Koichi Futatsumata’s Elekit tube amplifier first showed up on Gadget Lab in October last year. The monolithic block was like a prevision of the newest Mac Mini, hewn from aluminum with a minimal set of controls and ports. Now, it has gotten a name change and is finally ready to go on sale.
The Elekit is now the "22 [tu: tu:]" and will be available to buy in October for ¥73,500, or around $860. For that you get an almost willfully simple piece of audio kit, with just two knobs (volume and tone), a single pair of RCA jacks for input and four binder-posts for hooking up the speakers. There's also a power cable, of course, from which the electricity will be lovingly funneled through the circuitry and tubes to produce the warm, full sound that is the hallmark of the tube amp.
A new site will also go live tomorrow, September 17th (as of today it is still password protected) and you'll be able to pre-order soon. One word of advice: don't pair this up with the terrible Crosley Radio Revolution portable, battery operated turntable I wrote up this morning. That would be like splattering ketchup on oysters.
22 tu tu product page [22tutu via Spoon Tomago. Thanks, Snackfight!]
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