Posted by Hyperion on April 17, 1999 at 19:26:15:
In Reply to: Same goes for Jack's suspicions--a boatload of salt... posted by Q-bert on April 16, 1999 at 06:25:01:
I think the more important thing to consider is that even though the CA50 and VT50 are based upon the same circuit topology, feature the same tube compliment and are made by the same manufacturer, they dont actually sound the same.
Does anyone still remember the golden rule of the thumb regarding ARC amplifiers - that ARC amps tend to sound best with ARC preamps? That ARC pre + power amp combos do tend to sound more musical, warmer and sweeter than expected. Well, the CA50 is an integrated amplifier and it indeed sounds sweeter and warmer (and of course, less resolving) than just about any ARC separates product in recent memory. No it's not as warm sounding as a CJ CAV50 but it is actually sweeter sounding - on the verge of sounding sugar-coated even. Suffice it to say that tubes that are meant to make the VT50 warmer and sweeter may actually backfire and make the CA50 too romantic already!
However, since the CA50 can use a bit more detail, bass power & slam, liveliness and dynamics, if the KT90 mkIII can offer these things as well, then I guess there's no harm trying.
You can not post to an archived thread.