Ugly but beautiful sounds....Grandinote Audio from Italy

Paul

Paul

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2013
Messages
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Location
Toronto,Ontario
I still can't believe this is made from Italy....but the sounds was excellent.

Anyone own them or any experience ?

shinai_web.png



Grandinote Shinai has refined and charming sound of Magnetosolid® amplifiers.
Supreme musical characteristics of Prestigio, dual case 60W amplifier, are transferred in this little masterpiece of 37W for channel.
In summary, these are two mono units, enclosed in a single chassis.
Requires two power cables.
Stereo integrated amplifier
Power for channel 37W
Damping factor >150
Frequency response 2Hz - 240 kHz
Two unbalanced inputs RCA
Two balanced inputs XLR (full-balanced)
Balanced inputs XLR unbalanced convertibles
Class "A"
No feedback
Direct coupling stages: no capacitor used
Full-dualmono
Absorption 270W
Weight 40kg
W=318 x H=196 x L=473 [mm]
Grandinote's warranty of 5 years

shinai_essenza_web.png
 
A local dealer I visit every Saturday has had one of these hooked up for months. I think it's one of the best amps in his store.
Beautifully made, dead quiet, and very sweet sounding. It ain't inexpensive though.
 
blackdog said:
A local dealer I visit every Saturday has had one of these hooked up for months. I think it's one of the best amps in his store.
Beautifully made, dead quiet, and very sweet sounding. It ain't inexpensive though.
Click to expand...

Dan, Indeed It ain't inexpensive :)
 
Hi Paul,

I listened to the Grandinote Shinai powering the Audio Physic Avantera Plus+ at RMAF 2013.

It was a great combination to my ears.
 
Hi Paul. I had to laugh when I read your sentence "I still can't believe this is made from Italy".

May be off topic, but why do so much of the products in our industry have to look so "workmanlike", to be kind, or in extreme cases, so ugly? Admittedly it seems to be getting better; more manufacturers are paying attention to the style, and as importantly, the functionality. But so many are still made with "faces only a mother would love".

I totally understand that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and you can't please everyone. BUT. There are certainly many products that appeal to a larger percentage.

Anyway, love to hear your feedback re the amps Paul.
 
Paul said:
I still can't believe this is made from Italy....but the sounds was excellent.

Anyone own them or any experience ?

shinai_web.png



Grandinote Shinai has refined and charming sound of Magnetosolid® amplifiers.
Supreme musical characteristics of Prestigio, dual case 60W amplifier, are transferred in this little masterpiece of 37W for channel.
In summary, these are two mono units, enclosed in a single chassis.
Requires two power cables.
Stereo integrated amplifier
Power for channel 37W
Damping factor >150
Frequency response 2Hz - 240 kHz
Two unbalanced inputs RCA
Two balanced inputs XLR (full-balanced)
Balanced inputs XLR unbalanced convertibles
Class "A"
No feedback
Direct coupling stages: no capacitor used
Full-dualmono
Absorption 270W
Weight 40kg
W=318 x H=196 x L=473 [mm]
Grandinote's warranty of 5 years

shinai_essenza_web.png
Click to expand...

The Bricasti M1 would go nicely with these amps .
 
now I know this thread is a few years old but I recently heard this brand and extremely impressed . this is some of my thoughts :

sometime ago i heard the integrated version of grandinote , the shinai with some heco direkt speakers. the bass was extremely gripping . in fact with a track from interstellar the sofa was shaking with thunder from them . so the interest was stirred well these solid state amplifiers are from Italy . this is from hifipigs review of the proemio /silva
"grandinote are based in Italy and headed up by Massimiliano Magri. The company use a technology they call Magnetosolid where solid state components are used in circuits more typical of valve amplifiers. Grandinote say this offers the advantages of both solid state and tube amplifiers. All the low signal stages in the amps are direct coupled without capacitors and every device has its own dedicated power supply. All their amplifiers run in Class A. "

