Posted by QuadESL63 (A) on March 11, 2006 at 20:06:42

In Reply to: Please help me to pick an amp- thinking about kit2. posted by CIL on March 8, 2006 at 09:48:27:

I have just put togather a Kit 2 w/ the AN-V upgrade (the Black Gates on the tag strip are standard) a couple of months ago. I use it to drive a pair of QUAD 77-10L bookshelf (~86-88dB efficiency into 8 ohms... I couldn't quite remember the exact rating at the moment) in my wife's den/guest room and both of us love the results at the end! My wife listens to lieders, choral works, arias, etc. till late into the night everyday now! Vocal sounds very nature and there is no harshness with the high (e.g. soprano). Piano sound right on the Kit2. And, this is just with the stock tubes included in the kit! I have tried a couple of Philips OS 6550s but I don't like how it sound with the Kit2: everything sounds thin and distance to me... but then it could be the tubes are just at the end of their life (they are from an ARC D90 that I used to have). I would like to try it on my main system with my QUAD ESL63 USA Monitors but I don't think my lovely wife will let me get it back :-)

It doesn't seem to be lack of power. That said, I would not use it to drive something as inefficient as a pair of ATC or Dynaudio.