Aficionado

Eddie Current Aficionado is a vacuum tube headphone/ speaker amplifier amp. The amp’s unique audio circuit, combined with a passive LC filter power supply delivers the Holy Grail of a high-fidelity sound stage designed specifically to maximize the 2A3 electron cloud. On a quest to bring back classic tube-driven audio, the Aficionado is cap coupled through an old school Russian military toxic oil, paper, and aluminum foil capacitor. Output transformers are machine wound by CineMag Transformer. End result, an updated modern version of classic American audio design. The Aficionado’s rich tube sound and copper hammertone finish is owning a piece of the golden age of audio!

SPECIFICATIONS:

  • CineMag output transformers with tertiary winding.
  • Balanced headphone drive.
  • Two input selector switch, one pair XLR Balanced inputs, one pair RCA unbalanced inputs.
  • Speaker kill switch.
  • 100K high Alps blue Velvet volume control.
  • One pair Speak-On speaker outputs.
  • 4-foot detachable umbilical cord.
  • Hand wired point to point signal circuit.
  • Vacuum tube rectified passive LC power supply.   
  • Will drive 8 ohm speakers to 4 watts. Input sensitivity 1.5V for full power.
  • Power bandwidth -1dB 10Hz-25kHz.
  • Recommended headphone load 8 ohms or higher.
  • Power into 32 ohms 2W.
  • Power into 100 ohms 800mW
  • Power into 300 ohms 400mW.
  • Typical headphone frequency response -1dB 15Hz-30kHz.
  • Balanced line output 11 volts into 600 ohms. -1dB 15Hz-30kHz.
  • Unbalanced output 0.5V for 3.25V output -1dB 12Hz-35kHz.
  • Dimensions: 12” wide by 16.5” deep front control knob, to rear panel switches.  10” high W/O tubes 16 lbs

Price $3200 plus shipping.

Upgrades or modifications: Inquire about adding special components to your order. 

* To use the tertiary or not–this is the question. Back in the day Macintosh Labs made the most sought after Hi Fi tube amplifiers. If you were in the hobby you wanted one, like a high school kid dreaming of owning a Corvette. Sadly, I never owned either but pored over the Mac schematics. They had a patent on using a tertiary winding in their output transformers. It reduced distortion, and increased bandwidth. Years later when the patent ran out Audio Precision used it in their test equipment transformers to reduce distortion to ridiculously low numbers. This is the same idea used in the Eddie Current transformers with tertiary. This is a compact winding close to the transformer core put into a feedback circuit. Like the Macintosh amps it reduces distortion, and increases bandwidth. The feedback is used very minimally as not to disturb the sound stage. For example in solid-state amps feed back is typically 20 to 30 dB. This guarantees compression, and a flat sterile sound. In the SE amps we build only 1.75dB is used and the sound becomes clear, and present. The same amp without the tertiary connected will sound good, but more euphonic, typical of SE amps from the old days to present.