Tube technology gives the listener a sense of live sound
Eduard Serhiiko is our client and co-founder of Trident Sound. It’s a manufacturer of Hi-End audio equipment. Eduard told us about tube technology and Full Range speaker systems.
The project was created jointly with my colleague Vladimir Ulyanov. We have a technical education, we graduated from the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, worked at the Institute of Semiconductors of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and both were fond of electronics. We've always loved classical music, jazz, New Edge, and we often got together to listen to it and to talk about music technology news. Back in the early 90s, Vladimir created experimental models of tube amplifiers, which were based on the element base of the former Soviet Union available at that time. Today, after a quarter of a century, electronics has made great strides forward, making it possible to realize previously inaccessible ideas, but the basis of the amplifier itself, its soul, has remained the same - it is a kind and “warm” sound tube. We also started studying and calculating acoustic chambers, as a result of which we determined the vector of our activity in the field of Hi-End.
WE SELL ACOUSTIC KITS, NOT JUST AMPLIFIERS
The set “Maestro Simplicity” from Trident Sound costs from 10,000 euros. It depends on the type of lamps used and the corresponding acoustics. The kit includes the tube amplifier itself with a mandatory system of protection and automatic maintenance of the lamp operating mode throughout the entire service life, a pair of floor-standing Full Range acoustics, branded acoustics cables and a cable for a sound source, granite stands for acoustics, a stabilizer for the amplifier. The speaker systems are equipped with American Full Range speakers from 4 to 8 inches with a sensitivity of 88 to 95 dB, which are produced in Taiwan. We calculate the acoustic chambers ourselves, the acoustics are made in Ukraine. There are several options for floor acoustics - with a classic, reverse and open horn. Our choice of speakers is based on the integrity of the resulting acoustic scene, which only Full Range acoustics can provide: the original signal is cut using active and passive filters at frequencies corresponding to their speaker range, and then all this diversity must be “glued” together.
Hi-End tube amplifiers are controlled by modern electronics. They are equipped with control systems of the state of lamps, as well as security systems. Due to this, the service life of the lamps in the amplifier is from 2500 to 5000 hours, which in normal mode gives more than five years of operation on one set of lamps. The amplifiers are equipped with proven EL34, KT88 and 300B series tubes. The power of the tube amplifiers varies from 8 to 35 W in modes A and AB. Changing lamps of the same series in the same amplifier, you can hear and feel new notes in long-familiar compositions, discovering more and more new horizons of the bottomless world of music.
The amplifier enclosure is constructed of precious metal and wood, which is used on the front and side panels. The lamps themselves are covered with easily removable curved transparent glass. On the front panel of the amplifier, in addition to the 3-input switch and power level control modes, there are two arrow playback level indicators with indicator backlight. Inside the amplifier, a multi-level architecture is used, which allows quick installation and adjustment of individual nodes, and there are also specially designed power transformers and made to order in Ukraine, allowing you to listen not only to classical music and jazz, but also rock, which is not quite typical for tube amplifiers.
We also develop a series of tube preamplifiers, tube headphone amplifiers, hybrid RIAA equalizers.
PEOPLE WHO ONCE HEARD THE LAMP SOUND, NEVER ABANDON THEIR COMMITMENT TO IT
Lamp technology is understood by people who value music. Hi-End equipment gives a sense of presence right in front of the stage. Lamp technology is a technique that "breathes" and "lives". They mainly listen to classical and jazz music using this technique. Such music is conducive to solitude and a calm, balanced state. For lamp technology, its location is important, since any objects in the room change the sound picture. Each room is unique and can bring its own sounds and sounds to the music. Therefore, we have a line of several types of speaker systems - for large rooms and for small rooms, and soon there will be a tube amplifier headphone.
TUBE TECHNOLOGY IS ETERNAL
During his life, each person develops and goes through different stages, and with age he is more inclined to some things that he underestimated and did not understand in his youth: he begins to contemplate nature, listen to classical and jazz music ... Therefore, most of our clients are people of mature age. This generation hails from the USSR, where jazz and rock were considered dissent, and vinyl records of famous world performers were obtained underground.
In Europe and the USA, the interest in classical and jazz music, in Hi-End technology is much higher, therefore the number of proposals is much greater. This technique is more accessible there, even at its rather high cost, since the purchasing power is higher.
We regularly take part in exhibitions, rent premises and make presentations of new developments for owners of audio salons, who are partners in promoting our Hi-End technology. According to independent experts , we can say with confidence that we are better than many European manufacturers: we have high quality acoustics and amplifiers, and the price is more democratic.
Our goal is to enter the world market, and the first step in this is Europe. In 2020, we had to postpone some of the plans, in particular, the demonstration of our products at the international audio and video exhibition in Warsaw. We hope that this year everything will fall into place and new opportunities will appear.
Our equipment is our own development, so it was important for us to register the rights to them. We also registered the trademark in order to be able to declare ourselves not only in Ukraine, but also abroad. We also created a logo for the brand, which is based on the combination of our roots - the Ukrainian national emblem of the trident and the classical musical instrument harp.