The Audio Eagle - Thomas Mayer's Designs

Here are some of Thomas Mayer's latest top of the line creations. This is superb craftsmanship and an audiophiles dream, ENJOY:

First class phono stage based on the rare
and expensive EC8020
(PS is in a separate case not visible)

Two chassis 300B SE monos (interstage transformer between driver and 300B output tube) in the making

For the audio connoisseur: DHT 801A driven DHT 211 two chassis SE Monos (with beautiful oil caps in PS and amplifier stage). Can't wait to listen to these babies ...

Gorgeous, aren't they ...

Another Highlight: Coke bottle 6N7G driven DHT 801A SE Stereo power amplifier with Tango NC-20F interstage transformers (this is a two chassis amplifier, the PS chassis is the same size). Definitely one step above the two chassis 801A stereo amp (with Lundahl interstage transformers) I raved about lately in my September 09 report.
(Meanwhile, I'm the proud owner of this latter amp, Yeah!)

Finally, there is also a state-of-the-art four-chassis phono / line stage, which Thomas built to order for an Italian music lover and friend, lately. You can find some photos (and soon, I'm sure, listening notes) of this superb project here.

Added Nov. 8^th, 2009:
Thomas Mayer joined David Haigner at the Klangbilder 2009 show in Vienna this weekend. This was a positive surprise, because his superb top of the line tube amplifier range and David's brand new 3-way speaker AMADEO basic were a perfect match in my opinion. On demo for some time was Thomas Mayer's outstanding 801A line / EC8020 phono stage and the 801A SE amp which can be seen above - alltogether a close to € 30K amplifier package. Analogue source was a superb Nottingham Analogue Dais with Anna Arm and Soundsmith The Voice moving iron cartridge, CD source the no longer in production but extremely musical Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 CD player.

Considering the really poor room acoustics at the show, which was held at a Vienna top hotel - a bummer for all exhibitors as well as us, the potential customers - the sound the € 7.5K Haigner AMADEO basic speakers / Mayer amp combination produced in The Source Audiosysteme room was remarkable and stunning. For me personally, the most musical and realistic sound of the show. 3D-imaging, tonal color, shading, emotion and musical flow were the strong points this system delivered. Here is a photo of the new Haigner speakers and the Mayer tube electronic at the Klangbilder 2009.

My personal conclusion: A superb pair of speakers mated with a superb amp combination and good to excellent source components are the ticket for goose bumps when listening to recorded music. One day, such superb amps will be part of my system built around David Haigner's Gamma horns. Period!

Musically yours,

Norbert

Added Nov. 22^nd, 2009:

Here are some more pics of Thomas Mayer's amplifier creations (ready for listening comparisons at this years ETF):

SE 6CB5A stereo power amps in a wooden cabinet and oil caps inside to the left and a prototype of a metal chassis version to the right. Both use Tango OPTs

SE 45 stereo amp with Tango Interstage and OPTs plus external power supply

and finally

Front row: Top of the line SE 211 Monos (driven by 801As) with Tango iron, oil caps and a separate power supply for each channel! Wow! This is real tube amp magic...

You need an affordable speaker which mates perfectly with your single watt tube amplifier?

This is what Thomas uses to develop and eveluate his amps, as he says with extremely pleasing results. David Haigner's Rho speakers, time-aligned and tailored especially for single watt triode tube amps.

Can't wait to listen to all these new amplifier creations together with the Rho, which I really know well at ETF 2009. Will let you know about the results...

ETF 2009 was a great event, although unfortunately I missed half of the festival due to a quite heavy cold. The Thomas Mayer gear was definitely one of the highlights of ETF 2009!

Added Feb. 6^th, 2010:

Here are some more photos of Thomas Mayer's tube amplifier creations:

From back to front:

That's Thomas' superb cost-no-object Phono / Line preamp combination with separate external power supplies. Phono is based on the rare and expensive EC8020 and in the line stage Thomas uses a 801 SET. I heard this combination at the Vienna "Klangbilder" show last November the first time and its musical performance was stunning and unforgettable

Phono / Line without ps

SE 300B mono block amp with external power supply. Transformer coupled between driver and output tube. The driver used is a 801 SET. Now, that is something special indeed.

... and finally the new entry level stereo power amp.
This amp uses a 6HS5 in a single stage SE ultrapath configuration. Minimum parts count for maximum performance. According to Thomas this amp is a winner.
I will hopefully hear this baby soon ...

Looks nice this amplifier creation, doesn't it. On the left side sits the pair of 6HS5 power tubes to the right you can see the rectifier tubes. This amp delivers 7 to 8 watts in SE triode mode.

Added April 18^th, 2010:

More of the latest Thomas Mayer tube amplification designs (March / April 2010):

LCR RIAA phono stage based on the 6AM4 UHF triode tubes. The layout of this Thomas Mayer design is similar to his cost no object one based on the famous, rare and expensive EC8020. The good news is that the 6AM4 tubes are not costly at all. (This design uses also less expensive oil caps).

Another photo of this new phono preamp (whithout cabinet, what a great build!). A lot of Lundahl iron used in this design, too. The iron used in the passive RIAA is made by Dave Slagle. This preamp comes with a separate power supply for optimum performance. Can't wait to hear the qualities of this phono preamp

Here we have something really special. Thomas built an universal line preamp which can be used with different triodes (801A, UX-201A, 12A, 26 and 71A). In the photo above a pair of vintage UX-201A's is used.

Not shown is the separate power supply, which will look similar to the ones shown above with the 801A line stage.

Thomas built this line stage for our Vienna Vibes event, a private DIY audio event, which will take place early July 2010 in Vienna. We will do a preamp tube comparison of DHT at this occasion.

Here a pair of 12A tubes can be seen.

Added December 27^th, 2010:

Good news for people who look for SE magic powerful enough to drive more power hungry loudspeakers:

This new mono amp design uses four 6HS5 power tubes in parallel for each channel in a single stage SE ultrapath configuration. In this configuration the output power is increased to 30W per channel in SE Class A. Good news indeed...

I definitely like the design approach of this pair of mono bloc amps, where each amp has a different color scheme. Looks beautiful!

As I haven't heard these amps, I can't tell you much about their sound. I only know, that Thomas' craftmanship in building tube amplifiers is superb and this single stage amp design is affordable.

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