Soulution 500 Series Electronics
Contents
1. soulution Soulution 500 Series Electronics Phenomenal Jonathan Valin 92 Guide to High End Electronics PREVIOUS PAGE GO TO Contents Features Integrated Amps Power Amps Power Amps Preamps Pairs Preamps Phonostages Receivers Headphone Amps Editors Choice 501 monoblock amplifiers are terrific Sweet in timbre incredibly fast and T 26 000 Soulution 520 full function preamplifier and 55 000 per pair sensationally detailed from top to bottom they match or very nearly the superlative Technical Brain EX and Constellation Performance gear in speed and resolution although you might not guess this at first because like their bigger more expensive brothers the Soulution 700 Series components the 500s don t have the laser like focus of Technical Brain or Constellation They are bigger sounding than these others and because they image slightly more diffusely the difference is almost exactly like the difference between the imaging of a really good planar loudspeaker and a really good dynamic one you may at first think they are going to be politer more laid back and less detailed than the competition say at first because as soon as a hard transient comes along like those startlingly realistic violin and piano pizzicatos in the second movement of George Crumb s Four Nocturnes Mainstream Time or the near string busting snap of Keb Mo s National guitar on Every Morning2. ply its gain stages run in Class AB heavily biased toward Class A In addition to the switch mode supplies the 501 also uses four linear power supplies for other func tions The upside of switch mode supplies as understand it make that as Robert Harley explained it to me is that they keep the power supply constantly and fully charged no matter what the signal demands they can also be power factor corrected so that wattage and voltage are not slightly out of phase as they are in conventional supplies know there are switch mode naysayers who point out that even if filtered and shielded the strong noise chiefly RF of the digital switching signal GO TO Contents Features Integrated Amps Power Amps Power Amps Preamps Pairs Preamps Phonostages Receivers Headphone Amps Editors Choice Operating the 500 Series Electronics There really isn t a lot you need to know about setting up and using Soulution s new 501 amplifier Outside of an EIC power cord inlet a power on switch and XLR connector no RCA for the input from your preamp an XLR output connector for God knows what and what Soulution calls its Link connector for slaving the amps and preamps to the remote control on the back panel there really isn t much to the 501 On the front panel is a single rotary dial that switches with a click among three positions off standby and on To operate the amplifier you simply turn
3. from his eponymous first album MoFi or the tremendous bass drum thwack at the start of Poulenc s delightful Concerto for Two Pianos Decca you ll know without question that polite and wanting in immediacy and detail are the last things that Soulution s new electronics are You ll also know without question particularly from the Concerto for Two Pianos that these 500 Series components have some of the most lifelike bass you ve ever heard from mere stereo gear Generally don t get all worked up about the bottom octaves of speakers or electronics Sure its swell to have floor and jump and slam and all those good things that you hear in an actual concert hall The trouble is that it s hard to get those good things in an average listening room without getting a whole bunch of bad ones along with them like a huge midbass hump at room or port resonance or a steep roll off in the low bass and or a pronounced suckout in the power range Getting deep powerful midbass that also sounds continuous to use Harry Pearson s great multipurpose word with the octaves above and below it is a neat trick and very few loudspeakers can bring it off without a few tricks of their own Take my current reference speaker the Raidho C 4 1 reviewed elsewhere in this issue This seven driver ribbon ceramic cone hybrid D Appolito floorstander uses four 160mm ceramic sandwich woofers mounted as are all of the C 4 1
4. in the bass than the ARC or anything else Though they aren t the only goodies in Santa s bag in the sector of the market in which they compete the new Soulution 500 Series which also includes the 540 CD SACD DAC are unquestionably must audition products but then if you ve heard them in Munich and elsewhere driving Focal Stella Utopias to previously undreamed of heights you already know that Naturally they come with my highest warmest most enthusiastic recommendation Indeed until better comes along from Constellation Technical Brain or Soulution itself the 500 Series are my new solid state references www theabsolutesound com NEXT PAGE gt
