Being a fan of James Bongiorno, and having spent some hours visiting with him during a CES show many years back, I actively looked for stereo equipment that he personally designed.
There is much to choose from, having been associated with Marantz, SAE, GAS, SUMO and Spread Spectrum Technologies, just to name a few, it isn’t difficult to find something to listen too. The challenge is finding someone who will sell it to you. James has a following. Avid collectors of nearly all of his work, and for good reason. It’s musical! No other way to say it. The stuff James has designed just sings, in a most glorious way.
When I read the Stereophile's review of the SUMO Andromeda, I knew I had to have one. It’s a unique looking amp, with a tall face and shallow backside. Menacing view from the front, but disappointing at first glance from the backside. Turns out, that this shape is proven to aid in heat dissipation and cooling, especially if the amp reside in a cabinet or rack like mine was. It’s extremely well made, with heavy robust case work and quite a bit of heft.
The amplifier has a unique circuitry, which I won’t even begin to elaborate on. The ground floats, and the amp has four independent push/pull feedback loops which will maintain your speakers in absolute phase of the musical signal without any drift regardless of demand. This translates into an amazingly accurate soundstage. Rated at 200 wpc channel into 8 ohms, and 350 into 4 ohms, the amp will drive most anything without any current limiting.
The bass output, it’s so deep, and solid, but I not talking about exaggerated flabby subwoofer boom bass. This bass output has tone, texture, depth, and color. You can hear the wood of a E note on plucked double bass. You can feel it too. It’s very authentic and natural sounding. Piano notes seems to ring with great sustain. Listening to Michael Hedges and George Winston on An Evening with Windam Hill makes you feel like your center stage. Jazz Trio's were realistically presented and Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation never sounded better.
I could go on, talking about Krell KSA 50 (wow… this one is so sweet), Sansui BA 40, Sansui BA 3000, Phase Linear 400, Series ONE and Series TWO, Harman Kardon Citation 16A, Nikko Beta ONE (an in depth look at this sleeper amp coming soon), Crown Xli 1500, McIntosh MC-50, McIntosh MC 2105, McIntosh MC 2505, Marantz Model 15, Carver M-400’s (two strapped in mono), GAS Grandson was close, ADCOM GFA 555, Pioneer M-22, Conrad Johnson MF 200, etc, etc, etc, I’ve just never heard a better sounding solid state amplifier than the SUMO Andromeda.
The midrange of this amp has pulls you in. Female vocals are especially good. It flatters any preamp that you use with it. Personally, I have used a Marantz 7, Marantz 7T, Marantz Twenty Four, Marantz 1030 (as a preamp), YAMAHA C-2, McIntosh C-26, McIntosh C-28, SUMO Electra, Sansui AU-7700 (as a preamp), Sansui 2000X receiver (as a preamp), Sansui 3300 receiver (as a preamp) Citation 17, and GAS Thalia. It flatters everything you hook up to it. Nothing was ever objectionable. It will even make your Phase Linear 4000 listenable.
The amp runs relatively cool, the built in fans are super quiet. Not sure mine ever came on. I just can’t find any fault with this amp.
If you’re looking for high power, great texture, tone, muscle and finesse, this amp should be on your short list. Mine had never been serviced. I purchased it from an original owner who really took care of it.
Looking around at my collection, I decided to start selling off what I didn’t use regularly, and I found myself preferring the magic I get from lowered powered amplifiers. Something I want to get into at a later date. So, I listed this amp for sale, and it was gone in a day or two. If I remember correctly, the new owner was so impressed, he bought a second one from a gentleman in New York to bi-amp his speakers with. Hands down a winner, and easily one of the best sounding amplifiers of all time. More to come.
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