RE: Have You Discounted Non-Tube Amps?

Posted by Larry I (A) on March 23, 2016 at 05:46:39

In Reply to: RE: Have You Discounted Non-Tube Amps? posted by aaron1608 on March 18, 2016 at 17:10:29:

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.

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Amplifier for AA Uno Nano ? - aaron1608 17:25:50 03/17/16 (18)

RE: Amplifier for AA Uno Nano ? - TubeDriver 10:40:52 03/20/16 (0)

RE: Amplifier for AA Uno Nano ? - Kloss 12:32:16 03/19/16 (0)

Fighting hum - maxhifi 22:28:35 03/18/16 (0)

Have You Discounted Non-Tube Amps? - cawson@onetel.com 04:33:52 03/18/16 (7)

RE: Have You Discounted Non-Tube Amps? - aaron1608 17:10:29 03/18/16 (6)

RE: Have You Discounted Non-Tube Amps? - Larry I 05:46:39 03/23/16 (0)

RE: Have You Discounted Non-Tube Amps? - cawson@onetel.com 17:21:17 03/18/16 (4)

RE: Have You Discounted Non-Tube Amps? - aaron1608 20:14:45 03/18/16 (3)

RE: First Watt amps - Cory M. 20:16:48 03/19/16 (0)

RE: Have You Discounted Non-Tube Amps? - cawson@onetel.com 06:11:43 03/19/16 (1)

RE: Have You Discounted Non-Tube Amps? - hottattoo 08:17:43 03/19/16 (0)

RE: Amplifier for AA Uno Nano ? - Chip647 18:55:57 03/17/16 (0)

You've stumbled on the dirty little secret of High Efficiency speakers...hum!. - Rod M 18:03:05 03/17/16 (5)

RE: You've stumbled on the dirty little secret of High Efficiency speakers...hum!. - aaron1608 18:24:28 03/17/16 (4)

RE: You've stumbled on the dirty little secret of High Efficiency speakers...hum!. - GEO 17:04:05 03/18/16 (1)

RE: You've stumbled on the dirty little secret of High Efficiency speakers...hum!. - aaron1608 17:05:37 03/18/16 (0)

RE: You've stumbled on the dirty little secret of High Efficiency speakers...hum!. - Rod M 19:31:04 03/17/16 (1)

RE: You've stumbled on the dirty little secret of High Efficiency speakers...hum!. - aaron1608 17:13:51 03/18/16 (0)

Follow Ups

RE: Have You Discounted Non-Tube Amps? - Larry I 05:46:39 03/23/16 (0)

RE: Have You Discounted Non-Tube Amps?

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