so I have the pre amp [ there is a higher one , heaven knows what that sounds like !!!] which is the proemio which is around 7.5k playing into a msb class A amp . they fit like a glove .
the dislikes first , not too keen on the remote which compared to my rugged bel canto feels slightly unsubstantial . neither does it have theatre bypass which is good to have to integrate into an AV system . however its only 15 kg , built like a tank with beautiful finish and extremely easy to use . you can move swiftly from one input to another with the remote which goes up in increments and easy to control
connecting with a modest reference fidelity rca interconnect with the msb . the first thing I notice is my chair can feel the vibration from the music at pretty low volumes . I might just struggle to use this combo with those lovely Kudos titan 707 methinks !!! however the verity audio Rienzi just rock beautifully with controlled bass that is pretty delightful. the main thing that really strikes you is strings sound like they have been plucked by a gladiator ....they really ping..... . piano has a lovely timbre .
listening to a fantastic electrnic album from otarion called monument , the vocal harmonies are very compelling and cymbals and bells so realistic .

I played this pre amp for over a month and found it very compelling . I have previously enjoyed some arc ref 5 and 5se preamps . I normally use modwright 36.5dm pre

highly recommended , I currently have the shinai integrated to play with but waiting for that to bed in before I form an opinion
 
Just yesterday Max from Grandinote passed by to install my new Demons mono amps. The amps are brand new (Max did even forget to write the serial number on the back ;-)) and not broken in at all.

We did anyway together with another friend of mine a long series of comparisons to my Pass XA 100.5.

What to say... after 7 years with the Pass in my system, thereof 3 with my current speakers, the difference was noticeable right from the first note:

Instruments and voices were much better differentiated from each other, everything sounded clearer more transparent and yet with a wonderful musical flow. We mostly played hires files from the server and the better the recording was, the clearer differences became.

Another difference that I recognised was that the softness of the Pass in the treble was gone with the Grandinote. The Demons seemed to resolve detail much better. If in the past I sometimes felt my system to have a too relaxt sound, now it was just right!

Overall I would say that the tonal balance did not change much compared to the Pass. Which is a good thing! In addition, the bass seemed to be better differentiated with the Demone, but I will do a follow up on that point once they are fully broken in.

Last but not least: I have to say that I like the looks actually better than I initially thought... even if they are not beauties but in reality they are quite classy and elegantly looking...


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567de0514445c00b78fcecc955d633b9.jpg


..still boxed

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Getting accustomed to the sound with the Pass before changing....

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Connected and ready for the comparison...

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Max is connecting the Demone...

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Relaxing with the new setup...

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thats fantastic . so glad to hear your experinces and I recognise everything you say . there is tremendous clarity and separation in instruments and the bass is so controlled .

one thing I would like max to do is get a better translator for the English manual . this is an excerpt and its not easy to understand what he means sometimes



"This function is for the turn off the display in automatic, if the display don't changes for some seconds. When the utente press a button, the display turns on. So, when the display don't will change again, the display will turn off again. The "black" display is rapresented in this picture"


and


The up rappresentation is for the same level for the two channels: the balance is totally excluded. "

I used the proemio with my superb msb class A s200 and the realism and control was brilliant . now I am playing the shinai which is also good and very enjoyable but not quite as good as the proemio/msb combo . but then there is a difference in price . the shinai costs £9700 and the proemio/msb combo is about £25000
 
audiophon, I wondered if you had had a chance to compare the proemio with the domino ? its quite annoying in the uk as since we decided to leave the EU prices have gone up and now the domino is 11k which is nearing arc ref 6 level
 
@hifinut: no I went straight away with the Domino. The only thing I can say is that in 2010 I decided to sell my arc ref 3 in order to go directly from my DCS into the Pass as I preferred the direct way due to the increased transparency.

Then 1,5 years ago I decided to try the Domino and noticed a big improvement WITH the preamp.

Here in Italy, the Domino is 12,900 Euro. Therefore about the same price as in U.K.


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