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Modwright Instruments KWH 225i integrated amplifier

Modwright Instruments KWH 225i integrated amplifier

Some of the more interesting companies in this industry started out by modifying existing components; Tom Evans made his name upgrading the clocks in CD players to good effect in the UK, and in the USA Dan Wright of Modwright fame brought out the humanity in digital audio by adding tubes to the analogue outputs of DACs and CDPs around the turn of the millennium. Today, Modwright also makes a range of electronics using a mix of tube and solid state technology. As founder Dan Wright puts it, “I prefer tube circuits for line-level applications, such as source, preamp, phono or any voltage gain stage. I prefer SS components anytime that current is being amplified. This is not 100% hard and fast as I have also designed and been quite happy with both SS and PP [push-pull] all tube designs.”

Modwright follows this thinking by making valve-based preamps, phono stages and DACs alongside transistor power amps, but he’s aware that not everyone has the budget or space to accommodate multi-box amplification and this spurred the creation of the KWH 225i hybrid integrated amp. It’s based on the company’s KWI 200 transistor integrated, but has a preamplifier section built around a pair of triode valves which can be seen through an opening on top of the box. The power amplifier stage uses bipolar transistors and is specified to deliver 225 Watts into eight Ohms and nearly twice that into four, so it’s a powerful device and not just a heavy one. The blue anodised heat sinks on either flank are not just there to complement the display. It’s no bulldozer however, as the first 25W are in Class A and Wright stipulates that there is no global feedback used.

Modwright Instruments KWH 225i integrated amplifier, Modwright Instruments KWH 225i integrated amplifier

Internally it is constructed from modules which must ease maintenance as well as future upgrades. In standard form, the KWH 225i is a line-level amplifier with three inputs on RCA and one on XLR plus a fourth RCA pair for home theatre bypass/preamp input purposes. Unlike some Modwright amps you can’t add a DAC module, but there is the option to install a solid-state phono stage for MM and high output MC cartridges; gain is only 50dB, so those with regular MCs will need a step up. Alternatively, Modwright makes standalone phono stages that cater for both cartridge types and have tube rather than solid-state amplification stages.

I like the large displays for volume and input on this amp. It certainly beats squinting across the room for the marker on the edge of a volume knob. Equally important, however, is the option to dim the display down to nothing for those moments when you need to eliminate distractions and ascend to the cosmos along with David Gilmour, or whoever floats your escape pod. Display dimming, input selection and volume can be adjusted with an aluminium handset that is unusually chunky, but not very large and more ergonomic than it might appear. The handset can also turn the amp on and off. A few other buttons are present but do not relate to this amplifier, and don’t detract from its functionality.

Listening commenced with the KWH 225i hooked up to an iFi Pro iDSD DAC, using the tube output stage setting, and a pair of PMC twenty5.26i floorstanding loudspeakers, a pairing that proved to be highly engaging and entertaining. Wright says that “Sonically, I like black backgrounds, low noise and clean detailed sound, balanced with the right amount of tube body and weight.” And that is what I heard; this amplifier has excellent transparency to detail allied to bass that is fuller and juicier than found on an all transistor amplifier. Wright has clearly managed to combine these two technologies rather well because it was all I could do to press pause and drag my sorry arse off the listening seat and over to the keyboard.

Initially I put on Skylab’s #1 [Astralwerks] just to warm up the system in the background, but the quality of burbling was just too interesting to ignore and I was soon bathing in some seriously subterranean rumblings that were as much physical as aural. What’s more, the melodic bits over the top remained open and inviting at the same time; this album has deeper bass on it than most but usually this aspect becomes tiring after a while. Here, the Modwright provided the low end in context so that the music came first and the sound second. Something that valves seem to be rather good at more often than not. With Keith Jarrett on the stage [‘Part VII, London’, Paris/London – Testament, ECM] his stomping was low enough to feel yet not overpowering nor injurious to the brilliance of the playing. What’s clear is the solidity and power of the piano, it has a greater physical presence in the Modwrights hands than usual but this only enhanced the performance by putting the player and instrument in the room.