5. ostinatos of Paul s Gretsch bass guitar and the slug to the midsection accents of Ringo s tom on the 15ips Puget Sound dub of Sgt Pepper they sound so unlike other electronics sound when pushed past their comfort zone That said the 501 and 520 are almost as good at soft and thrilling as they are at loud and thrilling l ve mentioned Keb Mo s National guitar on his eponymous debut album which the Soulution amp and preamp don t just reproduce with snap and speed but with a thrillingly lifelike density of color and texture on overtones that is new to Soulution electronics and quite beautiful to hear The 500 Series gear is just as good on Keb 96 Guide to High End Electronics PREVIOUS PAGE Mo s head cold of a voice which given the right speaker and the right room it reproduces with jaw dropping realism making the Raidho C 4 1s sound very much like a stat which is to say at one and the same time naturally hued in the room present and see through transparent though unlike a stat the C 4 1 doesn t flatten aspect and lose three dimensional body On high pitched instruments or instruments with strong treble range overtones the Soulution 501 520 is just as discerning as it is in the bass and midrange reproducing upper octave piano with its ivory and felt colors and the weight of the performer s touch fully intact Ditto on cymbals bells flutes piccolos The Soulution gear not only repro
6. s drivers including the central ribbon on thick anodized aluminum plates bolted to a tall slender tapered in the back dual ported in the front reinforced MDF enclosure The load this large multiway presents to an amp isn t particularly difficult a nominal 5 8 ohm impedance with a sensitivity in the upper 80s nonetheless meeting the conflicting demands of such a hybrid critter isn t all that easy for any amp to do To come to fullest life the C 4 1 requires an amplifier that is capable of unusual power and grip in the bass and at the same time very low distortion high speed and exceptional delicacy in the upper midrange and treble where that ribbon driver plays Generally speaking most amps are going to be better at one task than at the other For instance www theabsolutesound com NEXT PAGE gt EQU IPMENT REVIEW Soulution 500 Series Electronics both the Technical Brain and Constellation amps are speed demons with lightning transient response tremendous resolution of inner detail and given the right source gorgeous and highly realistic midband to treble tone color and texture However as it turned out with the C 4 1 neither of them was supplying the grip and impact in the bottom octaves that the Soulution 501 520 supplies While the Soulution 500 Series electronics didn t exactly turn the C 4 1 into a thump in the chest machine they certainly increased its low end wow factor t
7. the dial to the on position You can leave the amp in standby or off when not using it although will have a proviso about this later on The 501 preamp is quite a bit more complex Like the 501 it has a multi function rotary control on its front panel which can be used to adjust the volume by rotating it to lower the volume of the preamp to a pre set minimum by pressing it in you press it in again to return to the volume set prior to muting and to program the preamp in certain ways All of these functions are duplicated on the handy remote To the left of the rotary control are three buttons Power Prog for Program and Mute And to the left of the buttons is a rectangular LED display the intensity of which can and should be dimmed during playback The operating parameters of the preamp can be adjusted in many different ways by pressing the Prog button which puts the preamp in Program mode In this mode you can adjust balance volume limits phonostage subsonic filtering display dimming etc by selecting the parameter you want to change via the rotary dial which cycles through a list on the LED readout pressing the dial in to engage program mode for that parameter three LEDs light on the display when you do this again rotating the dial to select whatever change you want to make from the options displayed on the LED screen pressing the dial in again once you ve made your selection the three LEDs go o
8. also in a continuous of a single piece sense Like a chunk of black marble the mid to upper bass seems to have been expertly chiseled to make a perfectly seamless fit with the power range above it and the deep bass below Getting this kind of weight and sheer exhilarating impact along with superb pitch definition and astonishing resolution of timbre and texture in both the bottom most octaves and the power range isn t usually in the cards outside of a concert hall where you hear it all the time on orchestral tuttis or instrumental fortissimos One of the secrets to both the 500 Series and the 700 Series sonic success is standard settingly lower distortion achieved by slightly unusual means Where every other tube and solid state amp designer can think of flees from negative feedback like the plague Soulution has rushed to embrace it It is Soulution s contention that negative feedback in itself has gotten a bad rap it isn t feedback but the time it takes to send the corrected signal from the output to the input technically propagation delay that causes the problems Unless that propagation delay is zero or close to zero applying feedback will add time domain errors to the musical signal since music doesn t sit still for a glamour shot and as time goes by the feedback loop will be comparing apples at the output to oranges at the input in the words of Cyrill Hammer Soulution s CEO for more of whose wisdo
