However, even if each component that has been declared to be superfluous delights the heart of every high end aficionado, the methodology of leaving the burden of amplification to the sources and the power amplifier section alone might lead through shallow waters. Negligently designed circuitries react sensitively to the cables used and their length respectively. If used incorrectly, even a volume control unit of the noble manufacturer Alps can, depending on its position, negatively influence the tonal balance. In addition to that, the output stages of the connected sources might get literally overcharged by this kind of unfamiliar task. Well, however, the mastermind behind the design is Zdzislaw Hrynkiewicz-Struss, a passionate music lover with a lot of technical expertise: a good blend in search of the perfect sound at home.

His career started way back in the seventies at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Employed there as a specialist in engineering and electronics, he narrowed his focus on the amplification of weak signal currents in the field of measurement technology. For an avowed Rolling Stones fan who couldn’t listen to his favourite band in due form, his background obviously paved the way to designing his own audio amplifier. However, a few more years were to pass before the first amplifier was produced under his name in 1995. In the meantime, he worked with Philips and the Studer AG for a few years, which gave him opportunity to further sharpen his profile. His own patents for a preamplifier circuit called Harmonics and Phase Conversion System (HPCS) bear witness thereof. The circuit is intended to combine the reproduction properties of amplifier tubes with the advantages of solid-state technology, such as control and dynamics. Should this already be a hint for the forthcoming listening test? The next few hours in the listening room will have to tell it. A blue LED and a soft click indicate the amplifier’s readiness for operation, while the two power supplies have flooded the circuit electronically in the meantime.

Many years ago, the Nits presented with Urk an excellent live recording, that documented the tour which followed their most successful studio album In The Dutch Mountains. But it’s not the hit single of the same name staged by the Dutch musicians around Henk Hofstede that starts off as my opening track, but the charismatic "Two Skaters" instead: A softly haunting song in which the kicks of the deliberately spectacularly recorded bass drum play an essential role. And the performance blows me away. The bass escapes the speaker cabinets in a powerful, unagitated and very controlled manner. And I play it just all over again, but now with significantly increased volume. I'd rather spoil the atmosphere here in the house before this amplifier even gets close to its performance limits! The space opens up widely and the recitative chant of the Dutchman is realistically projected between the speakers. The voice sounds voluminous and the hi-hat is rendered smoothly as silk.