ALLNIC T2000

TR19.11.2015

Integrated amplifiers

With good amplifiers - and the T2000 is a good amplifier - I have a tendency to listen through the most period pieces in my music collection. With them, the T2000 combines its sonic comfort with springy dynamics and palpable imaging to a really pleasant listening experience.

Function and form

84%
Ease of use
64%
Sound
92%
Appearance

The T-2000, like all Allnic Audio amps, uses large output transformers (96 mm) with nickel and iron permalloy cores. This provides for higher inductance with fewer windings than other designs can provide and results in the great benefit of an extremely wide range of output frequencies. On top of that Allnic uses what they call 'Full Engagement Output transformer technology'. Conventional output transformers use pre-set secondary windings to accommodate 4, 8 and 16 ohm loudspeaker loads. However, these conventional transformers utilize only one secondary winding at a time, while the other secondary windings remain "idle". This approach has two adverse effects. First, the output transformers are not working at their maximum efficiency, reducing their output relative to their potential. Second, the "idle" windings are not actually "idle"; they are subject to parasitic oscillations, producing their own "signal". This undesirable electrical information is additive to the transformer's output, distorting the amplified signal going to the loudspeaker. Allnic's 'Full Engagement' transformers address these issues by having 4 independent, secondary windings which are always fully connected, never "idled". This means that all secondary windings are always connected to your loudspeakers, regardless of which output switch position you use (4 ohms or 8 ohms or 8 ohms or 16 ohms, depending on the factory configuration you have selected). The result is that there is neither a loss of transformer output efficiency, nor the introduction into the output signal of distortion from parasitic oscillations of the secondary windings.

The T-2000 uses only two stages of driving circuit to achieve +35dB of voltage gain, instead of three or four stages as in conventional amplifiers. On top of that the T-2000 gives a possibility to employ either a tube in triode mode or in pentode. The T2000 uses a 41-step silver contact attenuator that is made by Allnic and a separate analogue current meter for each tube. Checking the status of each tube is breeze.

Bass management

Weight
74
Slam
70
Articulation
72

Switching between triode and pentode operation can be done "on-the-fly" at any time while the amplifier is in use. The pentode mode provides for 2x70 watts of power, whereas the triode mode gives more modest 2x35 watts output. The SET has its own charm with the warm, liquid and rich sound, with the three-dimensional soundstage in which the instruments and voices come alive. The trade off is in the transient accuracy and overall dynamics. The pentode mode gives justa  touch better control, and it is more open and punchier, while preserving what I would call an Allnic charm.

Clarity & delicacy

Detail
60
Air
62
Transparency
60

Sheffield Lab's Lincoln Mayorga and Distinguished Colleagues is a live-in-studio recording, mastered by Doug Sax. Through the Allnic I savoured the smooth communication of instruments in the rich layered space which invited me to pass through the invisible glass that was between me and the live band. I could hear well the hammers on a piano's strings and well rendered conga strokes - the T2000 is not obscuring the tiny details that makes the high end audio what it is.

Tonal accuracy

Timbre
65
Dynamics
67
Temporal resolution
66

Mario Lanza's The Vagabond King was recorded in July 1959 for RCA Victor label and it is available now through BMG Living Stereo in a transcription from the original "Stereo Orthophonic" tapes. The T2000 was actually better in playing back this track than my reference, the Mark Levinson No. 432. It was as if the Allnic highlighted the human element in the music, compared to which the Levinson sounded a bit mechanical. The T2000 definitely prefers magic to a sonic dissection.

Spatial resolution

Holography
81
Soundstage width
80
Soundstage depth
82

The tube compartment consists of 2xKT120, 2xD3a and 2x6485. The company encourages to experiment with different tubes, bias has to be set manually with the help of meters on the Allnic's panel. Fine tuning can be achieved by a potentiometer and a screwdriver.

Price as reviewed:264 000,- Kč

Recommended resellers

nemá zastoupení

Associated components

  • Sources: C.E.C. TL-51XR
  • Amplifiers: Mark Levinson No.432, Mark Levinson No. 326S
  • Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima Studio2
  • Interconnects and speaker cables: Kubala-Sosna Emotion
  • Power conditioning: IsoTek Titan

Gallery

AAVIK I-280

As far as its function is concerned the I-280 is an old-school integrated amplifier for audiophile purists. On the rear panel it has five single-ended RCA inputs, a preamplifier output, and speaker posts. The amplifier can be ...

Recommended resellers

RP Audio, Ostrava, +420 737 366 831

Sound
86%

ACCUPHASE E-270

It is one of those rare amplifiers that is designed and built entirely in Japan, with absolute focus on perfection. Accuphase should establish its own university to train the rest of the world in how to design ergonomic devices and ...

Recommended resellers

CZ: Perfect Sound Group, Praha, tel. +420 722 960 690

SK: Nisel SK, Bratislava, tel. +421 905 203 078

Sound
66%

ACCUPHASE E-4000 + PS-1250

The E-4000 is a successor of E-480 that we have not reviewed, and the E-480 was the successor of E-470 that we have reviewed. Interestingly, the “400” range of Class AB integrated amplifiers of Accuphase can be tracked back to 80’s ...

Recommended resellers

CZ: Perfect Sound Group, Praha, tel. +420 722 960 690

SK: Nisel SK, Bratislava, tel. +421 905 203 078

Sound
88%

ACCUPHASE E-450

The Accuphase could create the illusion of Diana Krall’s presence in my listening room – it is not only a headless or bodyless voice in the room but the whole person performing just for you. If I should be nitpicking then the E-450 ...

Recommended resellers

Nisel SK, Bratislava, tel. +421 905 203 078

Sound
78%

ACCUPHASE E-5000

What would you like to know about the all new Accuphase? Clean and sweet treble – ticked. Rich and colorful mids – ticked. Wide and deep soundstage – ticked. But these are not new things, rather a usual Accuphase list of traits. So, ...

Recommended resellers

Perfect Sound Group, Praha, tel. +420 722 960 690

Sound
91%

ACCUPHASE E-560

Right after first few minutes of listening a listener forms his opinion on the Accuphase. As listening progresses, this initial opinion usually proves to be wrong. The reason is that there is nothing spectacular in Accuphase's house ...

Recommended resellers

Nisel SK, Bratislava, tel. +421 905 203 078

Sound
82%

ACCUPHASE E-800

The physical appearance of the E-800 is totally Accuphase: satin gold aluminum panel, controls cleverly hidden behind a flap, sensitive and accurate VU meters, silky operation of knobs and buttons, and legendary fanatical ...

Recommended resellers

Navrátil Audio, Havířov, +420 737 821 360

Nisel SK, Bratislava, tel. +421 905 203 078

Sound
86%
Back to category