LAB 12 SUARA VALVE AMPLIFIER REVIEW

The LAB 12 Suara Valve Amplifier use the powerful KT150 tube pushing out an impressive 50W of Class A power and costs £3145 (€3835 $4490). Stuart Smith takes a listen for HiFi Pig.

I’m a massive fan of the Greek brand LAB12 and have been for a number of years. Over that time I’ve amassed an almost completely LAB12-based system, though the melto2 phonostage got nicked out of that relatively modestly priced system to sit in the big system – yes, the melto is THAT good! Currently, I have their excellent dac1, pre1, and power conditioner in one of our permanent reference systems but I always wanted to complete the system with one of their amplifiers – and so I did. So, this review is a little different to other reviews I do as this is not a review sample and is a product bought (blind I hasten to add) to specifically add to this system. Now I looked up what suara meant and found one citation saying it was of Indonesian origin and meaning “sound”, which sort of makes perfect sense. However, I prefer my own theory that LAB12 wanted to call the amp Stuart but ran out of Ts and added an A on the end just because they could. I’m sticking with the latter.

As well as the whole “modern but with a retro vibe” feel of the LAB12 gear, I also love the way it sounds and punches way above its asking price. I have not heard any of their kit that hasn’t been excellent and as such, I have zero qualms about ordering the Suara without having the chance to hear it – it also gave me a great excuse to have my pre1 sent back and to be brought up to the latest specifications.

The Suara is a good-looking amp and is made better looking with the very cool and retro VU meters.

LAB12 SUARA BUILD AND FEATURES

Suara is a great looking 50 Watts a channel pure Class-A power amplifier based around four KT-150 power tubes and is available in Matt Black or Frozen Silver. It has a toggle switch on the top plate to switch between Triode and Ultra Linear modes and the on/off switch is located on the top plate too. It’s a normal width amp but looks pretty compact, though you will need to give it plenty of space above for those tubes and the heat they create. As well as the KT-150 tubes the other tubes are 2 x 6n1p Voskhod NOS tubes and 2 x 6n2p voskhod NOS tubes – one of each per channel. It weighs a hefty 19.5Kg, much of which will be made up by the handmade and custom transformers.

The KT150s are matched, and the amp is biased in the factory but the relevant tool is included for you to adjust bias (though you will need a multimeter) which is done around the back of the amp. The front is finished with a pair of round Nissei VU meters which just add to that retro look, and whilst I’m a sucker for VU meters in all their forms, the ones on the LAB12 kit are uber-cool.

Around the back of the amp, you have binding posts for the usual suspect terminations and taps for 8 and 4-ohm speakers. There’s a well-labelled section dedicated to bias calibration, the AC input and then inputs for both RCA and XLRs.

The back panel is well laid out and with RCA and XLR inputs.

Finally, the amp comes with a 5-year guarantee which adds a whole load of confidence to any purchase. Final Finally the amp has a proper CE marking and a note on the back to say it is designed and handcrafted in Greece.

There’s not a lot to love by way of the aesthetic of this amp and it is well put together. It has everything that a power amp needs all present and correct. There’s no tube cage but I’ve always removed them from any amp I’ve owned, anyway. LAB12 did get in touch to tell me that a valve cage is now available! Looks-wise it will fit into any system, but matches (obviously) perfectly with the other LAB12 gear. Personally, and YMMV, I think it’s a bit of a hit in the looks department!

SOUND QUALITY

I had this amp down in the main system as soon as it arrived where it lived for a couple of days before moving up into the smaller system where I had it playing a pair of Diptyque dp77 speakers and some LS3/5a. I felt that the dp77 weren’t an ideal match for the suara and that the amp didn’t drive these particularly difficult French speakers all that well. Now this has been a bit of a recurring theme with these speakers and I do use them as a bit of a “can I break this amp” kind of test whilst reviewing. I’ve found that the speakers really are best suited to high-power amps like the Krell KST100 or our Merrill Thor 300W monos. The fact that the Suara struggled a bit was of little surprise, but it would be remiss of me not to mention it here. In contrast, the amp absolutely sang with the LS3/5As and I spent many an afternoon sat listening purely for pleasure with them on the end of this amp by way of running it in, though LAB12 assures me that the amp is soak-tested before leaving the factory. The LS3/5A aren’t a difficult speaker to make any amp sound good but the LAB12 really did click with them very nicely. The mid-band was mellifluous and detailed and the top-end was open and detailed. All in all, a very nice system to while away the hours and just listen to tunes.

