...et voila , introducing Operetta Amplifiers ( yes the buzz is true )
I am presently listening to music and drinking St-Urban Rousse beer on a Saturday evening
and typing this . I do not work on Saturday evenings, but we do what we must do, and I
must catch up with these pesky things called " pumping the guys up marketing technics "--its
a dirty job, but someone has got to do it .
I have never Okayed a line so quickly in my commercial life . The Operetta amplifier had
been left on my door steps in stifling heat yesterday afternoon, I was sick and bruised up , I
unpacked it, think guys , do you think I will let a flu get in the way of having fun, as I hack
away flem and blood lifting the bloody thing ( Nice packing job ), I removed one of my
summer amps ( YBA 2 HCDT....way cool , and by the way , I am still hacking and dying)
and proceeded to plug and play the Operetta . Thinking I liked it way too much to be real,
and or that maybe I was menopausal, or plain to sick in the head, well my first impressions
only got better and better.
Offering 2ch to 5 ch, 140 watts into 4 ohms, a hefty 50 pounds, and an extremely quiet
operation, the Operetta Amplifier proceeded to make a pair of JM Lab Utopias sing nearly
and only 5 hours after being first turned on, really. This has got me listening in a major way
guys, and why should you care you say ? Well for starters , the Operetta goes for 1000.00
USD for the 2 channels. That is the second time this happens to me on this level, the first
being the Raysonic CD128 (no , no , no the cd168 is not here yet). And guess what I was
listening to with the Operetta , you guessed it , the Raygun , we like to say it. I do not think
that the world will stop on its axes here, not nearly as much as the Raysonic CD 128 did
here , but we are talking about really musical stuff here . This is a sweet amp- indeed , and
yes , it will make an apparition come september , the moment that
A-- I stop hacking my life away,
B-- that I get on with MY vacation and
C-- that I continue from this moment on , to get back to my beer, the amp, my rock
Cd's, and er, my hacking meds.
This one is a good one guys, see you soon.
Cheers and bottoms up
2 weeks later
Several of you showed up to see and hear this amp, and oops, it was not there, and so I
promised that it would be on our shop floor last week end and that is where it is now at the
shop ready to impress you all with this gorgeous performer. What else can I say, it sounds
better than I remember, and it is and seems a have a lot more power, forgive the pun,
Opera just sounded bloody marvelous, that is voices, hmm, as I clear my throat. The nodal
interplays that this amp has and the sheer silence between notes, well, these guys seem to
have done something very well. Hats off.
This week and the following, till Wednesday the 26th, The Operetta will be singing the
blues, and I am more and more impressed with this amp than I ever was. Selling high end
puts us geeks in a specially good position to judge from our ivory towers, this one looks
good, even from the nose bleed section we often sit in. NOT TO BE MISSED, really.
But for those who miss the event, Oct 17-19th will also put this honey of a gem on actual
display once again. Consider this one in the bag. Chow baby!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So here goes part dieux (2- as they say in French...or in English, "Are you for real! ")
Everyone knows that I mean what I say and say what I mean, and that not all like what I
think-especially the big guys but that I say it with an open heart. I am holding back my
enthusiasm here for this amp. Here it has made its apparition onto our floor, giving me
barely enough time to warn the company that I am in.
To be honest, I left my shop scratching my head last Saturday when I re-hooked the unit at
my shop for demo preps coming my way. How can this be done, don get me wrong, I
know how technically, but THAT sound
Then the following week, something happened, a second someone walks in, turns white on
me, and states that he will need to return his brand new amp worth 2,100.00 amplifier to
another shop. He left, scratching HIS head after he sat down to listen to the system. The
first someone, by the way was me, after I turned it on for a second time in days, and was
hurrying about my business as demos had been lined up for this and other gear, I equally
could still not believe it sounded great even after not being turned on for 4 days, and I am
the bloody guy that told you about this right before I left on vacation in August, sick as a
dog, hacking my life away, yes, yes, yes, that was me and BTW that story was true, all of it
except hacking meds (dramatic effect -baboom) and BTW as a follow up to immediately
following that writing, I did listen and drink till 1:30 am that night, and had this many ((watch
my hands as they get wider)), much beer. Miles, Pierre Boulez, great ECM recordings, then
a couple of techno 80's pop (That is the ultimate proof I had too much beer), nevertheless, I
had fun that night.
Now back to my shop guys... Then another individual came in, yes one of those guys that
showed up last Friday before I had time to bring the Operetta into my shop. This man is a
serious music lover and a great guy to boot, Historical recordings were taken out, Lyrittas',
Testament record, circa 1941, Wagner and his consummate buddies were in the room with
us. I, of course tried to show how neutral and elevated I was (my wife says I fail at this all
the time)...at least I think I passed outside of my shell. So the story goes like this. He made
his decision to buy one of the Operettas' in I think less than 2 minutes, ooops, I lied, maybe
3 minutes. It matters not, I ordered another unit, and thinking these guys have their testies in
order, and in the most neutral way I can muster, I went ahead and did the impossible, but
that is between me and them (got you thinking guys). That called marketing mates. Did I
tell you guys I love my job, as I say that with perfect neutrality...on the outside, of course.
I cannot wait to get their next amp, a 300 watt, class A baby, or how about, their newly
revised 661 speakers (ooops George, am I supposed to say it out loud) and how about
their cable line. Let me put my neutrality, in the waste basket, but for a moment, like the
Raysonic CD 128 is one for the books, and some middle of the line Neotech cables, so is
the Operetta amplifier. No one can tell us we do not try to make things affordable here. I
do not need the internet, nor corporate types to tell me that their stuff is the best. I would be
doing no one a favor by stating anything else, and for such a paltry sum, do not get rid of
your Linns', or Marks or Krells nor expensive triodes either, but if you know someone that
is deliberately a music lover and an audiophile on a real tight budget (bare the thought), this
one is really goooood. I suppose that I will be in someone dog house yet again, neutrality
got us audio pros in trouble, to hell with it, let the people vote with their love for women and
song, and with a Jack Daniels and a beer....this wide..., and let us toast the end of neutrality.
Wfew, I will need to go back to my system, I think Wagner is calling me to slay someone in
my audio room...he is mad as hell and pissed off at someone again. Wagner is a relentless
guy. With thee beer at hand, I go to thee room to slay the dragon with the help of my buddy
Waggy (call him that only if you are his friend), thanks to the Operetta.
The Operetta is on demo with a drab of humor of course, at Stereo Passion.
Cheers Luc
STEREO PASSION
OTTAWA, ON
Canada
Mr. Luc Morin
Tel: 613-761-9710
spaudio@videotron.ca
www.stereopassion.com