Brockybear

I dont use a preamp when using a CD player. I have a Shanling CD-T100 Valve CD Player and can control output via the unit. Otherwise I just use a Volume Pot inline with the valve amps. I use a phono preamp when playing vinyl. I think its best to keep the signal path as simple as possible. Room size is 12ft X 14ft with 12ft Ceilings and wooden floor. The Khorns seem to be the right size for the room area. My valve amp uses 6L6 valves and I wonder if I should have gone with 300b or KT88's ?

I agree that there is some incredible solid state amps out there with specs that would blow any valve amp out of the water. On paper there is no competition but when you sit an listen to a good class A SET valve amp the sound will give some of the best Mosfets a run for thier money. Many would agree that they simply sound better. My amp doesnt use 300B valves but Sovtek 6L6 beam power valves connected as triodes. There is no negative feedback and the damping factor is only >2 with total power output of 9 watts; THD is 1% As suggested by other board members the bass responce could be a factor of power and the output transformers. I experimented by switching the amp to stereo which gave me 20 watts per channel and a noticable increase in Bass with a drop in definition in the Midrange. Switching back to 9 watt Mono dropped the Bass responce but opened up the Midrange definition. My amp has switchable high tension voltage which I set to High. This improved the Bass responce out of sight by giving me a few more watts of available power. In the end I am willing to sacrifice of some bottom end responce for the increase in Midrange and Hi Frequency definition

I love my Klipschhorns, its like a huge soundstage opens up before me. The sound is incredibly accurate and natural. The original amplifier was made here in OZ by Peter Stein. I had a ME25 preamp and ME 550 Model 11 poweramp with the 160 000 Mf capacitor upgrade. I think ME sold well overseas and had good reviews. Given 100 watts power output it was more than enough to drive the Khorns but I found the sound a bit harsh at higher volume levels. The Mudlark A205 SET amps are made locally by David Whiby and are 9 watt monoblocks. The Khorns seem to sound better driven by the valve amps and I found myself hearing things in old recordings I had not noticed before. The bass seemed softer and this was one of the main differences I noticed between my solid state amp and my SET amp.

Hello from Australia I have noticed a much lighter bass responce from my Klipschhorns when driving them with a SET amp. I guess it has something to do with the damping factor of valve amps and transistor amps?