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In Reply to: RE: Have You Discounted Non-Tube Amps? posted by cawson@onetel.com on March 18, 2016 at 04:33:52
Thanks Peter, I was tempted to SS like First Watt J2 or the newer F7.
I also read a lot about Benchmark AHB2 but can't find it in Toronto and does not apply 30 days to try it in Canada.
Follow Ups:
I have 99 db/w speakers, so I don't have quite the issue with potential noise. I have heard the First Watt J2 on my system (borrowed from a friend for two weeks). These amps sounded very good, for solid state, but, the sound was still very much in the solid state camp--slightly artificial "edge" to the initial attack of notes, not quite as full sounding (harmonically rich) and smaller sounding soundstage. Still, I would have no problems living with that amp. Oh, by the way, it sounded dead quiet.
Operationally, the J2 was also easy to live with--no turn on or turn off noise (big deal with very high efficiency speakers). The only "issue," which is common to all solid state gear, is that it took more time from turn-on to sound good than would tube gear.
With speakers as efficient as Nano, and particularly with bass being taken care of by a built-in amp, my own preference would be for low-powered tube gear, whether SET or pushpull. I own both a parallel 2a3 SET amp (Audio Note Kageki) and a pushpull 349 amp (re-built Western Electric 133a); both sound good so I am not convinced of the inherent superiority of SET vs. pushpull. Both are quiet enough for my purposes. The Kageki is now being used by a friend who has a very large horn system (107 db efficient) in a fairly small room. I did not find noise to be an issue at all (he is very good at setup, so I am sure he found ways to keep noise down that I would have missed). I think it IS possible to utilize low-powered SET amps in your system; it just might take a little bit of work.
My brief investigations into First Watt (and recommendations from actual users) seem to suggest that you should be looking at the SIT models. Our AG speakers don't need 30 watts and why Push Pull? We tend to regards SE as preferable in tube amps, so presumably SE SS amps may be nicer sounding than PP SS amps.
Peter
Peter do you own a SIT from Nelson Pass?
I asked him and he recommend me J2.
Srajan from 6Moons say F7 for lower gain. I'll drove the amp with my Vega dac preamp.
So many versions/flavour.......kinda lost
Hi Aaron,
I use a First Watt F2J clone, and it is absolutely silent even with my ears a foot away from my speakers. This amp is known for its low noise floor. A requisite statement that I must make is that my speakers are Hornshoppes, which are around 95 dB efficient however.
The sound of the F2J has a lot in common with SET amps.
Cory
Not even seen a First Watt amp! There's only the distributor here in UK (no dealers) and, although I've spoken with him, I rather doubt he has any units for demo. The SIT's 8 watts is still far more than your 2A3 amp.
However it was probably in High Efficiency that I saw recommendations for SIT amps - maybe in this thread - http://db.audioasylum.com/mhtml/m.html?forum=hug&n=172875&highlight=cawson&search_url=%2Fcgi%2Fsearch.mpl%3Fauthor%3DDman%26forum%3DALL%26sortRank%3DNone. You may find more helpful into on that forum as they discuss both tube and SS gear.
Yes, the more you look into these things, the more confused one gets! Part of the fun, but possibly costly mistakes along the way!
Peter
aaron1608,
Get in touch with Jack Elliano (electra-fidelity) in Las Vegas. He makes excellent and quiet SET amps. I have a pair of his 50 tube mono blocks with silver output transformer secondaries that are VERY quiet on 106db horns.I am sure there are other amps that are fairly quiet that I have not heard but it will be a trial and error proposition. Noise is an accumulation of ALL the components in your system, not just the amplifiers.
I also had good results with Art Audio 300b amps,very good sound,fairly low noise. Each individual system will vary, and there is no reliable way to predict how much total noise your system will have. Good luck.
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