USNRET Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 So I replaced the Peach and VRDs with the McIntosh C26 and MC2505 in my Belle system. I immediately noticed what I though to be a loss of all imaging. Turns out the sweet spot moved about 3 feet aft. Speakers were no moved at all. The girls are going out roller skating later so I can play with some volume.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hifi jim Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 As far as solid state goes, the McIntosh C26 and MC2505 were very good for their time but modern SS has come a long way. As much as I appreciated the C26 and 2505 that I owned, they were no where near the modern competition from even receivers let alone separates. Definition at the frequency extremes, transparency and imaging are all much improved in modern designs. The Macs are still great sounding and beautiful to look at and will be valuable and dependable for a long time to come. Enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davis419b Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 IMHO there is no image like tube image ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tube fanatic Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 I immediately noticed what I though to be a loss of all imaging. Crosstalk between the channels from sharing a common power supply often reduces imaging quite significantly when compared with a pair of mono amps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Channel separation on many older ss amps was not as good as two discrete mono's. On a "punny" note... I guess the Mac's just "moved you back" in your seat!!! [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnalogWave Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 So what are your ears telling you Admiral? Don't keep us on the Plank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 I think your VRD's are class A, so what you are hearing could well be the difference between a Class A amp and Class AB amp. Class AB has a lot of switching distortion. Some tube amps run Class A, and others run class AB. I find Class A SS amps sound very close to Class A tube amps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 I believe that most P-P tube amps operate in Class A for a few watts, because the biasing makes them 'on', but beyond that they switch to AB. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo33 Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 IMHO there is no image like tube image ! I second, third and fourth that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 I believe that most P-P tube amps operate in Class A for a few watts, because the biasing makes them 'on', but beyond that they switch to AB. there's a lot of truth to that....assuming the bias is set high enough and the amp is built to handle the heat generated and current involved. a 150W amp biased at .7 would leave class A at 16 watts peak, at .8 20 watts peak, at 1.0 30 watts peak, etc. So a full class A amp never leaves class A and an AB class amp will leave class A and enter class AB at different points depending on the amps bias setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 A bias of 0.707A would leave class A at 1.414A peak, or 1A RMS. 1A RMS would be 4W in class A at 4Ω. A 150W amplifier will be running at about ±63V, so it will be dissipating 89W per channel to produce that 4W in class A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted March 16, 2012 Author Share Posted March 16, 2012 I hope to get some time to experiment this weekend. I want to set up the Peach with the Mc and then the C26 with the VRDs. For what's it is worth, I set my bias on the VRDs at 0.57 using Penta Labs KT-88s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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