Translations:

The valve amplification pieces from Emillé labs exude luxury in similar ways to the best Swiss watches. The visual beauty of their design is married to pristine engineering that instills utter confidence in their owners.

Visually they depart radically from traditional valve amplifiers, which usually expose their transformers quite obviously, and hide their tubes under industrial looking grills for protection.

What about their sound you’ll be asking, does this depart just as radically from traditional valve amplifier sound? It’s useful to ask ourselves just what attracts many of us to valve amplifiers in the first place. There is of course the comforting warm glow of the tubes, most beautifully presented through the prism of the Emillé design. This warm tube glow is equated in our minds with a similarly warm, lush, liquid sound. Three dimensional sonic images of instruments and voices performing in an acoustic space, and the sense of presence of those instruments and voices in front of you within that space.

When we consider most other valve amplifiers in the market, they fall into two categories. Generally speaking the more powerful push-pull valve designs definitely lean towards the warm and lush side, being a bit soft at either of the frequency extremes. Some of these qualities are a departure from reality. Many people find that departure highly enjoyable though, when combined with the palpable sense of instruments in front of them and the ability to convey the full emotion of a performance.

Lower powered Single Ended Triode designs also tend to part to some degree from reality. However some of the modern SET designs combine the three dimensional palpability with a see through clarity and transparency that reminds one of crystal clear cool water. They may still be a little sweeter than reality; but they could not be described as warm, lush or soft and may even be a bit too brilliant for some peoples tastes.

Emillé labs instead manage to combine the best of both worlds, while avoiding the pitfalls of either. They include in their line both push-pull designs, where the extra power is needed to drive your speakers and SET designs where your speakers are efficient enough to be driven by 10 watts or less. In both cases these pieces are uncannily balanced between the more traditional valve sound and the more modern SET sound described above. Sure you will still hear some of the personality of the 300B Valves in their SET KM300SE integrated. This has turned out to be a wonderful Amplifier to use with our top of the range Avantgarde Trio system with Basshorn. In combination with the Emillé Quintessence Pre-amplifier, it just adds a touch of sweetness and softening to the presentation which suits many people’s tastes.

Equally you will still hear some of the characteristics of the four 6550′s in their KI-120 Mono-blocks, which provide 120 watts per channel for more demanding speaker loads. However, the Emillé sound is all about poise and balance, and this is achieved throughout their amplifier range. Both Srajan Ebean of 6Moons and Roy Gregory from HiFi plus agree on this point. Here are some quotes from Roy’s review of the KI-40L integrated stereo amplifier:

“To quote a phrase, “It’s all in the timing” and boy does the KI-40L get that right. It has a way with the shape and pace of a phrase that serves music well.

“Deft enough to do small scale acoustic works with a breathtaking sense of life and presence, beefy enough to handle all but the most outrageous beats and kind to old ladies and poor recordings, this is a perfectly poised performer. Sit back and simply enjoy the expansive soundstage, the subtlest of intimacies, the sweeping majesty of a full orchestra.”

“The Emillé sticks close to traditional valve virtues but avoids the normal pitfalls. It is above all, and unashamedly, musical. Indeed, its rare combination of delicacy and sheer physical presence makes for rewarding listening.”

The name Emillé may sound like it comes from France. In fact though it refers to the historic Korean Emillé bell which has a uniquely beautiful tone and provided the name and inspiration for the Emillé Labs pieces. The Emillé bell itself which was cast in 771 A.D. is so delicate it can never be struck or heard again. Fortunately you can hear its namesake in the form of the superb Emillé labs pieces, here at Sound Galleries. Visit Emillé