It’s worth spending good money on high-quality products. What’s better than that, though, is finding high-quality products at bargain prices. This doesn’t happen very often, but Doug Schneider and I are right now at Audio Video Show 2022 in Warsaw, Poland, and there are bargains to be had in this city, at this show.
To put things in perspective, a pint of beer in the Radisson Blu Sobieski hotel restaurant runs 20 Zlotys, which works out to around $5.75 in Canadian currency. If I order that same pint at a hotel in my home town of Toronto, I’d be paying at least double that. Canadian money goes far in this town, which is rarely the case.
So far, we’ve found two smoking bargains at Audio Video Show 2022 here in Warsaw, and here’s the first one.
We’ve written before about Fezz Audio, the Polish manufacturer of both tube and solid-state amplification, in prior show reports from Audio Video Shows here in Warsaw. Fezz Audio is aggressive in its development of new products, and the brand has had a number of additions to its line-up this year.
When we asked Maciej Lachowski of Fezz Audio if he was showing anything totally new, he led us into the company’s listening room to hear the brand-new, made-in-Poland Titania power amplifier. The Titania is armed with two KT88 tubes per channel, and outputs a decent 45W each side. The transformers are high-quality toroidals, the casework feels solid and looks well made, and the tube cage features a clear-plastic front panel to allow the beauty of the tubes to shine through.
What’s interesting here is that the Titania is bridgeable, so you can run one of these each side and you end up with a pair of monoblocks slamming out 90W each.
There’s a big surprise here—the Titania retails for 11,000 Polish złotys. I ran the numbers on that, and it converts to $2330 in US currency or $3170 back in Canada. When Lachowski relayed that price to us, both Doug and I thought Lachowski had made an error. I asked again, “How much?”
“11,000 złotys,” Lachowski replied.
“Are you sure?” Doug asked one more time.
Lachowski looked a touch confused, perhaps concerned he wasn’t being clear. “Yes, I’m sure.”
I quickly jumped in, not wanting to let this moment slip away. “Can we please arrange a review sample?”
We exchanged email addresses, and we’re going to work out the details. Stay tuned for the review, folks.
Jason Thorpe
Senior Contributor, SoundStage!