At the 2023 Munich Highend show, the True Life Audio and the Lorenzo Audio Labs teamed up together to produce a fabulous sounding room. I later reviewed the Lorenzo Audio Labs LM1 loudspeakers and liked them so much that they became to be my new reference loudspeakers. Fast forward two years, I was presented with the opportunity of reviewing the True Life Audio Supreme Series, the SSA-350 hybrid monoblocks and the SSP-1 tube dual mono preamplifier. Bill Parish of GTT Audio, who is the True Life Audio U.S distributor, made it happen.
True Life Audio based in Athens, Greece was originally founded by Velissarios Georgiadis in 1995. His father, Aristomenis was a transformer technician who founded his own company in 1957 to manufacture transformers for telecommunications, military, industrial, medical, and broadcast implementations. Young Aristomenis Georgiadis, the second son of Velissarios, (named after his grandfather), finished his studies in Electrical Engineering and gained experience working around his grandfather and father all these years making audio transformers and amplification circuits. He later joined the company to assist and he helped take it to a new level. Unfortunately, in the spring of 2019 Velissarios passed away when he was just 59 years old. Aristomenis assumed the full control of TLA and the Supreme Series products and True Series, and more affordable lines were developed and produced under his guidance.
AT the end of last summer Bill Parish of GTT Audio hand-delivered the SSA-350 and SSP-1. Both units came in a four flight cases, two for each unit. One needs a second pair of hands to take the units out of the flight cases. Parish helped me set up both units. The SSA-350 monoblock amplifiers produce a powerful 180 watts per channel at 8 Ohms and 350 watts per channel at 4 Ohms, and weigh 110 pounds per monoblock. They share the same aesthetics as the SSP-1. The linestage signal unit weighs 70.4 lbs and 79.2 lbs for the power supply. Only highest quality components are used throughout the circuits and each component is handpicked and tested and matched.
Both units are a perfect matching combo, designed together as one. The SSA-350 circuitry is a hybrid Class A/B design. It uses tube rectification (GZ32 NOS) and tube single- ended input stage (6J5 NOS), driving an ultra-linear solid-stage stage and solid-state current amplifier. Two separate linear power supplies are used to supply the required voltage. Given the company’s history, it comes as no surprise that the output and power transformers and also the choke are designed and manufactured in-house to the highest quality to achieve their ultra-low loss capability. These transformers use only the highest-quality purity-enameled copper wire, and feature ultra-linear high-quality laminations by Hitachi Metals, Ltd. The first power supply, with a custom-designed EI, low-loss lamination transformer delivers the voltages required by both the rectifier and signal tubes. TLA utilizes the specially-designed choke for filtering the high voltage in the tube front stage. The second power supply, a unique custom-designed UI low-noise lamination transformer, combined with high-speed rectification and quality filter capacitor delivers the dual polarity voltage and high current needed for the solid state and output sections. The ultra linear solid-state circuitry takes over the amplification of the signal, delivering the signal to the exceptionally accurate bipolar transistor-based current amplifier circuit that delivers the power to the load. Georgiadis utilizes only the highest-quality copper and film capacitors, and all components are closely matched. The heat sink is machined from solid aluminium and is an essential part of the vibration damping mechanism. High quality PCB boards are hand assembled and all parts are hand-wired. The amplifier is said to develop a bandwidth of up to 330 kHz! The MOSFET protection circuit is used to connect the load to the amplifier. It delivers approximately a 13 second delay before connecting the amp to the speaker, allowing the tube heaters ample time to warm up.
The SSP-1 is a purist approach stereo tube preamplifier. The two chassis design is a dual mono designed for both signal and power supply circuits and it achieves two channel separation. It’s a pure Class-A, transformer-coupled, single-ended circuit built around two NOS 6J5 tubes. It uses the highest quality output transformer, with high-purity OCC enameled copper wire and nanocrystalline C-core lamination from Hitachi metals, which increases the linearity of sound. The power transformer uses OCC enameled copper wire and uses M6 lamination, achieving losses lower than 0.5% on full power. The choke uses OCC enameled copper wire and amorphous C-core lamination. TLA is serious about transformers; eleven transformers are used in total. It features shunt type 48-stepped attenuator volume with remote control.
