Preamplifiers — Aries Cerat Imperia II Sig

The Impera II Signature is a flagship preamplifier from Aries Cerat, built around the brand's proprietary Inverted Triode Technology, a unique active amplification element the company itself describes as an entirely new component category rather than a variation on conventional vacuum tube design. Aries Cerat presents this model as its grand statement of what it believes to be the absolute best preamplifier on the market.

Key specs that matter

Four unbalanced and one true balanced input are provided. Rated bandwidth is an extraordinary 2Hz to 500kHz. The Inverted Triode combines three electrodes - cathode, grid and plate - in a configuration fundamentally different from a classic vacuum tube, where a conventional triode accelerates an electron stream from a heated cathode toward a flat positively-charged anode; Aries Cerat's inverted arrangement changes this basic operating principle entirely. The Signature model uses a full-sized second chassis dedicated entirely to the power supply, housing ten totally independent power supplies, each individually rectified, filtered and stabilised, with extensive use of ten chokes combined with special-quality capacitors. A 500VA encased transformer feeds all ten mirrored power supplies via double umbilical cords running to the main signal chassis, providing complete magnetic and electromagnetic isolation between power and signal sections. All four vacuum tubes are fed by dedicated quality power supplies with individual choke-filtered capacitor banks.

Sound and use context

Expect a novel sonic character Aries Cerat itself describes as "a brand new experience in the audio world," achieved through radical engineering solutions developed from extensive out-of-the-box research rather than conventional tube or transistor preamplifier design - the Signature designation shares almost no common parts with the brand's more accessible Reference-tier Impera design.

Pairing

The single true balanced input suits a fully balanced source directly, while the four unbalanced inputs accommodate a broader conventional source lineup, and the considerable power supply isolation should benefit any downstream power amplifier connected to this preamplifier.

Alternatives

Aries Cerat's Impera II Signature Limited Edition sits above this model using the brand's newer Gen 2 dual Inverted Triode technology, doubling bandwidth and further improving distortion, noise and intermodulation figures, worth the further investment if this Signature model's already extraordinary engineering still leaves ambitions unmet.