Integrated Amplifiers

20 gives plenty Icon Audio has taken its cue from the Leak Stereo 20 for its latest entry into the budget valve market, says Jason Kennedy Beside the Quad II, the Leak Stereo 20 (ST20) is one of the most sought after British valve amps of yore. Introduced in the mid-fifties by H J Leak, it sold in substantial numbers for over a decade, but today even unrestored examples cost more than Icon is asking here. The Stereo 20PP’s circuit is based on the original ST20 and uses the same output valves in a push-pull configuration. It only delivers 15 watts per channel, but as any glass audio enthusiast will tell you, it’s not how much power you have, but how you use it that counts.

Musical update This Creek amp claims a variety of technical improvements over the original. Richard Black investigates how this works out in sonic terms Rather to our surprise, we find it’s over five years since we first set eyes and ears on the original Creek Evolution amp. Amplifier design may not have made any revolutionary leaps in that time (at least, conventional amplifier design like Creek’s – switching amps have progressed rather more), but it’s natural that a manufacturer would find a few tweaks to apply that could justify adding a ‘2’ to the model name. Extra, extra One of the changes is a practical one, adding an ‘AV direct’ inputwhich bypasses the volume control, allowing the Evo 2 to be used as a power amp.

Brio benchmark Rega's new compact Brio-R amp uses a circuit design originally conceived in the late sixties. Jason Kennedy examines the modern classic The Brio-R is new in more ways than its remote handset, for a start it’s a totally new circuit, albeit one that was originally conceived in the late sixties. Rega designer Terry Bateman discovered the circuit as a result of buying and reading a large collection of second-hand Wireless World magazines and noticing that the previous owner, engineer Mike Howell, had circled particular articles. These articles led him to a design which was published in 1970, but to Terry’s knowledge never put into production.

Rega Elicit The latest amp under this name is a sophisticated performer with singularly purposeful rhythmic flow The original Elicit, we were astonished to be reminded, appeared in 1990. Any resemblance to the current amp is superficial at most, as this design is new in concept, specification and design. It’s an 80-watt-rated amp built into a familiar-looking Rega case. In common with most current Rega electronics, it incorporates a heatsink on the underside: but since that’s not adequate in that position for two 80-watt channels there are also internal heatsinks at each side of the chassis.

Audiophile Airplay The first integrated amp to work with Apple Airplay is the claim, but is it audiophile? Jason Kennedy fires up his iTunes to find out Streaming digital music from your computer is a great idea, but it’s also a challenging one for the non-technical. Setting up such systems is getting a lot easier, but Apple’s Airplay is about as easy as streaming can be. All you need is an Apple touchscreen device or computer and an Airplay receiver, then you can play whatever is on the source wirelessly through the receiver. By combining the interface with the source cuts out a whole stage from regular wi-fi streaming systems.

Multi-purpose Could Onkyo's TX-NR609 receiver be the best-featured audio tool on the planet? Ed Selley thinks he's found a great way to spend £500 It’s been a good few years since we featured an AV receiver in Hi-Fi Choice. But following Onkyo’s recent return to hi-fi (HFC 345) we were made aware of a truly ground-breaking new product with an astonishing spec-list, one that we felt should be put through its paces. The TX-NR609 is a seven-channel AV receiver with 160 watts (albeit into six ohms) per channel and six-HDMI inputs able to receive 3D video and every audio format you can think of. Additionally more conventional digital and analogue inputs are fitted, as well as an internal tuner.

Irresistible force The latest single-ended Unison S6 offers audiophiles pure Class A operation and a honey-rich glow says a smitten Jimmy Hughes Although solid-state amplifiers offer many practical benefits – smaller size for a given power output, cooler running, higher maximum power output and potentially lower noise – tube amplifiers promise a certain extra ‘something’ that many audiophiles seem to find irresistible. But is it all imagination and hype? While tube amps might seem to hark back to the golden era of high-fidelity, do they really offer any tangible benefits over a good transistor design? With its pure Class A output stage, the Unison Research S6 has all the right credentials. It undoubtedly talks the talk, but does it walk the walk? Gutsy sound Like most modern amplifiers, the S6 keeps things simple. It offers five unbalanced line inputs, a set of tape outputs and a single set of loudspeaker outputs.