The SSA-350 chassis is meticulously thought out. The layout of the front panel is elegantly simple with an on/off switch in the middle. In the rear there are inputs for RCA and XLR and speaker binding posts. The SSP-1’s two chassis design, for both the power supply (PSU-1) and audio signal circuit chassis (SSP-1) is connected with provided umbilicals. Its finished exquisitely utilizing ultra-high quality custom made parts throughout, featuring a meticulously crafted chassis. And like the SSA-350, it’s made of an aircraft grade aluminium. Ergonomics are well thought-out. The SSP-1 comes with a brilliantly designed volume remote control. One thing I miss from my Ongaku is the volume remote control. While I’m reviewing, I constantly have to change equipment for comparison and adjust volume levels, a quality remote makes very convenient. The signal chassis of the SSA-1 has two roughly two-and-a-half-inch round knobs at the two recesses, the left providing for selecting one of its four inputs, and the right managing the volume. Each of four inputs has a corresponding blue LED, and a number near the bottom left corner indicates which one is currently selected. On the power supply, the PSU-1 has two roughly two-and-a-half-inch round knobs match the location and look of the SSP-1’s control knobs and are fitted with on/off switch in the center for each of the two separate power supplies.
Listening to the Lorenzo Audio LM1 driven by the SSA-350 and SSP-1 was exceptionally rewarding. The music flowed effortlessly with great ease and realism. My enjoyment started immediately and TLA combo and only got better as I put in more hours. The TLA combo is a perfect combination. It has the best of both worlds, with the right amount of tube glow and solid-state control and speed. The portrayal of classical music, jazz, and vocals was outstanding. I put on a Hagen Quartett’s Haydn String Quartet in D major, op. 64 N0.5 "The Lark" (TIDAL). It rendered the music exquisitely naturally and in an organic way. The strings were lovely throughout this recording; they were transparent, revealing layers of detail and nuance that were emotionally involving. The strings took on a delicately sophisticated feel that brings a vividness to the sound, imbuing far more realism. The midrange was rich and textured without sounding too warm. The treble was extended and reproduced cleanly with the right amount of sheen on the strings.
The SSA-350 and the SSP-1 reproduce large scale orchestral music with great ease. When the music demands drive and scale, the TLA responds brilliantly. The SSA-350 monos's 180 watts sounded like a powerhouse driving the LM1. This is an amplifier with seemingly unfettered dynamic contrast along with a powerful and full bottom-end. Orchestral climaxes are reproduced with great authority and power. One weekend I was listening to concertos and I put on one of my favorites, (Dvorak’s Cello Concerto for Cello and orchestra in B minor, op. 104(TIDAL) performed by the master, Mstislav Rostropovich and the maestro, Herbert von Karajan, conducting Berliner Philharmoniker, and it sounded exceptionally captivating. It rendered a three-dimensional and picturesque staging. Both the soundstage and the sense of space were enhanced. The TLA combo’s portrayal of individual images is exemplary, revealing layers of small detail and nuance. The TLA combo has the ability to capture the full sweep, warmth, and complexity and the orchestra’s dynamic range. Listening to Dvorak’s Symphony N0.9 in E Minor, Op.95, with maestro Fritz Reiner conducting the Chicago Symphony, was an awe-inspiring experience. The TLA had full control of my LM1 loudspeakers like a pit-bull, and were easily able to scale the dramatic heights of full orchestral crescendos. From pianissimo to fortissimo, the TLA’s electronics has an uncanny ability to portray a large sense of space, and the instruments within the space, and the distance between them.
I was in audio heaven! The TLA electronics' midrange is outstanding in timbre, tone color, and freedom from grain. I really enjoy listening to female vocalists so I put on Lady Blackbird’s outstanding recording of "Fix It" from her Black Acid Soul (Qobuz). The TLA combo has an uncanny ability to transport music in an ethereal way. I was shocked by the intense level of purity, immediacy, and solidity of her spellbinding, rich, smoky textured hypnotic voice. I felt as though she was in the room.
The TLA SSA-350 mono power amplifiers and SSP-1 preamplifier worked flawlessly during the entire listening period and are super quiet. There is no hum or any tube noise to speak of and the components are super reliable, without a single glitch. The marvellous sound delivered by these exceptional electronics are world-class in every way this audiophile deems important. Both units are a perfect matching combo, designed together as one.
Hats off to Aristomenis Georgiadis for creating these masterpieces.
SSA-350 mono power amplifiers
Retail: $115,800/pair
SSP-1 dual mono preamplifier
Retail: $77,200
US Distributor
GTT Audio
356 Naughright Road
Long Valley, NJ 07853
908-850-3092
Manufacturer
True Life Audio
