Audio Research REF80S Stereo Vacuum Tube Amplifier

Description

MY TAKE: Probably no other name in high-end audio enjoys the reputation, recognition, and respect of Audio Research. Since the beginning, Audio Research has maintained a fanatical devotion to quality and sonic performance, ensuring their position at the very top echelon of audio manufacturers. Their offerings earn my highest recommendations. – Galen Carol

The Reference 80S stereo amplifier continues Audio Research’s latest design effort in creating a vacuum-tube amplifier that not only redefines ultimate music reproduction but does it in an incredibly beautiful package.

The 80S was created for the music lover who does not require the output power of its larger siblings, the Reference 160S stereo and 160M mono amplifiers. The 80S continues the design ethos, including dual GhostMeters® that float in front of four KT150 output tubes. Extruded panels, a vital part of the all-aluminum chassis, provide rigidity and beauty.

Outwardly, the 80S shares the same dimensions as the 160M. A single shallow whisper fan is built into the bottom plate. Flexibility is built-in, too, with XLR and SE inputs, 4-8-16 ohm output taps, 12V input, and output triggers, RS232 input, tube hour meter, switchable fan speeds, and defeatable auto-off function.

The feature set is the same as the 160S, including a proprietary auto-bias circuit that adjusts for not only tube age, but for powerline voltage swings. There is fusing of the output tubes, single-ended and balanced inputs for flexibility, switchable Triode-Pentode operation to accommodate loudspeakers and personal preference, output tube monitoring, and inclusion of an hour meter so you know how many hours are on the tubes–like an odometer for your amp. This is a tube amplifier that does not require fiddling, it is meant to be enjoyed. The built-in 12V trigger turns the 80S on or off when connected to a modern preamp with a 12V trigger.

Like every Reference amplifier before it, the 80S is a fully-balanced differential design because it provides the highest performance and lowest distortion. A four-layer circuit board is used to provide a separate ground plane, better circuit layout, and fewer noise-inducing point-to-point connections. Music is projected against a quiet, jet-black background—like looking at the stars out in the country, removed from light pollution. It is magical and enveloping.

Built by hand, from the ground-up in our Maple Grove, Minnesota facility, this is created in service of the music, bringing it to life in every sense of the word. Listening through the 80S is a compelling experience, never a mental exercise. Set up appropriately, the 80S can fool you into feeling you are in the presence of the musical performance: The finest details are heard, with rich harmonics and full dynamic contrasts–from the smallest whisper to the largest crescendo–showcased with the ambience of the original acoustic space. Whatever your reference speakers may be, whether they are from Magico, Wilson, Magnepan, Vandersteen, Focal, Sonus Faber, B&W, or whatever you like: the Reference 80S will elevate their performance to a new plateau.

The US retail price is $15,000 in either natural silver or black finishes.

REVIEWS:

HiFi+: "The Reference 80S is keenly dynamic in use, both in micro and macrodynamics. If you play a large-scale piece of music [Tennstedt tearing into Mahler’s Symphony 2 ‘Resurrection’, LPO], it manages to cope with both the huge dynamic swings in this masterpiece and the subtle cues that show this to be an orchestra of musicians playing together.

"This good dynamic range is partnered with a fine sense of detail across the board from the deepest bass to the highest treble. In fact, that clean, extended treble is a bit of a key point to the Reference 80S sound; play something like ‘Because He Was a Bonny Lad’ by The Unthanks [Here’s the Tender Coming, Rabble Rouser]. The tight harmony of the two close-miked vocalists is extended and shows up any potential granularity in the mid and treble of an amplifier. Here, their voices are sonorous and clean right into the highest ranges and when the rest of the folk instruments kick in, there is clear sonic and spatial delineation.

"Beyond this, however, there’s a sense of rhythmic ‘bounce’ to the recording that is often lost in all the detail (it’s why it was a popular demo track of Naim Audio a few years ago). What the Reference 80S shows, however, is that ‘pace’ need not be mutually exclusive with ‘detail’ or ‘dynamics range’. If you want an amplifier to deliver all the filigree soundstaging and inner detail of a recording, this is it… but the same applies if you just want to kick back and play some rock and have some fun.

"That consistency is the joy of this amplifier. If you have a yearning for Big Boy Audio Research, but don’t want or need the additional power and the increased size, space, heat and price tag that top-end amplification requires, the Reference 80S is perfect. Making a bigger amp smaller is often a path to being disgruntled, or at least puts you some way from being ‘gruntled’. This is the first step on the Audio Research Reference power amplifier ladder, and I can’t help but feel that while it is for many the only step they’ll ever need to take, for others the excellent Reference 80S will be the first step into a world of the highest in high-end audio." - Alan Sircom

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