Customer Reviews

Red Rose Music Spirit IA-1 35-Watt Stereo Integrated Amplifier

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Seems like Mark Levinson's storied past as a high priest of high end sparks some green-eyed problems for customers who haven't heard the more modestly priced Red Rose boxes, but enjoy leaping to conclusions. No, these four-figure units won't blow away the branded Levinson systems that fetch four and five times as much from no-holds-barred audiophiles with big stock portfolios, but the price-performance ratio is terrific. The Spirit amp matches the specs and sound of their original Rosette amp, but carries a slightly redesigned front panel, and foregoes some tweaks (like a remote) that are being made to the Rosette. At this price, the trade-off is still in the listener's favor. I auditioned a number of familiar CDs (no, NOT the SACDs that Levinson himself would prefer we embrace) on the Spirit system, and both amp and speakers sounded stunning, tackling everything from deep-dish chamber jazz to the Berlin Philharmonic to pipe organ with aplomb, and meeting or beating anything I've heard anywhere near this price.

To the skeptics weighing in against the designs because of Levinson's involvement (ironic, in light of his rep among high end merchants and consumers), a little research (ever heard of Google?) offers food for thought. The underlying design work reflects the innovations of a Swedish speaker designer, Bo Bengtssen, and an American electronics engineer, Victor Tiscareno; Levinson's primary contribution, beyond his name and investment, was pairing Bengtssen's ribbon-tweeter speaker strategy with Tiscareno's purist approach to amplifier design, and encouraging these collaborators to shoot for great sound at modest prices. (Red Rose can and does offer more exalted performance at substantially higher price points, via the higher end units they sell at their own boutique in NYC.)

You don't get this level of sound at these prices without sacrifices, but those I could detect were essentially issues of scale and convenience. The Spirit speakers won't fill a ballroom or a two-storey living room in a McMansion, and the ribbons are highly directional, but sampled in the sort of modest living rooms that real world occupants inhabit, on-axis, they reproduce music beautifully. The amp's minimalist input scheme won't support a wide number of sources, and vinyl loyalists will probably need to spend as much on a separate phono pre-amp as they did on the amp if they want to use a turntable; in other words, the Spirit resembles most of the high-end separates that pointy-headed alpha audiophiles applaud and willingly underwrite with even bigger checks. You got a problem with that?

Just got back from C.E.S. 2003. Spent a couple of days days at the High End Audio Show. Listened to dozens upon dozens of stratopherically priced systems, then heard this little integrated amp with the Spirit speakers. Wow! This little system produced more emotion, with greater clarity, than almost anything else I heard. It is extremely important that you suspend all your preconceived notions about price = performance.
In the right room, a fairly small one, this system will provide uncolored, superb sound. Needless to say I have ordered the amp and the speakers, in French sycamore, no less....can't wait.