If you don’t care what something is made from, how it’s made, where it’s made, who made it, what it looks like, how it feels to live with, or how it sounds then you can skip this review.
The Fern & Roby Amp No. 2 is designed and built in Richmond, Virginia at the Fern & Roby factory. Christopher Hildebrand is the man behind the company as well as sister company Tektonics, a product development firm and fabricator and I’ll let the Fern & Roby website say a bit more:
Our deep knowledge of materials and processes learned from our years of work as a contract design and manufacturing firm at Tektonics allows us to participate in the long and rich tradition of American product design, manufacturing, and craft. Our work has a weight and tactility that encourages one to participate and interact with the finished product.
Our selection of material is guided by the principles of local and domestic sourcing and in most cases driven toward recycled, reclaimed or responsibly manufactured goods. We choose to manufacture in America and are proud to be part of our local economy.
That’s a solid 3/4″ slab of American Walnut adorning the Amp No. 2’s face with a brass volume control and 6 brass control buttons peaking through. The Fern & Roby logo, model name, and inputs are etched into the walnut making for a kind of quiet, refined material beauty.
The remote, one of the most pleasant in-hand remote experiences I’ve had, is also made from brass with perfectly sized buttons. Perfectly sized because they’re about the size of a fingertip and the remote has a nice amount of heft without being too heavy.
I’d like you to consider the fact that all of these details are carefully considered as was the overall design of the Amp no. 2, inside and out.
As you can see printed on that circuit board, the Amp No. 2’s internals were designed by industry veteran Michael Bettinger whose career dates back to 1981 with his company GAS Audio. The Amp No. 2 offers 25 Watts of high current solid state Class A/B power.
Around back reside a set of speaker binding posts, 3 line level inputs (2x RCA, 1x XLR), a phono input that accommodates Moving Magnet (MM) and Moving Coil (MC) cartridges with a flip of an internal switch, Sub Out, IEC receptacle, and power switch. The review unit shipped with the optional Fern & Roby Isolation Feet which I used throughout because they offer a sound improvement.
Adding all of this up, I find the Fern & Roby Amp No. 2 to be a very nice package in terms of design, materials, and build quality that speaks to my love of carefully considered art and craft that in some ways is reminiscent of the Bauhaus aesthetic.
“Our guiding principle was that design is neither an intellectual nor a material affair, but simply an integral part of the stuff of life, necessary for everyone in a civilized society.” Walter Gropius
As much as I love design, a piece of hifi gear, like a building, also has a function that’s as important as its form. And while I have more to say about the Fern & Roby Amp No. 2’s performance, I can tell you that it offers deft control with a touch of sweetness that serves to make music feel vibrant, energized, and fluid.
During its 3 month+ stay the Amp No. 2 got to play with a number of speakers including the Vienna Acoustics Limited Edition Bach Ultimate Loudspeakers that are in for review (more info) and the Barn resident DeVore O/96 (review). The Barn resident analog rig—Michell Gyro SE/Sorane SA1.2/EMT HSD 006 MC cartridge—took care of my records while the Barn resident Grimm MU1 (review)/totaldac d1-unity (review) as well as the recently reviewed Linear Tube Audio Aero DAC fed from the Barn resident Auralic ARIES G1.1 (review) took care of the bits (see full Barn and system details).
As you might expect from all those speaker’s specs, the Amp No. 2 had no problem driving each pair to Barn filling levels. I spent most of my time listening with the O/96 because I know them very well which allowed me to get to know the Amp No. 2 really well but I will share that the Bach Ultimates loved, and I mean loved, the Fern & Roby amp and to my mind this pairing makes for a very nice simple system. Just add sources. I’ll dig into more detail in the Bach Ultimate review but they have a similar refined fluid clarity that complimented the Amp No. 2’s strengths perfectly. Think big Barn filling sweet sweet music. Nice.
I’m a fan of Rachel’s Music for Egon Schiele from 1996, I’m also a fan of Egon Schiele’s twisted figures, but their largely instrumental 1999 album Selenography has been tickling my chamber music funny bone of late. Viola, acoustic guitar, drums, samples, piano, harpsichord, trumpet, strings and other things fill out this gentle swirl of a record. ‘the scientific mapping of the moon’, that’s what selenography means and this music maps a similarly mysterious and luminous soundscape.
This largely acoustic music showcases the Amp No. 2’s agility as we know what these instruments sound like in real life—I have a few guitars, a violin, a Farfisa, and other assorted noise makers around the Barn and I’ve been to my share of concerts—and when paired with the O/96 the sound of this system was very light on its feet, moving in step with Rachel’s every pluck, bow, and tinkle. The sound image was well free from the speakers and provided a clear and precise view onto the musical proceedings, all adding up to a mysterious and luminous experience. Nice.
While my mind is hovering over Vienna, birthplace of Schiele (born 1890) and my favorite composer from the Second Viennese School Anton Weber (born 1883), I decided to take a walk around the Quartetto Italiano’s lively rendition of Webern’s Complete Music for String Quartet about which NY Times music critic Donal Henahan opined:
And yet, going back to the Quartetto Italiano’s recently reviewed “Complete Music for String Quartet by Webern,” one is amazed by the life that the Italian group breathes into, for instance, the “Five Movements” (Op. 5), with an approach that in theory is all wrong: extrovert, dynamically exaggerated and openly dramatic.