Lab12 Suara – flick this switch for music!

However, I really wanted to have this back in the main system and powering the Audiovector R6s to see how the amp faired with a pair of speakers costing nigh on ten times as much as the amp. Unfair that may well be, but I was really impressed with the amp on the LS3/5As and so it seemed justifiable. The crossover happened whilst I was about to box up the Ophidian MAMBO 2 speakers I recently reviewed, and whilst not strictly part of the review process, I did want to get them on the end of this amp. They’re a good match – very good and I’d have happily listened to this partnership for a lot longer than I did. The amp seems to play to the strengths of the MAMBO 2s and opens them up through the mids and tops a little more than our Krell KST100 did – something I really wasn’t expecting, at all. The basslines on the few records I listened to also seemed to have a bit more bounciness with the LAB12 in place rather than the Krell – again, a very surprising outcome for me. Clearly, and I say this as someone who’s not a huge advocate of synergy in products, there’s some kind of synergistic thing at work here.

Anyway, back on with the review proper and with the Audiovector R6 on the end of the Saura. “Oh, crikey, well that’s rather splendid!” I think I uttered – well, not exactly that, there were expletives, but you catch my drift. First up was Speicher 117 by Robag Wruhme which has a deep and nagging bassline that goes low, low, low. This sounded excellent and it was clear that the amp was in control here – no messy or sloppy overhang and just a feeling of sheer, driving power. Of course, with great power comes great responsibility, and whilst it would have been easy for the bass to become a bit all over the place the LAB12 kept it’s cool and really did seem to have oodles of power in reserve. That’s well-done Class A for you – immediate and instant reaction to what’s needed. This feeling of speed and ability to react to the signal being fed it carried through to all of this track giving it a sense of impeccable timing and momentum. Regular readers will know I’m a sucker for well done bass, but that’s not bass that is not in keeping with the rest of the track or artificially boosted, and the Suara pulls this of perfectly. I’d not really expected a valve amp to excel with techno of this kind, but why not? It’s a common misunderstanding to think that valve amps are inherently warm and cuddly rather than incisive and pneumatic.

Nothing fancy but well put together. In a fancier box, this amp would cost a LOT more money and still be seen as a bargain.

That same impactful and driven bass and upper bass was carried through to Mark Romboy, C.A.R’s I Am A Dancer with the brooding synth line that rises and falls throughout having great texture. Again, the Saura manages to pull off a fine balancing act between everything sounding exactly right and falling apart. Sounds come from nowhere in the mix and present themselves before you before falling back into the soundstage and making way for new ones. No confusion and no mush of sounds. At this point I pick up the phone and go check the price again – yep, the amp is still a little over three grand. But it sounds more expensive than that, walking a tightrope somewhere between clinical accuracy and balls-out fun factor with the deftness of foot of a particularly sure-footed and confident mountain goat that has just attended balancing class. Really, it’s exhilarating stuff on this kind of music, and whilst I thought big solid-state amplification was the obvious choice for the R6s I may well have been wrong and as I’m typing my notes up I’m looking over at the rack in the main room and considering a bit of a change about – something I’ve not done in well over two years.

Detail and massive amounts of detail are the order of the day with Gianmaria Testa’s Per Accoompagnarti, with the Saura hiding none of the nuances of the vocal or subtleties in the playing. The guitar here is particularly pleasing in the way the amp brings across its tone. Whilst this track does have a lot coming and going there’s a purity of colour in the way the music is presented and whilst I want to suggest that there’s a warmth here, I think that’s more to do with the recording and the instrumentation as opposed to anything the amplifier is adding to the experience. Indeed, I would say the Suara is pretty neutral in its presentation and that it does allow the music to flow in the way it should and without adding a whole load of its own character to the sound coming out of the speakers. This is a good thing!

I get the same sense of tone when I listen to Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter, but there is no suggestion that there’s embellishment or softening of the sound. What I particularly like about playing this record with this amp and speakers is the sense that, again, the amp isn’t having to try at all. Yep, this isn’t the kind of music to particularly tax an amplifier but there’s always the possibility that an amplifier adds a veneer of its own making over the top of the music that can ever so slightly soften the presentation and make it sound more laidback than it actually is. The album is pretty lush in the way it’s recorded and mixed, but the sense of the recording space comes over well. Flute on the title track cuts through the orchestration whilst guitar plays along and is mixed left and separation of the mix is well evident.

