Amp/Preamp Asylum: REVIEW: Grant Fidelity RITA-880 Amplifier (Tube) by Kenburak

Model:	RITA-880
Category:	Amplifier (Tube)
Suggested Retail Price:	$5299
Description:	Reference Integrated Tube Amplifier
Manufacturer URL:	Grant Fidelity
Model Picture:	View

Review by Kenburak on December 09, 2012 at 23:47:40
IP Address: 70.72.84.140 Add Your Review
for the RITA-880

The Grant Fidelity integrated reference tube amplifier (RITA 880S) is a third generation model manufactured in China by Jungson audio according to up-graded specifications established by Ian Grant, of Grant Fidelity, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was my good forture to come across this designer/importer/distributor in the spring of 2012. I could make nemerous positive comments regarding my experiences with Grant Fidelity and Ian Grant, and his Chinese partner Rachel (who is very well connected to the HI-FI audio community in China but this is about the integrated valve amplifier that I settled on aquiring at that time. My purchase objective was to make a wise purchase of an amplifier that would be, and would CONTINUE to be THE ONE I would own and enjoy "for the duration"... which means, I wanted to buy an amp that I would be VERY HAPPY with for the rest of my life. Thus far (with 200 plus hours on the unit) I am EXTREMLY pleased with my choice.

Another purchase objective at the time was to have an amp that would be an excellent match-up for electrostatic speakers which I had discovered I liked very much. I had read a lot online about many tube amps (like AR) that were a great match to electrostatics, and about the "warmth" and terrific midrange that good tube amps were known to provide. This was where I wanted to go.

Anyway, a number of weeks ago, was reading a forum in a well known stereophile magazine (with a similar sounding name) and there was some discussion about Chinese manufactrured products. Comments were both positive and negative in nature, but what I read prompted me to share my own personal experience with this Chinese manufactured integrated amplifier that I purchased through Grant Fidelity with the Grant Fidelity name on it and the inner workings up-graded, modified, aweaked and otherwise ammended... to be manufactured in China by Jungson to meet Ian Grant's expectations and criteria for a supurb sounding "North-American-sound", high-end product.

So, here's my "personal experience" blerb...

"Some of the comments and opinions I have read here (the stereophile forum) appear to have been made by informed, intelligent persons, while others appear to be emotional, irrational and ill-informed. I’m not sure which category I’ll fall into, but for anyone who may be interested, I’ll share an experience that I have had with Grant Fidelity and one of the Chinese-manufactured items of equipment that they import, promote and distribute throughout North America.

After doing his research and due diligence, a hi-fi friend of mine purchased a Canadian manufactured 225 wpc, high-current integrated amplifier, the Magnum Dynalab model MD309 at $8,900. The company introduces this product as follows: “From our pedigree in pure analog circuitry, we're proud to introduce our most uncompromising 2-channel Integrated Amplifier. Using ...Hybrid-Acoustic CircuitryTM found in our MD-209 Audio Receiver, JJ 6922 Cryovalve tubes, and stocked with Magnum Dynalab's unrelenting build quality and audio engineering, the new MD 309 is a future-ready anchor for your high-performance home audio system. We believe it is the best Integrated Amplifier on the market.”

For more about the validity of that statement, there are many reviews online about this and other products from this Canadian company which is, world renowned for making perhaps the best FM tuners in the world, and now applying their resources towards additional hi-fi components.

So, my friend brought over the Dynalab unit and we compared it head-to-head with my not-too-long-ago-acquired Grant Fidelity “reference integrated tube amplifier”, a “RITA-880S”, manufactured in China. The RITA-880S is a class A ultra linear design, utilizing a pair of Psvane A CV181-T (6SN7); a pair of 1960's Chinese NOS military grade 6SL7 tubes and 4 Psvane KT88-T output stage tubes, capable of 45 watts per channel from its 8 or 4 ohms taps. (I keep hearing from people who know, these 45 watts of class A ultralinear triode power and current are equivalent to 2 or 3 or 4 times thast number when measured against typical A/B class SS wpc.) This amplifier weighs in at 115 pounds! (I have always been a believer that, in audio, “HEAVIER IS BETTER”. I once said something to that effect in front of 3 rather large women that I shared office space with at one time, and they immediately took me out for drinks and a VERY expensive lunch!)