Filling in my fan of pages, I also have a big soft spot for the Quartetto Italiano’s equally dramatic way with Beethoven’s late string quartets. What’s wrong with a little romance? In any event, the Amp No. 2/DeVore combo imbued this dynamically exaggerated and openly dramatic music with a richness in tone and texture while following every last pluck and flurry with a fluid grace making it, and me, sway along. The Fern & Roby Amp No. 2 doesn’t have even a hint of harshness or hardness, traits that some might find surprising from a solid state amp (I don’t find it surprising at all). It’s worth noting that the first 5 or so Watts are run in Class A which may account for that sweetness I referred to earlier. Wood, rosin, bows, and fingers all sounded out as natural sprightly things with a very nice sense of body and weight. Naturally energized.
A 2nd Shape is the first studio album from English post-punk band The Wolfgang Press in nearly 30 years (!) and I’m digging its sepia toned industrial slant. I ran this record on both sides of the Barn through the O/96 (A-Side) and Bach Ultimates (B-Side) and was greeted with, among other things, very well controlled and surprisingly deep and buoyant bass, especially coming from the modestly sized Bachs! All manner of sounds squirt out from A 2nd Shape building a metamodern soundscape that felt so well formed I could easily imagine driving around inside. That said, the space of this recording is kinda skeletal, allowing for a clear view into each sound element and the Amp No. 2, with both pair of speakers, did a wonderful job of laying out the skeletal scene in space while imbuing each element with its distinct voice.
Digging even deeper, Ghost Dubs debut Damaged, released on Kevin Martin’s Pressure label in June, goes subterranean with a heavy grizzled crackling sound that illustrated, with real Barn shaking certainty, the Amp No. 2 knows how to go down low. Real low without ever losing its fluid sprightly step. I’ll say it again, the slender Bach Ultimates did a surprising job of delivering the physicality of this music, even in the B-Side’s 21’ x 35’ x 12’ space. Focusing on the Amp No. 2, this music highlighted its speed and deftness, responding to this heavy industrialized dub noise with ease and unshakable control. Deep.
I’ll let Lana Del Rey and her 2023 double LP release Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, on minty green vinyl no less, tell us about the Amp No. 2’s phono stage set to MC, using my Michell Gyro SE/Sorane SA1.2/EMT HSD 006 setup to read its grooves. And Lana Del Rey stood out front and center, very nicely materialized center stage with clarity, focus, and that touch of sweetness that made her voice whisper present. There’s some real production going on here with all manner of strings, sounds, and things sometimes buzzing around and over Del Rey and the Amp No. 2 sorted everything out with the same fluid grace I’ve spoken about with digital sources.
I will admit that I am spoiled by the Barn resident Aurorasound VIDA MK.II Phono Stage, that costs nearly $5k on its own, and its more physical presentation that lends greater weight, body, tone and texture to music as compared to the Amp No. 2’s phono stage but that’s not a shocking discovery because we all know that things like circuits and power supplies can be better off on their own, in a quieter environment. An integrated amp that also includes a phono stage is meant to offer a simpler solution, and in this case a less expensive option, and the Fern & Roby Amp No. 2’s phono stage did a convincingly good job of presenting the drama and appeal of Lana Del Rey in Barn and I very much doubt that any owner would feel left wanting when listening instead of comparing.
In terms of comparisons, the field of integrated amplifiers in and around the Fern & Roby’s price is vast. Huge, really. Of those I’ve reviewed in recent times, the Unison Research Unico 90 comes to mind (review) for its combined strengths of “stiff power, agility, and heart”. While the Unico does not include a phono stage, its asking price of $5499 accounts for that in terms of this comparison and its 100 Watts of power make it more suitable for speakers that need more juice to drive ‘em. My feeling is potential buyers will be swayed more by the two amps looks and story more than sound quality. I could live with either one, happily, and each have their own set of strengths with the Amp No. 2 sounding a bit more sprightly, a higher level of imparted energy, compared to the Unico 90s more robust yet agile demeanor.
Of course the Barn resident Leben CS600X, that costs $8,995 in today’s dollars, is another option albeit another straight integrated amp sans phono. The Leben relies on four EL34s, or in my use case 4 Gold Lion KT77s, for its roughly 28 Watts of output power and for my tastes it offers power, grace, and richness that feels weightier and more tonally saturated compared to the Amp No. 2 whose strengths, even in this comparison, are its lighter on its feet feel. But the recently announced introductory price of $6,950 for the Amp No. 2 moves this comparison further away from relevant.
During its more than 3 month Barn visit, the Fern & Roby Amp No. 2 got to play a lot of music. Old, new, and a healthy helping of ‘test tracks’ that admittedly added up to more listening time than I needed to write this review. And that was the case for one reason—I simply enjoyed listening to music through it.
If you care about what your hifi gear is made from, how it’s made, where it’s made, who made it, what it looks like, how it feels to live with, and how it sounds, Fern & Roby’s Amp No. 2 offers a very compelling and complete package.
Fern & Roby Amp No. 2
Price: special introductory price: $6,950 + $200 for the optional Isolation Feet | regular price $8500
Company Website: Fern & Roby
Specs & Features
- High Current Class A/B design
- 25 watts per channel
- On-Board Phono Pre (MM/MC)
- Balanced XLR Input
- Two additional Line Inputs (RCA)
- Sub Woofer Out (RCA)
- High quality RCA connectors and binding posts with copper base metal for the best conductivity.