9. ded resolution of both of these ultra high resolution products came at a clear and objectionable cost in density of tone color they were both lean in timbre The Soulution 500 Series is more natural sounding than both and the difference between it and TB or Soulution s own earlier amps and preamps in resolution is honestly miniscule Plus both of these other amps and preamps cost twice the dough of the 500 Series gear As for ambience and sountstaging though the 520 which comes equipped with a marvelous phonostage with loading that is adjustable via DIP switches on the rear panel and an RIAA IEC subsonic filter that is actually quite effective and relatively inaudible oh you do lose a little floor on certain power discs that can be recaptured by simply turning the subsonic filter off doesn t reproduce ambience on say the richly resonant 45rpm Acousence recording of the Belenus Quartet playing Bart k s Fourth Quartet with quite the same cavernous width and depth as the superb stand alone Audio Research Reference Phono 2 phonostage paired with ARC s superb new two box 30k Reference 10 linestage it comes closer than most of the other solid state competition I ve heard plus it is marginally faster than the ARC combo and in all respects GO TO Contents Features Integrated Amps Power Amps Power Amps Preamps Pairs Preamps Phonostages Receivers Headphone Amps Editors Choice considerably better
10. duces these things with natural sweetness it reproduces the engineering always a strong point of the ultra high resolution Soulution electronics with utter clarity As a result the strings winds and percussion on the great albeit slightly dry Columbia EMI recording of Von Karajan s thrilling performance of Bartok s Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta sound as they should slightly dry where on a richly colored highly ambient recording like the aforementioned Reiner Sound strings winds and percussion have the dark silken beauty they re supposed to have Having said this would have to admit that the Soulution 500 Series tends to be a little soft sweet and recessed on the very top perhaps because it is so very strong on the bottom All that weight and energy in the bass and power range tends to give it a slightly more bottom up to use Michael Berresen s phrase kind of presentation where the Technical Brain and Constellation gear sound more top down would also have to say that in spite of its incredible low level resolution I ve heard a couple of amps that marginally exceed it in this regard the original Soulution 710 for example when paired with the ultra high resolution MartinLogan CLXes or the original Technical Brain TB Zero v2 electronics with Apogee speakers which produced a wealth of inner detail such as I ve never heard before or again from solid state electronics However the ad
11. ff and pressing the Program button again to return to operating mode It may sound complicated but it becomes second nature once you ve done it a couple of times moreover it can also be done via the remote On the rear panel of the preamp are an EIC power cord inlet a power on switch four sets of line level inputs two XLR only and two RCA only a single set of RCA inputs for the phonostage with two banks of DIP switches between them for independently setting the loading of the left and right channels two sets of preamp outputs one XLR and one RCA the latter of which is odd since there is no RCA input on the 501 amplifier and those Soulution Link connectors There was and is an operational guirk on my very early pair of 501s One of the amps would and will occasionally trigger its protection circuit on turn on which then requires me as with a modem to unplug it from the wall let it sit for a time and then re plug it in Apparently with these first 501s the turn on sequence of the power supplies is being misread by the amp s protection circuit which sees a problem where there is none am told that this programming issue was identified and corrected in later build samples of the 501 mine are from the first batch better than a year old Nonetheless am noting the problem which is annoying out of due diligence Let me also note that as much as like the 520 s built in phonostage and love it wish that Soul
12. hinner more skeletal with the loss of tone color textural details seem to be planed away too so that the resolution of instrumental body and performer articulations is reduced transients and big dynamic swings often acquire a sharp unpleasant edge or alternately sound flattened out as if they re being compressed against an invisible loudness ceiling the soundstage in turn congeals as if it too is being pressed against a pane of glass 95 Guide to High End Electronics PREVIOUS PAGE what was orderly and beautiful becomes disorderly and clamorous what was realistic becomes unmistakably the sound of a recording poorly reproduced Understand that all of these effects set in well before actual clipping Understand as well that this sense of strain is one of the foremost differences between music performed live and music played back on a stereo Up until it can give no more and its protection circuits simply shut it down to silence the 501 is the only amp I ve heard that doesn t do any of this It just keeps getting louder without any change in sonic character at SPLs so far beyond what you might expect from its nominal 125 watts that its actual output is difficult to gauge And because it keeps getting louder without strain or outright distortion magical things happen in the bass and power range on big dynamic moments Tymps bass drums gongs doublebasses trombones sarrusophones tubas trumpets bassoons a
