Ion obelisk - the welsh Nait 2?

A lovely little amp a very good friend of mine still has is. Weren't Ion Nytech reinvented?

Yes you are right. They've also gone on to be the basis of the Heed obelisk.

obit here of the designer 

http://www.whathifi.com/news/o...ichard-hay-1944-2012

They were lovely amps, fronted with a Rega 3 (or 2) and a small pair of Royds was a wonderful thing, it introduced a few of my friends to proper Hifi as did the Nytech's that preceded them.

The big Nexus monoblocks were good as well.  I had a pair of these with an Obelisk 3X operating as a pre-amp.  This was later modified with a built in PSU as a one off as my dealer moved to Wales and became the production manager for Ion and we kept in touch.

I actually switched to the Obelisk/Nexus from a 42.5/Hicap/250 as I felt (at the time) the Ion had more drive than the Naim.  I'm not sure if I would do that now, used prices did not hold up as well as Naim, even while they were still going.  For this reason alone I would be very reluctant to jump ship again, you can't beat Naim for long term cost of ownership and retained value.

Richard

I have had most of them, Obelisk 1, Obelisk 2, Obelisk 3, Obelisk 3x + X-Pak.  The Ob1 is the baby - it's a good little amp and was cheap when new, roughly priced to compete with the Creek 4040, but it's a bit sweet, small scale and soft against the Nait.  The Nait cost a lot more of course, and really the closest Obelisk competitor was either the Ob2 or better yet the Ob3.  I'd still take a Nait 2 though.  Only the Ob3x + X-Pak offers something over and above the Nait.  It's different, with a dark velvety sound, and lots of grip. It's quiet too.  In fact the Ob3x +X-Pak is a superb integrated amp full stop.  But price-wise when new it cost over twice as much as the Nait 2.  A bargain today though. 

I've since let all my Obelisks go apart from the Ob3x + X-Pak and the rare matching FMT tuner.  Which tells you something I guess...

If anyone's interested, I can post some pictures of the internals of my rejuvenated Ion Obelisk 2, with its new caps, IEC plug and speaker connectors...  

Sounds interesting Jan.  I gave the little Ion a good listening too, but the Obelisk 1 can't compete with the Nait2.  Should benefit from a recap.  Nice little thing though - think it will make a nice 'spare room' system.  I was going to lament the loss of 'shoebox' size amps but we have Rega, Heed, and of Course the V1 NAP100 combination - perhaps we're coming back into fashion!

Back in the day, my first proper amp was a Nytech 202, because I coudn't afford a Nait I bought it new from Beaver Radio in Liverpool (no jokes please, that really was the name of the shop)!

Nytech then became the Ion brand, but I never liked the styling as much as the original Nytech.

I returned to Liverpool after Uni and bought my first naim 92/flatcap/90.3......and never looked back!

Sorry for diversion, just thought I would share that! The Nytech's really were good if you got one that worked. I believe the failure rate was horrendous......

I had an Obelisk 1, Planar 2 & Gale set which I sold to a friend in 1988. It is still going strong and I occasionally still hear it.

G

Richard Hay was brilliant. He performed miracles with budget amps for Nytech and Ion. I have the Nytech CA202, still working fine, never changed anything in it. It gives my Naim NAIT a run for its money. Although the NAIT's superior overall, the Nytech should appeal to NAIM fans. I find it more forward than the NAIT.

New speaker connectors (red and black) on the right and Furutech IEC socket (the original wiring was - ah - less than satisfactory and there was no separate ground wire...). The third set of speaker connectors are the switched ones. These cut out when the headphone socket is used.

New wiring from the socket (twisted to reduce magnetic fields)

Inside view of new speaker connectors (red and black plugs on the right). The ground wiring (green) has also been corrected. 

New caps all around ! 

And of course the lovely Alps Blue volume control (the original one, still working beautifully after 24 years).

All set for the next 30 years !