Almarro A205A Mkll (£1250)

摘要

Almarro's shogun, Yoshihiro Muramatsu, is unfamiliar to me, but clearly he is a classicist and a minimalist. I use both terms in a Japanese context, because the Almarro A205A Mkll integrated amplifier could not be anything else. It adheres to every principle that Muramatsu-san holds dear, while wrapping even his love for Russian valves in decidedly Nipponese attire. Like other Japanese valve amp practitioners, though they're found at'the other end of the price spectrum, Almarro does not use either the aforementioned classicism nor minimalism to serve as excuses for cutting corners.