13. m see the interview accompanying this review In the 700 Series Soulution s uh solution to the propagation delay problem was to increase the amp s bandwidth to the megahertz region and thereby increase the speed with which the feedback loop does its thing by a factor of 1000 Most amplifiers and preamplifiers work with a propagation delay of 1 5 microseconds Soulution s amplifiers and preamplifiers work with an overall propagation delay of 5 10 nanoseconds reduced to 1 2 nanoseconds in the voltage www theabsolutesound com NEXT PAGE gt EQU IPMENT REVIEW Soulution 500 Series Electronics amplification stage where most of the negative feedback is applied To quote Hammer again Since the timing errors of the Soulution amplifiers are negligible we have the opportunity to apply as much negative feedback as we need wherever it is required in the amplifier without reducing sonic performance This is how we can lower distortion to never before seen levels Lower distortion certainly helps explain the Soulution 501 520 s terrific top to bottom clarity and resolution But the phenomenal distortion numbers alone THD is less than 0 001 and SNR greater than 120dB can t explain why Soulution s new 500 Series electronics sound so world beatingly real and exciting in the bottom octaves and the power range You might think that its power delivery was a matter of sheer watts but while more than capable
14. nd contrabassoons bass clarinets saxophones pianos organs acquire the acoustical power that they have in life on big orchestral tuttis that sense of effortless seemingly limitless power focused by the hall and projected toward you with enough physical force to be felt like an onrushing wave and to thrill you with its impact With the 501s bass range instruments gain sweetness texture solidity and energy as they get louder as if the amps were continuously kicking themselves into higher gears as if there were no end to the gears they could engage a SPECS amp PRICING Soulution 501 Monoblock Amplifier Inputs One analog XLR Outputs One analog XLR one pair of binding posts Power 125W 8 ohms 250W 4 ohms 500W 2 ohms Output voltage max 70V RMS Output current max 45A Impulse rating SOOOW Sensitivity 155V RMS Voltage amplification 26dB Frequency response DC 800kHz Slew rate 900ns Distortion THD N lt 0 001 Signal to noise ratio gt 120dB Damping factor gt 10 000 Input impedance 2k ohms Output impedance 0 001 ohms Dimensions 442 x 143 x 448mm Weight Ibs Price 55 000 pr Soulution 520 Preamplifier Inputs Two balanced XLR two unbalanced RCA one phono five total Outputs One balanced XLR one unbalanced RCA Impedance Balanced Inputs 1 and 2 3k ohms unbalanced Inputs 3 and 4 3k ohms phono Input 5 adjustable Output gain Balanced 16dB unbalanced 10dB F
15. o sensational levels With the Soulution 501 520 the midbass and upper bass from about 45Hz to 125Hz 93 Guide to High End Electronics PREVIOUS PAGE immediately sounded more prominent and powerful as if the 501s had seemingly elevated those frequencies by a few dB although they have not Suddenly the C 4 1 had floor jump slam And yet the additional mid to upper bass energy wasn t overshadowing the very low bass or cheating me of color power and heft in the 100Hz to 400Hz power range Indeed via the 501s the C 4 1 s output between 30 and 40Hz was measurably the same as its output at 1kKHz and so was its output in the power range Now the greater prominence of mid to upper bass in the Raidho C 4 1 may constitute a bit of a departure from strict neutrality but GO TO Contents Features Integrated Amps Power Amps Power Amps Preamps Pairs Preamps Phonostages Receivers Headphone Amps Editors Choice it certainly makes for a very concert hall like low end when the amplifier driving the Raidho is capable of supplying enough voltage at a fast enough slew rate and with enough of a damping factor to wring more information about pitch color intensity and duration out of the bottom octaves The Soulution 501 monoblock and 520 preamplifier do this very thing spectacularly well The word solid best describes the Soulution low end solid not just in a three dimensional sense although it is that but
