AudioPrism Debut mkII [Template]

This listing is for a AudioPrism Debut MKII Tube Amplifier. In early 1999 Mark Levinson purchased AudioPrism and The Debut MKII  became Red Rose Music Model 2 Amplifier retailing for $3,500.  As you can see by the photos this Amplifier is in stunning condition! It was recently checked out by a Technician that assembled these very amps at AudioPrism and Red Rose Music in Seattle where the amplifier resides, there were some capacitor replacements and then given flying colors and packed in original factory packaging. He said they should be listed as "New Old Stock" Serial # 94020015 Circa upgrades 1998. History : This Amplifier had very little usage as the owner has lived for many years in Japan and the unit has spent most of it's life in Seattle in storage. I'm selling this Amp for my friend in Japan. I have not sold much on audiogon but I have a 1700 plus positive rating in eBay as vinylnut2. I will rate this unit as Excellent as it is has been used. One would be hard pressed to find a better example. 

The below information is copied from Raptor Electronics site owned by Brian Hawkins who was an integral part of the AudioPrism - Red Rose engineering team. I will also listing two AudioPrism Debut Amplifiers also owned by my friend in the same history and condition shortly. 

"The Debut amplifier was designed by Victor Tiscareno. It was produced by AudioPrism and sold under that label until 1999 when Red Rose Music purchased the company. Upgrades were performed on the amp and it was then sold as the Red Rose Model 2. AudioPrism had an Issaquah and later a Redmond, Washington address. Manufacturing, Sales and Service continued in Redmond after the sale to Red Rose Music until the location was closed and tube electronics discontinued.

General Description

 All configurations were a tube dual mono stereo amplifier incorporating four each 12AT7 and EL34 tubes, two each per channel. The chassis is aluminum with dampened skin and front panel attached. The transformer cover was an option with the Debut, supplied with the Model 2. A detachable IEC power cord was provided. with the line fuse contained in a pull-out drawer within the receptacle

 The amp has one line input per channel. Operating modes are Off, Standby (STBY) and On. It was recommended to place the switch in Standby for 30 second prior to switching to On to allow the tubes to warm up and reduce  turn-on surge due to the large capacitors. A front panel bi-color LED indicates red for Standby and green for On. Each channel had a rear panel switch that allowed floating the channel signal  ground, connecting it to chassis ground or the other channel signal ground to obtain the lowest signal hum.

 The power transformer provided independent windings for left and right channel power supplies, a dual mono configuration. The high voltage windings generated a rectified 500VDC that was regulated to 450VDC for the output tubes and the regulated 300VDC supply of the gain and driver tubes. Additional windings were 12.6VAC for the output tube filaments in series,  rectified 14VDC for the gain and driver tube filament regulators and relays along with rectified 50VDC for the output tube regulated bias. The transformer required replacement to change from 100-120VAC to 220-240VAC

The 12AT dual section triode is operated with one section providing gain as a grounded cathode amp feeding the other section as the phase splitter. The driver tube used each section as a grounded cathode amp with an AC balance control and was capacitor coupled to the output tubes. The output tubes are operated with fixed, individually regulated bias in Ultra Linear mode. The Debut II and  Model 2 had switches actuating relays to also operate in Triode mode and individual fuses for each of he cathodes of the output tubes..

 The 12AT7 tubes used were selected Chinese. Tubes were selected for low microphonics, noise, distortion and 0.25dB  balance between channels. The EL34 were Svetlana in the Debut II and Electro- Harmonix EL34EH in the Model 2. The outputs were installed as a quad matched sets..

Debut and Debut II

The Debut and Debut II were supplied in an anodized Champagne color with black front and rear panel lettering. It was also optionally available in Silver or Black. The Debut II added the larger power transformer, two circuit boards for Ultra Linear - Triode relays, one each board for the 450VDC reference supply and the four additional 500VDC supply capacitors."