud to present, is called “Single Six”. It takes advantage of innovative solutions applied in the Silver Grand Mono construction. The main idea behind the “Single Six” project was similar to that of Lektor Prime CD Player, which was to provide an affordable version of Lektor Grand, the state of the art CD Player, at reasonable price. An approach like that has turned Lektor Prime CD player into a hit product with audio buffs offering the sound quality usually associated with three times more expensive CD players.
We at Ancient Audio hope to continue to provide the best possible sound at reasonable price with our new mono-block valve amplifier. The “Single Six” is built around 6C33S triode tube. This famous Russian tube is applied as a voltage regulator in MIG aircrafts. In addition to its durability and stability and a comparatively low price, the tube has got a low resistance, much lower in fact, than that that of 300B, 2A3, 211 tubes or other triodes used extensively in audio industry. As a result the speaker transformation ratio is very small ( smaller than 10 ) resulting in smaller capacitance and inductance. The audio band reaches staggering 70 kHz.
The core of Single Six is its power supply based on that of «Silver Grand Mono» – still top of the line monoblock 300B amplifier. It is both stabilized in its high voltage and has got an enormous electric energy stored in its capacitors – about 1000 J in the entire amplifier. The design like that ensures adequate dynamics, the bass control and three dimensional music reproduction.
The recreation of minute musical details with amazing precision and clarity is, among other things, due to the application of teflon-tinfoil V-Caps and silver ribbon internal wiring in the same way they were applied in the Silver Grand Mono. Another borrowed solution from The Silver Garand amps is an automatic regulation of power triode bias current, which is stable irrespective of tube, its ageing or power voltage.
The Silver Grand Mono is divided into four parts. Two monoblocks with corresponding mono power supplies. Single Six amplifier has also got a monoblock construction but with onboard power supply. All this enforced an original amplifier design. The power transformer as far as possible from the amplifier input while the speaker transformer close to the output terminals and the input stage tube close to the input terminal. Owing to relatively high current (7A) the incandescence conductors are as short as possible and the power tube is placed close to power supply transformer. Both transformers are separated one from the other. This topology results in very low level of noise and hum.
There’s an easy access to both terminal sockets as well as input sockets. It makes cable fitting an easy thing to do. The socket placement also comes from the Silver Grand Mono Amplifier. There’s also a choice between WBT or Furutech sockets or terminals as an option.
“Single Six” Mono block amps readily drive majority of loudspeakers on the market, those of moderate efficiency and low impedance included.
Monoblocks are available also with black-chromed spikes and silver labels:
The sound signature of these mono blocks is smooth but very dynamic at the same time. The stereo sound stage is of exceptional dimension and quality. The overall sound reproduction is very much tolerant to older recordings
Technical data:
6C33S Power Triode
E88CC NOS Driver Tubes
18W/4-8 Ohm rated power per Channel
Sensitivity – 900mV
Frequency response – 10Hz – 70kHz
Teflon-Tinfoil V-Caps
Internal silver ribbon Teflon insulated wiring
WBT or Furutech socket and terminal finishing (an option)
High voltage stabilized power supply
Automatic stabilized bias current of power tube
Delayed HT power supply start-up
Tube overload protection
Speaker transformer with “double C” core winding
Granite chassis with a sandwich interlayer construction
Dimension (w x d x h): 300 x 350 x 180 mm
Power consumption – 130 VA per channel
Weight – considerable
