CARL JAMES SYSTEM

This is Carl James Scintilla system, the amp is a Classé 400 which he says "Drives the Scintilla's effortlessly on the 1 ohm setting, the amp doesn't even seem to be working hard"
(Full review to come)

ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT

Amp - Classé 400

HENRY HO'S CUSTOM BUILT CLASS A AMP

Henry Ho designed and built his own Class A power amp to drive his Scintilla's

Design philosophy

1.  Never go for power as a requirement  because muscle alone just won't cut it. That is not say that I'll settle for a 5 watt Triode either, but in the range of 50-200 W (solid state power, mind you) is sufficient (even for the Scintilla if you do it right). Maybe I just don't listen to music at a party level.  I like it loud, but not too loud. But then again, what is point in getting it really loud and loose all the composure and details.

2.  It has to be Class A - and we are talking about dissipation in the hundred of watts here- not like so many commercial designs claiming Class A and the whole thing weight 20 lbs, that's just not possible. For a 100W of Class A, the transformer alone weighs that much.

Amp details

1.  Power - 80 watts is my guesstimate based on the available power supply, already taking into account the loss through the transistors and the power supply sag at full power. I don't have a generator and/or a scope to check when it on the verge of clipping or when it actually clips, but I think my guesstimate is very close and 80 watts is probably conservative. I don't have a distortion meter of any kind so no distortion spec. is available.

2.  Design -  I design the whole thing from scratch.- from design through prototype and I even designed the PCB with PC layout software. The whole project took me 4 months to finish (the most time consuming part is actually making the chassis).
The board (double sided) was professionally done and cost me $850 dollars for the 10 boards. The topology  is nothing that you would call exotic. But the things that make this amp an exotic amp are the hardware that I put in it and the way the transistors are biased.

3.  Hardware -  2 separate 1KW toroidal for the output, 2 separate 160W toroidal transformers for the front end. About 0.7 farad of capacitance of which 0.5 farad is for output stage.

4.  Bias current -  100ma through each leg of the input differential pair. 200 ma through second stage. As you can see I am dissipating more power than some amps which are so called  "Class A" and that is only for the front end, finally 1.3 amps through each of the 8 output transistors.

5.  Supply rails - front end rails +/- 52 volts
                          output rails  +/- 42volts

The front end rails are fully regulated and output rails have raw filtering of 0.5 farads of capacitance

6.  Dimension and weight -  Chassis is 19" W x 11.75"H x 22"D and weight about 170 pounds.

7.  Transistors - the whole design uses Mosfet's from Harris or I&R.  I tried Harris FET on the prototype and ended up using I&R FET's in the amp. The amp is totally directly coupled, no capacitors any where, period (accept for power supply rails of course). Plus it's a non-feedback design by the way.
Of course you can change that to have feedback if you want.  Bass, of course will tighten (and this is where I don't agree with a lot of audiophiles) if you up the feedback , you'll loose all the air and the bloom in the midrange and details in the high.  Personally I prefer non-feedback or just light-feedback

9.  Cost - the whole thing costs about $1500.00, cheaper if you can find a source for older cheap heatsinks.

ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT

Custom built preamp

JONATHAN WHEELDON'S SYSTEM

I currently have a pair of Scintilla’s, they are finished in taupe and although distinctly '80's I think they still have a modern and attractive look, my other half would disagree though. As you say in your description they are quite imposing on a room though this is necessary to create that wall of sound.
Personally I have never heard anything like them, the detail, the separation, the shear scale and the soundstage just so long as you (and your wife) can live with them. The bass from these speakers is phenomenal the detail in the low frequencies is like nothing else, listen to your favorite tracks as if for the first time, as good with dance and rock as with anything. I knew that driving them wouldn't be easy and I didn't want to buy a Krell 250 which is about the minimum you need to drive these beasts. If you have been told that Krells are the only amps to use to drive Scintilla's don’t believe it. Krell's blow up too.
I think that if you get a high powered amp with at least 200 watts a side preferably American with a cooling fan which has only been available in the last say 13 years should do the job as they will have been designed to work with them. You will also need a good high gain pre-amp which will rule out valves but don't worry you won't miss them. I am using a Hafler XL600 stereo power amp which pumps out 300watts a side and are mono bridgeable for bi-amping (something I would like to try myself if anyone knows where I can find another one). The Hafler is difficult to find but will only set you back about £500 compared to over £2000 for a Krell 250. I am using a Mark Levinson ML-1 pre-amp which does the business.

Jonathan Wheeldon

ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT

DVD/CD player Sony DVP-S7700
Mark Levinson ML-1 pre-amp
Hafler XL600 power amp

SCOTT KUPERMAN'S SYSTEM

I have a pair of Apogee Scintillas that I have lived with for over a year.
They are best configured to serve as a 1-ohm load but require current doubling amplifiers to run on. Rather than find a Dan Dag or John Curl type bruiser, I have my Scintillas running on two mono-modified (standard factory mod,) Balanced Audio Technologies (BAT) VK-60 triode tube amps!
These amps are designed to continuously drive loads as low as 1-ohm. Although some might say these amps make the speakers bass shy, I claim that they sound more NATURAL and BELIEVABLE than with any other amp I've tried!
I've used Classé, Krell, Pass, and Gryphon solid state amps but found them all lacking in one way or another.
I use pure silver interconnects of my own creation for all signal cables.
This combination takes the cake!