What type of amps do you use? Tube? Solid State? Both? Hybrid?

What type of amp do you use?

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I have had tube McIntosh... Luxman... and Jolida. And, a hybrid Grant (of Grant Lumley) integrated FET with tube pre.

Now, class D.... NuPrime ST 10 amplifier. It has some nice tube qualities and also the benefits of solid state.
 
Always been a tube guy until I got my ss ASR Emitter II about 3 years ago. By far the most musically involving amp I have ever heard, at any price, tube or ss.

It's a ss integrated - which you might think is fairly compact, but no - 4 pieces, each about 65 lbs - a bit over 260 lbs for the whole pkg.... :rolleyes:
 
I have both. I am currently switching between a ARC VT100 MarkIII and a Odyssey Stratos Kismet, Klaus's latest greatest. The ARC is getting most of the action.
 
Tubes are too much to fuss with? I feel great music is worth it, plus it’s a good feeling when you get everything biased and in tune.
 
Having started with tubes in 1964, I transitioned to wholly solid state by 2000 and am currently running a c-j MF2500 in my living room and Sonsgraphe SA250's in both my home-office and bedroom systems. Probably never should have gotten rid of my ARC D-90 or Mac 75 monoblocs.
 
I have gone through the gambit of amps... SS, Class D, Class A, Tubes, SET, but have finally settled on T+A Solid State, for now anyways :)...
 
I lean toward SS but I'm keeping an open mind regarding tube vs SS. I'll be auditioning both with the same speakers that I own this coming weekend. So I'll let my ears guide me.
 
Kingrex said:
I really want to try that amp Randy. Just $4k + can also get an XA60.5 at times, or a XA30.8.
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It really took me some time for my mind to get over how small physically the amplifier is. I always thought you needed a huge box with massive heat sinks, something similar to the SET amps or the McInotsh amps that I have had. But after it started breaking in I found that I was listening to it more and more and the SET amps less and less. Finally I came to realize what a truly fantastic amp the T+A truly is. Built with the best quality parts, built very solid, built to last for decades as T+A states.

After hosting our audio club this past weekend and seeing the amp being pushed all day, for hours, and seeing it handle it without any glitches what so ever. It impressed me and it impressed the hell out of most of our club members. The Stereophile reviewer who had given the DAC an extremely high level rating was very impressed. He stated that he expected the amplifier to be good, but didn't realize just how good they are! He also told me that he felt the Stage 2 preamp worked very well with the T+A Amp and DAC and were a beautiful match to the KEF speakers!

The only real issue with the T+A amp is that they are not well known in the US; very limited distribution :(... so we can not expect top re-sale value. Not a bad thing since I am not planning on selling it any time soon :).
 
I was looking at used pair for around $6k. They aren't listed anymore. But they do come and go. I really don't need much juice. My speakers are 96 DB efficient. For me it's more about tone and balance. Does it actually sound convincingly real and natural. My tube amps do that for me at this point in time. I'm just curious about solid state. I feel the need to wet my toes again. I had a rega Osiris for a while and it had it's high points, but it had a bunch of issues too. Fatigue being one of them. It had a very small sweet spot on the volume knob.
 
joeinid said:
XA60.5 are amazing amps. Miss mine a lot. After an hour or two warm up, superb.
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LOL, after an hour or two my available listening window is over.

But seriously, still enjoy my INT-60 in the summerhouse. Great amp.


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Boy, I dunno.....since reading comments about VAC amps on the Audiogon Forum I may have to rethink my bias (no pun intended) for SS amps. VAC amps seem to have a squeaky clean rep and are VERY highly thought of. Not a single negative comment from the top end to the bottom end. And they're made not far from Suncoast Audio. Annnnnd, I'll get to listen to one this weekend...woot!
 
bluegrassphile said:
Boy, I dunno.....since reading comments about VAC amps on the Audiogon Forum I may have to rethink my bias (no pun intended) for SS amps. VAC amps seem to have a squeaky clean rep and are VERY highly thought of. Not a single negative comment from the top end to the bottom end. And they're made not far from Suncoast Audio. Annnnnd, I'll get to listen to one this weekend...woot!
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That is exactly why I am so reluctant to replace my 30 y/o VAC Pre. It was a Reference Gear unit in it's day.
 
Mostly Nagra VPA 845 PP tube amps, but sometimes i rotate in my FW J-2 when it's really hot outside. At 60 watts, the Nagras are over powered for my Duo Mezzos but the FW J2 at 25 W is more than enough.

Both sound great but the edge goes to the Nagra VPAs for resolution, bass and midrange.
The FW is dead quiet however and no slouch in resolution or bass. Maybe a bit thin on midrange, but I could easily live with it if the Nagra's were not better.
 
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