Balanced Audio Technology REX 3 Tube Power Amplifier

An 80 Wpc all-triode stereo amp with 6C33C tubes. Delivers 160 W as a monoblock.

Balanced Audio Technology’s engineer Victor Khomenko has put over 20 years of research into creating the ultimate vacuum-tube power amp. The all-triode REX 3 is the magnificent result. 

It is a symmetrical single-ended bridge design with four of BAT’s signature triode 6C33C tubes with zero global feedback. An extremely short signal path maintains linear frequency and phase response. The REX 3 delivers 80 watts per channel in stereo mode or 160 watts in full triode mode when configured as a monoblock pair. Its custom-made output transformers are made to BAT’s exact specification and have a wide-bandwidth frequency response from 5 Hz up to 300 kHz.

Two Amps per Channel 

Think of the REX 3 as two single-ended amplifiers per channel, with their waveforms summed at the output transformer. This ensures no DC flows through the transformer, allowing it to be a truly wide-bandwidth design all the while reducing low-frequency distortion. This is what gives BAT amps their wideopen, incredibly dynamic sound that still retains and conveys all the delicacy of tubes.

The REX 3 uses two gain stages for better linearity and to run the tubes at lower currents, extending life. 

BAT worked closely with Cardas Audio to create an entirely new internal interconnect constructed of the finest Cardas Audio Litz wiring. It is, by far, the most expensive wire BAT has used in any component, and illustrative of how nothing was spared in the development of the REX 3 system. BAT chose the finest copper-foil oil capacitors to replace its long-term oil caps and sonically, the result combines BAT’s hallmark naturalism with inimitable insight into musical textures, details, and expression.

BAT makes owning tubes easy with intelligent autobias, tube status indicators, and a novel fuse-less protection circuit.

Specifications

Output Per Channel
Stereo (8 Ω, 4 Ω): 80 W, 80 W
Mono (8 Ω, 4 Ω): 160 W, 160 W

Gain: 26 dB

Input Impedance (Mono, Stereo): 108 kΩ, 215 kΩ

Power Consumption (Idle, Full): 500 W, 1000 W

Tube Complement: 4 x 6H30, 6 x 6SN7, 2 x 6V6, 4 x 6C33C-B

Dimensions: 17″ x 9″ x 24″

Weight: 100 lb