Look, I listened to a whole load of music over an extended period on this amplifier, and except for the ill-advised partnering with our dp77 speakers I never once felt that the amp brought anything other than control and a sense of rightness to the music I was listening to. There are no bells and whistles to this amp, just a straightforward and honest portrayal of what it is fed. However, it also manages to bring a sense of power to music such as techno, or a better way to look at this is to say that it allows the inherent power present in this kind of music to be transmitted to the speakers.

There’s a switch on the top panel to switch between Triode and Ultra-Linear. I had this switch to-and-fro a number of times and overall I think I preferred the Triode setting on more gentle program and the Ultra-Linear setting on more techno-orientated music. I felt the Triode mode added a degree of air to the music that suited the likes of Neil Young and… well you get the drift. In Triode mode, there’s a sense of the recording sounding wider and with a taller soundstage. Of yours, you can play with it and find what suits you.

Another look around the back of this powerful and musically satisfying valve amp.

QUIBBLES

Would have liked self-biasing on the tubes for convenience.

Oh, here we go – very difficult speakers remain difficult speakers, and whilst the Suara drove almost every pair of speakers we have exceptionally well, it did struggle with the difficult load of the Diptyques.

CONCLUSION

The pricing on this amplifier is, frankly, stupid. No, that is not really fair, is it? I’m better off saying that the asking price for this amplifier represents a bit of a bargain and I’ve heard valve amplifiers, and solid-state amps for that matter that cost a lot more than this not have the same sense of power and control that the Suana brings to the party.

Speaking of parties, this amp really can bring a fantastic sense of speed and verve to music. Play techno through it and, if the speakers can keep up, there is a feeling of a very capable amplifier that just delivers by way of the speed that it handles dynamic changes.

Play lighter listening fodder too though it and that’s what you get.

The amplifier did struggle with the Diptyque Isodynamic panel speakers, but then they can be difficult.

If Lab12 whacked this exact same amplifier in a fancier box and whacked the price up thrice then folk would be lauding it as a high-end bargain. As it is, it’s just a stone-cold deal and whilst I have no doubt that Stratos Vichos and co could charge a lot more, I know that is just not their style!

AT A GLANCE

Build and Features:

Nicely put together and with nice and understated touches like the VU meter

Well laid out and with RCA and XLR inputs

Easy to access biasing, though I would have liked to see self-biasing

Sound Quality:

A powerful and detailed sound that folk who think valves are all soft and woolly need to hear

Oodles of control in the bass and yet a deftness of touch that brings music alive

Value For Money:

Excellent!

We Loved:

It sounds fantastic, looks good and is relatively affordable. What’s not to love?

Can be partnered with much more expensive kit without the merest hint of embarrassment

We Didn’t Love So Much:

Clutching at straws but it did struggle with the Diptyques and so a degree of thought, but not much, needs to go into partnering speakers

Price: £3145 €3835 $4490

Elevator Pitch Review: Made in Greece by LAB12 the Suara is a lovely sounding amplifier that majors on power and control throughout the frequency range. Its’ price belies its sonic abilities and as such it represents a bit of a bargain at the moment. It looks good, it is well made and you can be confident in partnering it with equipment costing much more. Partner it with the right speakers and you are in for a treat.

Review Equipment: Stack Streamer and power supply. Leema Libra DAC/Pre. Cables by Atlas, Tellurium Q, Cardas. Audiovector R6 Arete, Diptyque DP77, Falcon LS3/5a.

SUPPLIED BY LAB12

Stuart Smith

SPECIFICATIONS

Power: 230VAC 50Hz (115VAC 60Hz)
Power consumption: 350 VA max
Output power: 50 Watt per channel (KT 150)
Frequency response: 20 Hz-25 KHz (-0.9dB)
Input impedance: 100 Kohm
Recommended speakers: 4-8 ohm
Tube complement: 4x dual triodes, 4x KT-150 Power Pentodes
Input sensitivity: 1.8V triode mode / 1.5V Ultra Linear mode
Inputs: 1x line unbalanced stereo (RCA and XLR connectors)
Available Colors: Matt Black, Frozen Silver
Dimensions (WxHxD): 43x19x29 cm
Weight: 19.5Kg