Back to the story…We were set up in a terrific room ( fortunately mine) rather on the larger volume side, about 14 feet wide by 31 long and extending further to about 52 feet in total length, with vaulted ceilings in multiple directions up to 14 feet high and plenty of sound absorption contents. There is plenty of “room volume” here for big energy emissions.
We listened to numerous good quality CD’s on a well-regarded/well-reviewed player. The reasonably good quality speaker connect cabling was moved from one amplifier to the other so that there was absolutely nothing different in our evaluation other than the 2 amps. The speakers were however, going to be a good test for the amps…an almost brand new pair of Martin Logan Vistas, extremely well matched to the room in that they were positioned about 13 feet forward from the rear wall (which has a 14 foot ceiling and what I believe to be an ideal mix of reflective/non-reflective surface areas). The Logans have a very low impedance in the upper end and for that reason, as well as others, they are considered by some to be a speaker that will easily demonstrate weaknesses in amplification stability and generally, weaknesses in any other system components as well.

Anyway, with some anticipation, we embarked on our little mission to discover the audible differences between the MD 309 and the RITA 880S…which we had both listened to previously… and away we went. Going in, I think we both fully expected the 225 Wpc 8 ohms/450 Wpc 4 ohms Dynalab, costing more than double that of the RITA, to be clearly superior in several areas. We expected to now find out just how much superior.

So,... here is the essence of our experience:

The Dynalab played louder! On some, but ONLY ON SOME musical material, it had a perceptible advantage in reproducing a greater dynamic range of the music …but ONLY IF there was a lot of program content on the recording and if that content built up to a crescendo of one sort or another. The Grant Fidelity amplifier drove the Vistas (with the electrostatic panels that have very low impedance in the upper end, and which DO NOT have built-in amplification for the conventional cone speaker in the low frequency cabinet) to “normal”, “reasonable” and “very adequate” listening levels for the various music we listened to…with MORE than ample volumes in this larger volume room for what either of us would typically utilize. In all other respects - transparency, sound stage definition both side-to-side and front-to-back, low frequency performance and control (we did NOT use the sub that was on hand), background silence, nuance and detail… to our ears and perceptions… and with careful assessment and judgment, BOTH of us came to the conclusion that the 2 amplifiers sounded…IDENTICAL! It was a bit astonishing to both of us.

I would expect (?) that a professional audio industry reviewer with vastly more experience than the 2 of us, supported by sophisticated laboratory technical analysis of the 2 amplifiers, would be likely identify more subtle differences in the amplifiers than eluded us. HOWEVER, for us, in the real life environment in which our assessment took place, unless we were going to play music SO loud as to scare the hell out of our friends or family, the Grant Fidelity RITA 880S impressed us with its same ability as the Magnum Dynalab MD 309 to provide equally magnificent sound in every other sense. We clearly liked both of these amplifiers better than the excellent Canadian made Bryston or American made MacIntosh brands that each of us are familiar with (…aren’t we all?) Personal taste? Perhaps. My son prefers the more analytical, brighter Bryston sound and I respect that preference, but I don't share it.

My hi-fi friend and I are both very happy with what we bought. He simply prioritizes more money for this purpose than I, and for that, he got something more that I didn’t. But we are both going to be listening to virtually the same high fidelity sound. (With his bigger budget, he’ll have the new Martin Logan Montis, which, for now, I will only dream of.)

If you’ve stuck it out this far, would you please hang in a minute longer to allow me to make the followeing point?...which is about how this whole thing started. It’s that, if given an “apples-to-apples” choice at essentially the same cost, I would RATHER support a Canadian or American manufacturing corporation and their employees and shareholders than a company in China. While Grant Fidelity is a Canadian importer, promoter and distributor of numerous brands of Chinese-manufactured audio equipment, as far as I can discern, they do not employ very many people in this country and therefore do not augment the Canadian economy very significantly in that respect. But with the service that they do provide, they have augmented MY economy by allowing me to get superb sound performance AND in doing so, in direct comparison to the Dynalab amp, retain over $4,000.00 to allocate to other priorities in life, whether they relate to the enjoyment of music or otherwise. Consequently, that money I did NOT spend on some other amplifier that I felt I needed to satisfy my expectations...that money saved may ultimately benefit some other domestic or American manufacturer of audio equipment, or otherwise.

So, thank you, Grant Fidelity, and China."

