Formula P1000 (English)

The Active Monitoring Speaker Genelec 1030A has been my faithful companion since 2000. I chose it back then because its 6-inch woofer was a perfect fit for my study, and it came with the prestige of a TEC Award. After over a decade of use, these speakers have matured, delivering a more refined and complete sound.

I've never stopped tinkering with the Genelec system. Making it sing with emotion has been quite the challenge. I've experimented with various preamps and even designed my own. In 2008, I achieved a personal triumph with a tube-based preamp – a full-wave rectifier, 5687 for stabilization, and ECC81+ECC82 for amplification and output. It achieved an effective output amplitude of 94.5V (peak to peak), delivering a sound as delicate and smooth as porcelain. I'll save the full story for another time, and perhaps, when the opportunity arises, I may consider bringing it to the market.

Another preamp that stands out is the one I completed this year. It's an all-transistor circuit, fully balanced, completely discrete, DC-coupled, and operates in Class A. While its technical specifications shine brightly, I was amazed to achieve outstanding musicality as well. Pleased with the results, I cloned one and gifted it to a dear friend in Jinan, an avid audiophile. Within days, he called me, simply stating that he had stowed away his previously used imported tube preamp.

And thus, the Formula P1000 was born.

My personal assessment of the Formula P1000's sound quality is profound. It embraces a richness that caresses vocals with flesh and imbues instruments with resonance, from the depths of the low frequencies to the heights of the high frequencies, all adorned with a tapestry of harmonics. It possesses a lustrous warmth and dynamic range that adapts seamlessly to a wide spectrum of musical genres.

In recognition of the elevated output levels from modern digital audio sources, the Formula P1000's gain settings are deliberately set lower than those of conventional preamplifiers, ensuring a harmonious balance that caters to both speaker systems and headphone enthusiasts.

By Michael Xiao