tried solid state again

[seti]

Ok so I thought I would try solid state again. I am not good at the hi-fi reviewer lingo so please pardon me. A friend loaned me an Aura Evolution 66wpc amplifier which seems to be an older b&w product. When I listened to it on my friends b&w system it sounded incredible crisp and clean just beautiful. I couldn't wait to get it home and plug it in because I thought for sure this would be a great piece of gear for me but then I cranked it up. The mids and highs sounded like they had mud between them. There was definately more lower end slam and more volume. However, the instrument seperation/soundstage that I enjoyed with my 300b monoblocks was gone. I was so disappointed I couldn't wait to switch back to my SET 300b's and get my soundstage back. Now that I have ruled out solidstate amps I can't wait to hear some other higher power tube gear perhaps some nice PP KT88's. Ahhh horns and tubes.

[drawtheline77]

amen, have a few tube amps that sing with my khorn, BUT the surprise is my Mac 252 250/channel ss amp sounds mighty fine thru the khorns.

[Fish]

I don't think I'd base my assement of ss on this one unit,way underpowered for ss(imo) to start with.Having said that there's nothin'wrong w/lovin'your tubes.

[Daddy Dee]

Thanks for the review.

[seti]

Actually I have tried about a half dozen decent ss amps but I thought for sure this amp would sound good on my belle's especiallly since I had already heard it on my friends less efficient b&w's. I was truly perplexed when I heard the sound it made.

Now I haven't heard macintosch gear at all on heritage klipsch but boy would I love to ss or tube.

[Daddy Dee]

Born2RockU has got a very nice SS Mac amp on Ebay right now.

[edwinr]

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On 3/13/2005 8:02:45 PM seti wrote:

Now I haven't heard macintosch gear at all on heritage klipsch but boy would I love to ss or tube.

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McIntosh and Heritage sounds great. The C41 S/S pre-amp with the classic MC275 tube power amp would make an outstanding McIntosh combination for not too much money.

[LonestarBlues]

The right solid state can sound very good on Klipsch/Klipsch Heritage speakers in my opinion. I have used a Mcintosh MC 7150-150 watts x 2 autoformer amp/Mcintosh C 38 preamp on my two pair of Cornwalls. I prefer the sonic flavors of my two SET systems on my Cornwalls.

And have used a Lubbock Texas made Llano Phoenix CAS 300/VA2 mosfet/ tube hybrid amp-class A-2 gain stages,no feedback. Uses separate boxes for the CAS 300 current section-mosfet output & VA2 voltage section-uses triode tubes-6SN7, 6SL7 & 12SN7. 300 watts x 2 @ 8 ohms, 600 watts x 2 @ 4ohms. Have used the Llano amp with the Mcintosh C 38 ss preamp and a Dehavilland Verve 6SN7 tube preamp with excellent results to my ears. Randy White-the owner/ designer of Llano amps & his previous amp company White Labs. Randy made great sounding amps- both ss mosfet & mosfet/tube hybrids. He was not a smart businessman-piss poor actually. Basically a one man operation with amps sold factory direct. Amps were sold prepaid, pay and he would build you an amp. Towards the demise of his second amp company-Llano. He had taken peoples money and not built them an amp. Would not answer his phone

or email. No customer support for existing amp owners. That is no bueno por caca. I bought mine used off of Audiogon 2 years ago.

Currently using the Llano amp with the Mcintosh C 38 preamp on a pair of 3 way JBL LX 55 speakers-10"

woofer, 5" midrange, 1" pure titanium tweeter-same size cabinet

as an old Advent speaker-each speaker weighs 55 lbs. In my opinion some of the last quality JBL speakers made before they started making & selling junk. The LX 55's are late 80's-early 90's vintage-the LX series was right below the JBL L series speakers i.e. JBL L100 T, JBL L 80 T. I have never understood why JBL abandoned the U.S. market. They stopped selling quality speakers in the U.S. but sold high quality JBL speakers in Japan & Europe. The Llano amp makes these 92db efficient JBL's sing & sound very good to my ears. The Mcintosh MC 7150 amp is a spare backup amp. Also have spare/backup speakers-a pair of walnut New Advent speakers-2nd generation Advents from the late 70's-early 80's & walnut Advent 1's-same drivers as the large Advents in a slightly smaller cabinet. I have a

collection of stereo gear from the late 70's. Inherited the packrat gene from my dad & his side of the family.

Regards, Mike

[Erukian]

I hate to be the guy who says this, but don't judge all SS amp's with one broad opinion until you've tried a Tripath amp with a good power source.

[seti]

I'll keep whatever sounds best to my ears and so far for me it has been 300b tubes. If I find someone locally with some mcintosch ss gear I would love to hear it or maybe even some krell or BAT. I haven't heard a tube amp with more than 20wpc and would be really curious to hear a higher power tube amp. I may be spoiled but when I listen to music I want to be able to close my eyes and be able to sense where the instruments are in the soundstage and not feel like it is being blasted at me from the speakers. Since I have joined this forum and heard all the high praise for the older marantz, fisher, and scott amps I have been keeping my eyes peeled for cheap buys at flea markets and garage sales.

[edwinr]

One combination I have heard recently, but not on Klipsch speakers, is the Audio Research SP25 tube pre and the VS55 (55 watts per channel) and the VS110 (110 watts per channel)- both tube power amps. The power amps run 6550 tubes. Very impressive sound with amazing bass. Both the power amps sound identical at low to moderate volume levels. When you give the VS110 a bit of stick though, it really digs in and sounds effortless at high listening levels.