Footnote: My amp and speakers have now (Dec. 9th)only 208 hours on them which is about double the hours when we did the testing. The sound seems to keep improving (as the “break-in” period continues). The Martin Logan Vistas need to have the low frewuency cone driver broken in by "exercising" the throw vigorously to "loosten it up, I guess", and the 8 brend new tubes in the RITA 880S need about 100 hours of break in before, as Ian Grant told me, would result in about an octave DROP in low frequency performance...and that proverd to be totally true!!!!!

I could have bought Bryston, MacIntosh, NAD Master series, or any number of other amplifiers, and my hi-fi friend could have done the same…we listened to all of those and then some. They all sounded great. But I’m especially pleased with my choice, and he with his. All I wished to do here by writing this is to share with those who may be interested, what a great experience I have had and continue to have thus far with my Grant Fidelity/Chinese amplifier, and how pleased I am with the sound quality that I’m enjoying for my hard earned dollars spent. (I feel just as good about the Martin Logan Vistas as well, but I do hope to someday up-grade to the new Montis model. I believe that those, paired up with the RITA 880S will be awesome for me, and provide me with totally satisfying musical reproduction for the resdt of my days! Putting the hardware/gear/equipment part of the hobby to rest may NOT be what suits a lot of us HI-Fi guys, but I believe that it will suit me. Once I'm done with that, it will be all about the music.

References:

Magnum Dynalab MD309 Hi-Fi Plus Issue 69 Review: http://www.magnumdynalab.com/pdfs/IntegratedAmplifierReview-HIFI+69.pdf

Grant Fidelity RITA 880 (Predecessor to RITA 880S) Reviewed by Colin Smith colins@soundstageav.com Soundstage AV.com
http://www.soundstageav.com/onhifi/20081001.htm

Grant Fidelity RITA 880 (Predecessor to RITA 880S) Customer Review
http://grantfidelity.com/site/files/RITA-880promo2008-v5.pdf

Grant Fidelity RITA 880 (Predecessor to RITA 880S) Reviewed by Richard Austen of Constantine Soo’s Dagogo
http://www.dagogo.com/View-Article.asp?hArticle=181

JungSon DA88Ti Integrated Valve Amplifier
http://www.avhub.com.au/images/stories/pdf/Jungson%20DA-88Ti%20Integrated%20Valve%20Amplifier.pdf?128958267846840000
http://bing.search.sympatico.ca/?q=grant%20fidelity&mkt=en-ca&setLang=en-CA

Product Weakness:	No RCA outputs for direct sub connection. Takes TWO strong men to lift it. (115 pounds!)
Product Strengths:	Sound is SUPURB!! Soundstage breadth and depth is great, airy, transparent and musical. Built like a battleship...amazing! Runs 8 tubes including 4 KT 88's %22cool%22...heat dispersion is excellent. Bright, blue display can be read 12+ feet away. Solid, great feeling remote. 1 XLR and 4 RCA inputs; 4 & 8 Ohm Taps.

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Integrated KT 88 Class A Ultralinear Triode 45 Wpc 8/4Ohm
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Integrated
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Opera Consonance CDP5.0 Tube Player, Phillips CD Pro II
Speakers: Martin Logan Vista (Passive-Not powered)
Cables/Interconnects: Grant Fidelity copper ribbon
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Jazz, Blues, Rock, Classical
Room Size (LxWxH): 52 x 14 x 9-14
Room Comments/Treatments: Valted ceilings in multiple directions, large volume, lots of drapes, blinds, large soft furniture
Time Period/Length of Audition: 2 hours +
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Grant Fidelity (Jungson)
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner
Your System (if other than home audition): Reviewer's system and other integrated amplifier being compared %22head to head%22.

Amplifier:	Integrated KT 88 Class A Ultralinear Triode 45 Wpc 8/4Ohm
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Integrated
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Opera Consonance CDP5.0 Tube Player, Phillips CD Pro II
Speakers:	Martin Logan Vista (Passive-Not powered)
Cables/Interconnects:	Grant Fidelity copper ribbon
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Jazz, Blues, Rock, Classical
Room Size (LxWxH):	52 x 14 x 9-14
Room Comments/Treatments:	Valted ceilings in multiple directions, large volume, lots of drapes, blinds, large soft furniture
Time Period/Length of Audition:	2 hours +
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Grant Fidelity (Jungson)
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner
Your System (if other than home audition):	Reviewer's system and other integrated amplifier being compared %22head to head%22.