Retro Review #11 The Ion Obelisk 3 Amplifier

Another little known amplifier from the 1980's - an excellent design that still stands up today

[@davidakast]

I’ve just had a lovely Aiwa AX-7600 serviced in North Yorkshire. At the same time my Obelisk 3 + Xpak power supply was tested and checked over. Other than a bit of mould it was fine, and it continues to be a superb amplifier 35 years or so on. Great to hear they are developing a following!

[@mickgrundy4615]

Yeah am still listening to a obelisk 2 love it bought from chris brookes 30 years ago sounds great. Keep the videos coming very intersting stuff.

[@stephenwardle9803]

I still have my Ion setup bought from Chris Brooks. 4 monobloc power amps with active crossovers built in, pre-amp with power supply, feeding Roksan Darius active speakers and a Roksan Xerxses, Artemis, Shiraz turntable. Had it over 30 years and it still works fine.

[@gaborozorai3714]

That exact system was the reference setup of Zsolt Audio in Hungary, the dealership of Zsolt Huszti the "chap from Hungary" who Richard Hay cooperated with and who founded and is still running Heed Audio. Heard it several times at shows, pretty spectacular stuff. The system I got from them at the time consisted of Xerxes, Obelisk 2, Royd Apex.

[@LordTechnopants]

Certainly a very evocative era for UK hi-fi, exemplified by this little gem. Life took me in other directions but in my teenage bedroom, what I really lusted after in the mid to late 80s was a Michel Syncro with an Onix OA21. Hmmm. What I actually had was 6ft piles of hi-fi magazines!

[@mercury8180]

I always wanted to give one of those a listen but never could find one as they were always overlooked as the cyrus 1/2 were the usual recommendations along with the nait. Also the onix amps were overlooked in the shoe box style of 80s amps. The qed a230 and a240 mk1s were an unusual shape as well. Ah back then we were really spoiled for choice as all the above amps were designed to sound good.

[@cityscriptsltd]

my obelisk 3 is fantastic (I've had it driving vintage Larsen pyramid LP720 and also Dali Zensor 3) - it recently developed a massive headphone crackle on the sealed alps blue pot (so massive it blew a larsen tweeter) but i got it fixed by retrotech audio in Caterham, Surrey and it's perfect again. (they also fixed the Larsen tweeter)

[@johnshore3095]

An Ion Obelisk 2 was my second amp which I upgraded to from an NAD 3130 back in the late 80's.. I then years later picked up a 3X-XPAC1 which I still have as my office amp driving a pair of KEF LS50 blacks as my desk system 😁 The Nexus systems were the pre and powers and the ultimate mono blocks were double hight 750VA double width monsters. I have a pair which when funds allow, I will get reconditioned in Wales there is a place to get them serviced 👍 6:30 The switches were a binary on-off arrangement. We do pay good money for mint ones 🙂

[@johnshore3095]

The pre was a Nexus SP1 Power supply XPAC2 SAM amps stereo MA mono amps 👍

[@innerdragonstarkie6876]

How about a review of the Onix OA21 and Albarry M804s

[@Weissman111]

Bought my Obelisk 2 from Chris Brooks along with a Rega Planar 3.

[@arfer1470]

Providing none of the obsolete items like input selectors etc have gone, or the PCB isnt burnt beyond recognition, anything else can be replaced such as caps, transistors and resistors. It just a matter of how much time and money you want to put into it. I have fixed some real basket cases for my own entertainment, though it probably didn't make financial sense, so I end up keeping them because people won't pay what they are actually worth.

[@archiemacdonald553]

great video of another great amp .i had the meridian 101 103 pre power amp then upgraded to the 105s would love to hear them again .many thanks 🙂

[@Dave-yk1hx]

Thank you for a great video and a real trip down memory lane. I remember all those amps and reading about them in Hi Fi Answers. I used Crimson Elektrik kits for 35 years - using different power supplies etc and I had no problems with them except when I caused damage! I found the basic crimson CE608 to have far more bass and dynamics that the Cambridge A60 amp but treble was not so nice. I found the higher current more powerful Crimson Elektrik power amps (CE1708 I think) in monoblock configuration pretty good but the pre-amps while pleasant to listen to did not have the clarity I came to expect (compare with passive pre-map). At one time I used physically huge Mullard reservoir capacitors, 10cm high, similar in appearance to those in the old Krells, before switching to slit foil caps. Lots of fun.

[@timleelim9930]

Nice walk down memory lane talking about these British integrated amps. Hope a nice 80s IncaTech/Lecson or one of the early Brighton-made Exposure integrateds crosses your path to be featured in the future.

[@craigphillips884]

Great content again Phil,, enjoy the videos.. keep them coming..

[@ionobelisk]

Yes, weird switching, the selectors were cumulative. I have an Obelisk 1, that died a long while ago, I still have forlorn hopes of getting it fixed one day. It was an outstanding performer. Replaced with a Kraken Anniversary.

[@wangwild8472]

Yes, nothing happens when I press CD, then I press TUNER to make a sound

[@franz-joseffrings7223]

That is right. The manual tells us the aux input is shwitched by tuner and aux/CD together. Best regards from somebody still in love with Obelix 2and ls3/5a

[@markgreen66]

Great video Phil. I have one bought it off a mate about 30 years ago, it was a few years old at the time. I used to love how the red LED used to take ages to go off after you turn it off. Which was among one of the confusing things about trying to get it work. You wouldn't believe how many people couldn't get it to work even though it only had 4 buttons on the front! Mine has MC on the back, MM and CD/VID blacked out. Do you know what MC means? Thanks

[@gianpiero1963]

Sono il felice proprietario Italiano di un Obelisk 3 uguale a quello del tuo video, amo questo amplificatore e funziona ancora molto bene , tempo fà ho sostituito gli elettrolitici e ho fatto un recap generale, pulito la scheda e i contatti è tornato come nuovo !! ora suona collegato alle mie Celestion Ditton 33 e alle County C si sposa alla grande !! grazie ancora per il tuo Video

[@johnshore3095]

👍 great amp

[@chiennguyen-ik4ii]

Good

[@mikemcguinness1304]

The albarry pp1 amp .. That was made by a company in leek . The company was called precision audio engineering, I applied for a job there when I was 17 ....loooooonnnng time ago

[@martinscase3904]

Interesting to see that Heed Audio have an Obelisk integrated in their range...

[@leet1850]

A friend of mine worked at Crimson, I'm sure it was in Longton, late 80s, early 90s as i remember.

[@dazaaw]

I was wondering if you would do a review of the obelisk, indeed i got mine from Chris Brooks.

[@geddylee501]

Used to have one of these, but sadly it overheated and died, as you said...flaky design...but nice sound when it was working lol

[@nigelpearson6664]

As far as I know it was Nytech.

[@wangwild8472]

cool！I have it too

[@wingtang2380]

CYRUS TWO 👌❤😌

[@hoobsgroove]

I'll give you 30 quid if you want