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Solid State amps known to sound good with Klipsch


mark1101

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McIntosh amps with fully complimentary output stages are much better sounding than, say a MC2105.  The early amps are quasi-complimentary with all-NPN output stages simply because high current capacity NPN/PNP complimentary pairs were not available when they were designed.  At the crossover region where the output signal transitions from positive (+) to negative (-), the output current transitions from one half of the output stage to the other and that causes distortion.  Additional refinements at the input stages of the amplifier were also made in the second gen amplifiers that enhanced output linearity significantly.  Distortion numbers dropped by, at least, one-order of magnitude.      

 

When you compare the output of a fully upgraded MA6100 to something like a second generation MA6200, also fully upgraded, the difference is pretty obvious. 

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John, your observation is also echoed here by Lynn Olson:  http://www.nutshellhifi.com/library/tinyhistory2.html.  My ears also agree with that assessment.

 

The first few years of SS amplifiers were rough ones, to say the least.  It also affected the design of loudspeakers of that era (except for Klipsch and a few others):

 

 

Instead, [the early SS amplifiers of the 1960s] failed at the drop of a hat, and were so aggressive and harsh with Class AB crossover distortion and Transient Intermodulation Distortion (TIM) that an entire generation of "East Coast Sound" speakers became duller and duller to compensate.

 

EDIT: BTW, the comments that Mr. Olson makes about CDs neglects the fact that CDs have had extremely poor mastering EQ curves placed on them from basically their beginning in 1983.  I find that once you correct these mastering mistakes, the characteristic steely violins, etc. comments that he makes about them simply disappear.

 

YMMV.

 

Chris

Edited by Chris A
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In general Marantz seems to match well, both vintage and modern.

 

Marantz gear seems to always find it's way back into my main system. Early 70's Marantz scratches me right where I itch.

 

Right now, a Model 3600 Preamp in front of a Model 30 amp. Both fully restored being fed from some digital manipulation early in the chain has taken the typical (to me) early 70's Marantz sound to the next level. Warm, full sounding with a smooth sizzle on the highs just works for me.....and not to forget some punchy bass. Low-level listening at it's best.

 

My experience recently has been that feeding ALL of my solid state and tube gear with some DSP has taken their sound to another level. My HK 430 and Marantz 2230 were probably the biggest surprises. I never knew they could sound so good.

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It seems it was mentioned earlier about Carver amps not working well with Klipsch but possibly could be Klipsch model dependent.  I use Carver amps primarily but not just "stock" or untouched amps.  I only use two currently....a Carver M-1.0t MkII Opt 002 which is a highly upgraded amp that pushes it from stock form at 200wpc to around 450wpc.  Overkill, yes.  But it's quiet and sounds phenomenal on just about any pair of speakers I've used it with.  Also I have a Carver M200t rated at 120wpc but could be a tad over that with most everything having been replaced internally; except the actual outputs.  But I only own the CF-3's  now and they aren't going anywhere  anytime soon.  SDA's have left, KLF-30's have left.  But these stay.

 

One of these days I'll bring by rebuilt Soundcraftsmen A5002 over and see how it does on them.

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The later Carver M-1.0t was always a favorite of mine, sounded better than a GFA555 (we sold both).

There were a couple of versions of the M1.0t.

One had a "tighter and more authoritative" bass. The visible difference between the two models was whether there was a switch on the back for mono operation. For the life of me I cannot remember whether the "mono - switch" version was the better of the two or the poorer of the two.

Edited by PrestonTom
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I haven't heard a current dumping amplifier, and as I read about it - it is essentially a small class A driving a big class B cascaded stage.  Other sources state that it is an "ingenious implementation of a class C" (less than 180 degree phase operation) amplifier. 

 

Whatever the definition, it looks to be a "the mother of invention is necessity" design for Quad electrostatics that have about 1 ohm impedance at 20 kHz - like all true electrostat radiators, and that require an amplifier of great current capability to drive them. 

 

It would be interesting to hear a Quad 405 connected to a Klipsch speaker.  As I read about the Quad 405 amplifier, it has a damping factor of 200 (i.e., 0.04 ohm output impedance), so it should behave very well indeed without any EQ needed to correct its FR due to driver/crossover loading.

 

Chris

405 don't sound as good on the quad stats as the older class B 306 does. The 405 uses feed back and feed forward and is an amazing amplifier I run two 405 very modified in a vertical biamp set up of one my sets of H3 sounds superb.The 405 is probably one of the most copied amplifiers of all time.

Edited by moray james
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Anything by Luxman.

I would not go as far as Dean here but the L48a L58a and the L68a are all very fine designs. Not many of these made it out of Japan. The Luxman engineers beat Malcolm Hawksworth to the right way to set up a cascode by about ten years or more. I would say the L68a is The way to design a modern mosfet amplifier with a little tweaking. The Meitner STR50 and STR55 and the MTR100 and MTR101 are all based upon the L68a I run modified versions of the STR55 which sound very good.

Edited by moray james
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They guy that I got my Heresy 1's from was using a Luxman Laboratory Reference stack, which I also obtained. The speakers sound really nice with the 5C50 pre and 5M21 amp. I bought the Heresys to use with my restored Fisher 400, though, and the Luxman stuff is on the shelf.

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Currently refinishing MCM4way w/passive.

Will first wire them as two way stacks powered by KT88 tube amp 50Wpc. Passive crossover.

Second wire up will be Bi-Ampped w/QSC1700 250wpc powering the Bass, same tube amp for mids/highs through electronic crossover, dropping the Passive completely

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John, your observation is also echoed here by Lynn Olson:  http://www.nutshellhifi.com/library/tinyhistory2.html.  My ears also agree with that assessment.

 

The first few years of SS amplifiers were rough ones, to say the least.  It also affected the design of loudspeakers of that era (except for Klipsch and a few others):

 

 

Instead, [the early SS amplifiers of the 1960s] failed at the drop of a hat, and were so aggressive and harsh with Class AB crossover distortion and Transient Intermodulation Distortion (TIM) that an entire generation of "East Coast Sound" speakers became duller and duller to compensate.

 

Fascinating theory, and totally believable!

 

If a Klipsch speaker and the amp don't sound right, it's usually the amp making distortion or noise.

 

I like DIY "Wolverine" amps designed by ostripper at diyaudio.com. It's a modern class AB design, making part-per-million THD, you can build one to hit 0.001% THD at any signal level and any audio frequency. The component count is low, you can build it small enough to retrofit it into vintage receivers and integrateds. They sound absolutely transparent on Klipschorns and KG 5.5's.

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Get you an old Adcom GFA-535. Not the MkII, the original. This is one sweetheart of a little amp, and Adcom never made anything else that sounded this good IMO...

I've actually been told the opposite (by Chris Hoppe) - that I should get the 535 II, rather than the original. Of course, that may be because it's easier for him to upgrade than the original version, but I seem to remember him saying it has to do with the speaker switch buttons on the front of the original version.

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