Modwright Instruments KWH 225i integrated amplifier, Modwright Instruments KWH 225i integrated amplifier

The KWH 225i positively encourages music with decent low end, and I don’t need much encouragement in the first place, so Bob Marley’s ‘Natural Mystic’ soon found itself in the play queue. Here what strikes one initially is the reverb on the voice, which is not usually a clear characteristic, but this amp is particularly transparent and reveals such details with ease. That said, the bass guitar does sound particularly good in a chocolatey way; it’s open strings seemingly looser and more relaxed than usual. Realising that I was being pulled down a river of bass I switched to an orchestral piece where other qualities might be revealed. Maxim Emelyanychev’s take on Schubert’s ‘The Great’ [Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944, Linn] is a large scale work with plenty of scale and dynamics that the Modwright revelled in. The emphasis image-wise was more on depth than width/height but the sense of musical flow was very powerful and made me want to listen for longer. Another classical piece with solo violin revealed the tonal qualities of the amp, bringing out the character of the instrument and player, the slight extra warmth of the balance countering any tendency to stridency in the higher notes.

Going back to more contemporary instrumentation of Laurie Anderson’s ‘Gravity’s Angel’ [Mister Heartbreak, Warner Bros] underpinned the sense that you can hear an awful lot through this Modwright; it zooms in on the quiet stuff somehow and shows you just what’s going on. At the same time there’s power and weight in the bass line, and it’s a great bass line, and there are some weird phasey effects with sounds shooting around the stage, the combination making for a very solid sonic picture for the listener to watch and wonder at. As Dan is a vinyl fan I put on a couple of records via a Tom Evans Groove SRX phono stage and this proved to be a very worthwhile exercise. The new Abbey Lincoln re-master from Craft Recordings (Abbey is Blue) sounding superb with very clear acoustic from the venue and excellent image definition, the beautiful tone of the original tube electronics bringing out the soul of this fine singer.

It’s always interesting to try different speakers with any amp so I wrestled a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 802s into place. There’s an enthusiastic quote from an 802 owner on the Modwright website and it instantly became clear why this is the case; the sound they produce was nothing short of vivid in its transparency and three dimensionality. What’s more, a number of pieces created a soundstage that was so real and deep that it felt as if you could walk into it. The solid-state power amplifier serves to amplify the beguiling qualities of those two triode valves and produces results that are electrifying in their immediacy and atmosphere. The recording needs to be good to achieve this of course, but plenty of the tracks I tried did the trick including the distinctly lo-fi eponymous debut from Tortoise, the track ‘Night Air’ having a reach out and touch it presence that encouraged level and extended listening. In fact all the better sounding tunes encouraged me to push the volume, the 802 is a little reluctant in the midrange and this amp balances this perfectly so the end result is very pleasing.

Dan Wright has done a fine job of marrying the qualities of valve and solid state electronics in the KWH 225i which is a well built and musically compelling amplifier that will charm many listeners, especially those with revealing loudspeakers.

 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

  • Type: Hybrid, 2-channel integrated amplifier.
  • Analogue inputs: Three single-ended line-level inputs (via RCA jacks), one balanced input (via XLR connectors), one home cinema bypass input (via RCA jacks)
  • Digital inputs: N/A
  • Analogue outputs: Pre outputs (via RCA jacks), loudspeaker terminals on 5-way binding posts
  • Supported sample rates: N/A
  • Input impedance: 20kOhms
  • Output impedance (preamp): N/A
  • Headphone Loads: N/A
  • Power Output: 225Wpc @ 8 Ohms, 400Wpc @ 4 Ohms
  • Bandwidth: 20Hz–100kHz
  • Distortion: Not specified
  • Signal to Noise Ratio: Not specified
  • Dimensions (H×W×D): 165 × 432 × 432mm
  • Weight: 29kg
  • Price: £8,500

Manufacturer: Modwright Instruments

URL: modwright.com

 

UK Distributor: Elite Audio

Tel: 0800 4647274

URL: eliteaudiouk.com

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Tags: INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER MODWRIGHT INSTRUMENTS KWH 225I

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