Shindo Montille EL84 - Might Be The FINEST EL84 Power Amp Ever Created!

When audio designer Ken Shindo was a little boy, his father kept an enormous collection of 78rpm records in their home in Tokyo. During the final days of World War II, the Japanese authorities did their best to evacuate the city, but the elder Shindo was steadfast: He refused to leave, for fear that the records would be gone when he returned. The evacuation was inevitable, and the worst came to pass: Virtually all of the family's belongings were destroyed. Yet by the end of 1947, according to one of Ken's sisters, the record collection had been replaced entirely—and a fine new music system became the center of family life.

It isn't hard to see a parallel between the elder Shindo's efforts during those postwar years and those of his son in the here and now: Ken Shindo has worked steadily and quietly to become one of the foremost conservators of early audio technologies—and, by definition, of recorded music itself.

Shindo Laboratory Montille power amplifier - The 15Wpc push-pull Montille amplifier is Shindo Laboratory's least expensive monument to the art of the transformer. It's a determined-looking amp that measures only 10" wide by 11.5" deep by 7" tall with its steel tube cage in place. As with Shindo's other amps and preamps, the Montille comes in one color only: green—like the bottles of wine his designs are mostly named for. In some ways, the Montille is the most impressive of Ken Shindo's designs. It isn't necessarily the best-sounding amplifier from Shindo Laboratory—although we can't imagine a music enthusiast who wouldn't fall in love with the Montille's muscular but silky-smooth presentation and its eminently believable reproduction of instrumental and vocal timbres. More important, the Montille gets all of the basics of music-making just as right as can be: tempo, flow, momentum, and other qualities that define music as an art form in which time is the single most crucial component. The Montille also captures pitches and pitch relationships, and a frequency-related quality I can describe only as the sweetness of each individual note. - Stereophile July 2007

So we can pen volumes pumping the tires of this incredible power amp but let's just look at the facts regarding this particular Montille. First, it was the prized possession of Richard K. We have spoken about him a lot here as we have have the distinct pleasure of calling Dick a true friend but, know that his incredible collection of fine audio is without peer and this Montille was what he considered "the pinnacle of what a simple design concept and bespoke build can accomplish". Simply stated, this Shindo sounds like music. The EL84 version of this amp is the most coveted for a reason and with the right speakers, (Dick used Audio Note AN/e and we here at HHA used our own custom Altec Valencia system) can be true audio gold. Just cant say enough about this component - It's spectacular. Fact two, it comes with the most coveted Mullard/JAN/Siemans tube compliment. The Mullards alone are valued at $800 and they take this amp to the next level. It also comes with the appropriate Swichcraft RCAs, Shindo power cord & Shindo specific isolation footers. Good God, DO NOT miss this one - it's the best of the best and the finest 15 Watts you'll ever hear.

This amp has been totally gone through here in-house by our expert tech staff and it's said "the artisan level work in this amp is astonishing". Our techs don't get easily excited so, there's that too.

Shindo Laboratory Montille EL84: $3999 plus sales tax and shipping when needed.