Best Pure Musical Amplifiers (power not important)
- Thread starter Randy Myers
- Start date
Revelation Series - Constellation Audio
Step into the world of the Revelation 2 Series by Constellation Audio, where luxury meets cutting-edge audio technology for an unmatched listening experience.
www.constellationaudio.com
This amp really continues to impress. Extremely musical.
Reviews support my findings as well.
stereogeek
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- Mar 15, 2018
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- 480
That is a great suggestion, el84 amps kind of slipped my mind. I am planning on building an Audio Note EL84 AMP. Their stuff almost always sounds right. Thx.
As with most things audio, or so it seems to me.
atmasphere
Active member
In thinking about this you may have another option. There is a kind of SET known as a 'parafeed'; a design that sought to solve the bass problem SETs normally have.
It does this by not using a gapped core output transformer, which is the source of the problem. Instead, a gapped choke is used as the plate load of the power tube, allowing DC through to the tube from the power supply, but not allowing audio though the choke back to the supply. The audio instead passes through a coupling cap (usually a few microfarads) to a normal output transformer. Since there is no DC in the core of the output transformer, it can be a normal size, considerably smaller (and so less expensive while also being wider bandwidth at both extremes) by a factor of anything from 1/4 to 1/8th the size you might expect in a conventional SET.
Such a circuit would allow a more powerful tube without the usual downsides (those downsides are why the type 45 power tube is often considered the best sounding although it really has nothing to do with the tube and everything to do with the much smaller output transformer such tubes can use).
The only hiccup seems to be finding an actual parafeed SET of higher power. They are not as common and I've no idea why other than concern about the coupling capacitor. But from what I can gather that doesn't seem the case as most SET users don't seem to know what a parafeed SET is.
slowgeezr
Well-known member
I forgot about this thread, but I sold the Pass Labs after auditioning the Audionet MAXs. I absolutely love them.
sb6
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- Mar 7, 2014
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- 171
They sound awesome in your system, especially with the new speakers, Steve!
An amp that really surprised me was an Adcom 555II I bought years ago. I purchased it as part of an estate sale along with a pair of Apogee Duetta speakers that the man who had passed had been using to drive the Apogees. As I knew the Duettas were a fairly difficult load I had bought a used dbx BX1 that I knew was plenty beefy to handle the panels and I never used the Adcom for that purpose. Instead I drove a sub with it in bridged mode in another system.
Some 20 years later I hooked it up to a pair of open baffle speakers by Tekton Design, the OB Sigmas. I was amazed at the sound I got with from the pairing! Detailed, airy, ballsy on bottom and some of the best soundstaging I have ever enjoyed, better even than what I had achieved with the dbx/Apogee combo!
The dbx BX1 was also quite impressive. Short lived on the market, it was a powerhouse at 508 watts into 8 ohms and able to drive a 2 ohm load without complaint, important with Apogees. With a bipolar output and configurable 2,3 or 4 channels it was versatile and very neutral.
Feanor
Active member
Funny you should mention the Adcom 555 II. I had one years ago and (at least at the time) I found it a very pleasing sound. Mr Peabody may remember me calling the it's presentation "earthy", that is, a bit dark and mellow.
Interestingly Adcom still makes a version of the 555 II today. This version is called the GFA-555se. its very reasonably prices at US$1900.
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Adcom made Wonderfull stuff back then for sure, the early years of Nelson Pass design and the 'II' version you speak of being Walt Morrey