I stalk a few audio forums because the chatter shows me what different varieties of audiophiles are thinking about, what’s pleasing them, what’s making them angry, and—potentially—what issues reviewers like me are failing to address.
Similarly, I watch a lot of DIY and audio review videos on YouTube. I especially love watching my friend Steve Guttenberg’s Audiophiliac “Viewer System of the Day” videos,1 which provide a global view of the gear choices real people in normal houses have made. I am especially fascinated by how these diverse audiophiles place their components in normal rooms. A few have the heavy stuff sitting on low platforms close to the floor. The majority use audiophile-approved component racks. But more and more often, I’m seeing prized components crowning family-approved bureaus, credenzas, buffets, and sideboards. This pleases me.
In my view, bureau-top music systems are more family/home/group–listening friendly than systems with chrome skyscrapers surveying sprawling amplifier farms covering acres of floor, with power-conversion facilities and 1000W monoblocks roosting on industrial-grade platforms, connected by thick wires perched on cute cable lifters.
So I appreciate components that are bureau friendly. By “bureau friendly,” I mean real-world audio gear designed to look attractive on top of a nice cabinet in a domestic setting. In our Stereophile world, that usually means a sexy-looking integrated amplifier accompanied by a matching DAC-streamer and a smart-looking turntable. Systems like this succeed fully when they make records sound enticing in a “Shush! I want to listen!” way. Danish brand Bang & Olufsen has flourished catering to this aesthetic, and the Europeans have embraced it, but most American audiophiles have been reluctant to endorse any system that does not look serious and tech-savvy.
Powering the GoldenEars, the F&R produced exquisite tone, tantalizing detail, electrically charged transients, and quick, clean bass, with no evidence of clipping or distortion.
I know from experience that the manner in which a sound system occupies its environment affects every listening session, its feel and its quality. Which is what first attracted my attention to Fern & Roby products: This is serious, quality audio gear that looks elegant and unpretentious. The component I’m about to describe, Fern & Roby’s new, $8500 Amp No. 2 integrated amplifier, is bureau friendly. It looks more stylish than tech-savvy, and it is not big or heavy, but its sound quality would put the sound of many amp farms to shame. A system consisting of an Amp No. 2, a pair of Raven speakers, and a Montrose turntable exemplifies owner-founder Christopher Hildebrand’s materials-based, simpleis-better, form-follows-function design ethic.
Describing the Amp No. 2, F&R’s website says “Our goal for this project was to produce something that will turn your living room into the best listening room possible.”
The Amp No. 2 story
Christopher Hildebrand is the creative force behind Tektonics Design Group and Fern & Roby Audio, which began operations in 2010. He is perhaps best known for and brass, and as the affable, talented industrial and mechanical designer behind Linear Tube Audio’s line of preamplifiers, power amplifiers, and integrated amplifiers.
