One of the legends of high fidelity, Italian Galactron was launched in 1966 and became famous thanks to their distinctive designs (one of the most characteristic was their "vertical" MK16 preamplifier). Now, it seems to have returned with some serious plans for the high fidelity market.
Although, aesthetically, it is clear that the Italians have decided to move towards more conservative paths, the build quality of the amplifier under review seems to follow their old fashioned, quality-oriented philosophy. According to their history, Galactron was, probably, the first to use semiconductors with military specifications, in an era when even the use of semiconductors was already a controversial practice in the field of audio equipment. Also, it appears that they remained on the side of reasonable designs and technical consistency, not following today's extravaganza approaches often found in this particular market niche.
Galactron product list includes, at the moment of this writing, five integrated amplifiers with power stages based on complementary MOSFET topologies with a power range from the 40W per channel MK2240 up to the 80W MK2280, the latest being a dual mono design. Four of the five models are biased as class AB power stages while the MK2225 is biased as a class A power stage, delivering 25W per channel.
As already mentioned, the MK2240 reviewed in the following pages is the smallest model in Galactron's range. Nevertheless, it is an imposing device in terms of its physical presence, with some good features. With its low-to-middle power capacity, it is mainly addressed to those who would like to set up a high-spec system to cover a moderate or small space.

Dimitris Stamatakos

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Original Publilcation: 2015/06/23	Last Follow Up: 2015/06/23	Original Language: Greek (Translated)

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