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In Reply to: RE: What'd your ears say? posted by grantv on July 28, 2020 at 08:10:35
Take this with the appropriate grains of salt, but my singular experience in the context of my own system was replacing a Pass X350 with a VAC Phi 300.1 and my initial impression was that it sounded amazingly similar. Over time, I teased out subtle subjective differences, but I was not blind to which amp was which and one could say that I had a vested interest in preferring the amp for which I had most recently shelled out 5 figures.
So, I think it probably has less to do with tubes vs transistors and more to do with design and execution, not to mention synergy with the load presented by the speakers. I have no regrets about purchasing that valve amp and I'm sure it was the finest piece of HiFi gear I will ever own, but I can't say that I really miss it either. The experience satisfied a yearning and a curiosity, which translated into more satisfaction with the solid state amps.
Follow Ups:
Seriously appreciate the candid comments! Not that I'm in a position to buy a 5 figure amp. 😁
Grant, if and when you want to try a tube amp with your Maggies, there is one that is unusually apropos for that application: the Music Reference RM-200. It was designed and built by tube expert Roger Modjeski, who wanted to have a tube design that offers a few unique features:1- The RM-200 has a solid state input stage, tube driver and output stages.
2- The amp has loudspeaker impedance taps (solid brass binding posts) of 1ohm, 2ohms, 4ohms, and 8 ohms.
3- It is very unique for a tube design in that it's power output into a 4ohm load is the same as into an 8ohm one: 100 watts RMS. All other tube amps (other than OTL's) produce considerably less power into a 4ohm load than into an 8, typically 60 watts at 4 vs. 100 at 8.
4- RM achieves 100 watts with only a single pair of KT88's (per channel), and does so without the cost of shortened tube life (modest tube dissipation).
5- The amp is balanced, it's inputs on XLR jacks only (input impedance 30k ohms).
6- The amp was produced (Modjeski passed away last year, so no more will be produced) in two basic versions: the original, and the slightly improved Mk.2. Their price on the used market is approximately $2000 for the original and $3000 for the MK.2. They don't appear often, so be prepared to pounce when you see one!
7- Both versions have been reviewed by Michael Fremer in Stereophile, and ranked in the Class A category. The sound quality and character of the amp is perfect for Maggies; not the soft high frequencies and mushy bass of lesser tube amps, and none of the somewhat dry, hard, or "etched" highs found in many solid state amps, a characteristic easily revealed by the Maggie ribbon tweeter. Liquidly transparent, excellent low level resolution, great depth and sound-staging, a champ at reproducing the organic timbre of acoustic instruments and vocals. An all-around excellent amp, and at a reasonable price.
100 watts may appear to be barely adequate for Maggies, but tube watts are different than ss watts. The RM-200 should be enough for 3 series Maggies in average-size rooms, especially if the speakers are used with a sub or two and a high-pass x/o filtering the signal going to the amp.
Edits: 08/04/20 08/04/20 08/04/20
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