Alchemist P8 amp & pre

They went out of business a few years ago.

I owned one of their amps (forseti adp20 mk 11) and just loved it; guy I sold it to just recently loves it too. Great value, in my opinion, although, as noted, they are out of business now. Tim De Pavarancini of EAR did some design work for them; not sure if he had a hand in all their products. VERY well thought of in England around '96-97.

Do a search an Audio asylum. There was some talk there a couple of years ago about problems of thermal runaway, but I don't know the models. I wouldn't spend a lot on them, but they might be fun if you are willing to take the risk that could "flame out"

Actually ended up with an Alchemist Product 8 stereo amplifier. Via some trade-in/swap/finagling I gave up some Electrocompaniet amps and have now the Product 8. 150 watts are plenty to drive just about anything. Can't find anything to complain of. They do have a website alchemisthifi.info with some information. Tim de Paravicini (sp?) was involved with the company. Owned Cary tube gear for years and dreaded the switch to solid state gear but I must say the EC AW220's in mono were excellent and I find the characteristics of the Alchemist to be very similar. Pass Labs is also in the same league. No grain, sweet sounding, plenty of bottom end that is able to present good pitch definiton. Quiet, smooth and powerful. I just wanted to get away from the constant hassle of tubes and wanted to simplify things. If you learn more, please share. No hint of operational troubles, looks and sounds to be a very well made unit. Thanks, Mark Mendenhall