DATE: January 21, 1999

Dear Steve,

I received my Zen Triode Amplifier serial number 110 on Friday January 15th. This amp has been put to almost continuous use since that time. My greatest fear was this amp would not have enough power to drive my Linaeum LFX speakers with an efficiency of 89 dB to a high enough sound level. I am quite happy to report that in my 13 x 19 living room I can achieve sound levels that meet and exceeded what I want.

On Friday, Terrye, my spouse, and I spent all evening and well into the wee hours of Saturday enjoying various pieces of music's that we had not listened to in years. To put this musical achievement into perspective, Terrye has very sensitive ears that fatigue quite rapidly if the sound is not right. The only thing that stopped us from listening longer was the knowledge that our kids would be waking us in a few hours.

The clarity of the amp is such that I can hear individual voices and individual instruments through large masses of complex musical arrangements. It does not matter if I'm listening to Ruth Brown, Dexter Gordon, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, Lighting Hopkins, or Bach this amp helps them to communicate the message and emotions that they wanted people to feel.

The bass reproduction is simply outstanding. For years, I owned a Dyna ST-70, with many mods done to improve the sound. I thought that I had good bass, but now I realize what I had was over blown mid bass that colored the deep bass. Through the Zen, the mid bass in cleaner and clearer, and the deep bass punch is more prevalent. The human voice, the world's finest musical instrument, is portrayed so life like that it is scary to think that this sound is actually coming through a set of speakers!

There are times when I'm listening to music that I think I hear someone else in the room or someone coming in to the room but, then I found it was not someone but rather a sound hidden inside the recording that was so life like. I did find one small thing that I would change on this amp. I would mark the RCA inputs right and left.

I want to say how happy and satisfied I am with the Zen amp. This amp is truly a remarkable product.

Sincerely,

Rob Avila