16. of driving the C 4 1s to run from the room levels the 501s are only rated at 125W into 8 ohms 250W into 4 ohms and 500W into 2 ohms Voltage amperage and peak power however are different stories At a glance you would never think it the 501s are actually quite compact about a quarter the size of the humongous 700s and purely Bauhaus utilitarian in the looks department but these little Soulutions put out 70V RMS 45A and 5000W of impulse power at a slew rate of 900ns with a damping factor that exceeds 10 000 The sheer seemingly inexhaustible flow of power from these small plain looking 94 Guide to High End Electronics PREVIOUS PAGE things fed by the every bit as outstand ing 520 preamplifier unquestionably has something to do with improvements that Soulution has made to the power supplies Unlike the original 700 Series amplifiers the 500 Series uses switch mode sup plies two of them electrically isolated from each other and from the audio cir cuit by opto couplers and transformers high performance filtered for noise at the inputs and outputs and high speed voltage regulated Each of these switch mode supplies is capable of delivering 600VA and Soulution claims that togeth er they deliver considerably more stable power than any conventional transformer based technology Lest you be confused the Soulution 501 is not a Class D amp Though it uses a switch mode power sup
17. requency response DC 800kHz THD N lt 0 001 Signal to noise ratio gt 120dB Crosstalk lt 120dB Impedance Balanced 10 ohms unbalanced 10 ohms Dimensions 442 x 143 x 448mm CLICK HERE TO COMMENT AT GO TO Contents Features Integrated Amps Power Amps Power Amps Preamps Pairs Preamps Phonostages Receivers Headphone Amps Editors Choice Weight Ibs Price 26 000 JV s Reference System Loudspeakers Raidho C 4 1 Raidho C1 1 Raidho D1 Estelon X Diamond MartinLogan CLX Magnepan 1 7 Magnepan 3 7 Magnepan 20 7 Linestage preamps Soulution 520 Constellation Virgo Audio Research Reference 10 Siltech SAGA System C1 Phonostage preamps Audio Research Corporation Reference Phono 2SE Innovative Cohesion Engineer ing Raptor Soulution 520 Power amplifiers Soulution 501 Constellation Centaur Audio Research Reference 250 Lamm ML2 2 Analog source DaVinci AAS Gabriel Mk II turntable with DaVinci Master s Reference Virtu tonearm Walker Audio Proscenium Black Diamond Mk V record player AMG Viella 12 Phono cartridges Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement Ortofon MC A90 Ortofon MC Anna Benz LP S MR Digital source Berkeley Alpha DAC 2 Cable and interconnect Synergistic Research Galileo Crystal Cable Absolute Dream Power Cords Synergistic Re search Tesla Shunyata King Cobra Crystal Cable Absolute Dream Power Conditioner Synergistics Research Galileo Technical Brain Accessories Synergistic ART
18. system Shakti Hallographs 6 A V Room Services Metu panels and traps ASC Tube Traps Critical Mass MAXXUM equipment and amp stands Symposium Isis and Ultra equipment platforms Walker Valid Points and Resonance Control discs Clearaudio Double Matrix SE record cleaner HiFi Tuning silver gold fuses v www theabsolutesound com NEXT PAGE gt EQU IPMENT REVIEW Soulution 500 Series Electronics There is no question in my mind that it is the combination of exceedingly low distortion astounding speed almost limitless voltage amperage and peak power and tremendous damping that allows the Soulution 501s to bring a speaker like the Raidho C 4 1s to such incredible life in the bottom octaves and the power range where grip damping transient response and unlimited power are all important But what about the midrange and the treble octaves What about the delicacy speed and sweetness they require If you re expecting that other shoe to drop here you re going to be disappointed True their bass power range color definition and dynamics may be their most salient features simply because in the bass and on big dynamic swings such as the Catherine Wheel fireworks of the Feria that closes Ravel s Rapsodie espagnole on Acoustic Sound s marvelous reissue of The Reiner Sound or the avalanche power of the Basie band s brass section on Street of Dreams from Sinatra Live at the Sands MoFi or the deep reaching
19. ution had included a second set of inputs a la ARC and others for those of us with more than one turntable also wish that cartridge loading could be set via the Program mode rather than by DIP switch It would be more convenient www theabsolutesound com NEXT PAGE gt EQU IPMENT REVIEW Soulution 500 Series Electronics can be radiated throughout the circuit All can tell you is that don t hear this issue What am hearing is that when an amp has no droop or phase shift in the supply at any level with any signal the net effect seems to be equivalent to plugging your speakers directly into a wall socket When it comes to dynamic linearity the 501 is simply nonpareil although have a feeling that its big brother the newly redesigned 701 now also equipped with a switch mode power supply may be nonpareiler Here s the thing Every other amp I ve listened to tube or solid state reaches a point where it simply can t get louder or more dynamic without also audibly changing its sonic character Sometimes this pivot point comes relatively early on as it did with the puny ARC Reference 210 monoblocks less so with the stouter Reference 250s sometimes it comes relatively late as it did with the Constellation Centaur But come it does And when it comes the music doesn t just get louder if it does get louder it also gets more distorted Typically timbres begin to lose their natural sweetness becoming t
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search