Amps for Avalon Osiris CAT JL3, Boulder 2060, Dart

Sirspeedy I'm glad you responded to this. We have a lot in common. I lived most of my life in NJ and owned the Ascents for about 15 years before purchasing these. I hated to sell the Ascents but I finally had a room that was too large for them and large enough for the Osiris.
I reinstalled my Manley 350's (running in triode) on the Osiris today. What an IMPROVEMENT! After looking at the Osiris threads on agon concerning the Osiris I was misinformed that they were a difficult load to drive. They are easier to drive than the Ascents (by one db).
The Manleys are driving them with much greater authority than the powewrhouse Levinsons. I have the same consideration as you about the heat generated by tube amps.
I spoke with Lucien at Avalon yesterday about amps for the Osiris and he told me he heard them driven by the Audio Note Ongaku (I think a twenty something watt SET). He recommended Spectral or Rowland if I decided on SS. I heard them at the show in NYC in 96 and to this day it is the best system I ever heard. I am financially drained after the speaker purchase and will wait and listen to as much as I can for at least a year before trying something.
I am trying to put my last system together so I can get off this very expensive merry go round. I know the Spectral gear is remarkable with the MIT cabling on Avalon speakers (96 show). I want to try to go in a different direction for now though. I can't afford to do a whole Spectral system in one shot and since you must do that I'm out for now. Two pair of MIT 850 EVO shotgun speaker cables (one bi-wire and one tri-wire)came with the speaker purchase and evidently they work best with Spectral gear because they were awful with the Levinson amp. I should have kept them just in case I decided to go Spectral down the road. I have already sold the tri-wire pair for a song. I may in the future put two sets of electronics together one Spectral (summertime setup) and a tubed setup for winter. I think part of the reason people are constantly changing gear is that no matter how good the system is their ears crave variety. That is why two superb systems with different sounds may be a good solution. I hear the Dartzeel splits the balance between SS and tubes better than anything else. The Spectral are very liquid sounding for SS and just do layering/soundstage
tricks that are jaw dropping. It sounds like you feel the Antilleon has the best of both worlds. I saw one for 10 grand on agon yesterday. I'm tapped out financially right now but there will be other opportunities. I would also like to hear the ASR Emitter. The CAT amps are an option for my last set of tubed amps. So much to do so little money. I am certain that I have found my last pair of speakers though. I loved my Asscents for 15 years the Osiris should hold me for at least thirty. Thanks for the advice and if you have any other thoughts I'd love to hear them. If you haven't heard the top of the line Stealth wires yet check them out, they are on a different level than anything else I have heard.

Bart

Bart,you have a superb sense of what you are about,in an audiophile way!I cannot offer anything that would be useful to you,as you seem to have a good feel for what you want to do.That's a really good thing.
You're comment about "variety" is very astute!I do believe this is true,and may be one reason why so many folks have more than one cartridge/arm,or multi components.
My Ascents are underpinned with REL Stentor sub(dedicated room)coming in very low in freq,and with very little gain.This gives me a superb blend,and one Lucien did not feel would work,but definitely does.It really allows the Ascents to be moved out into the room where they stage incredibly well.I simply cannot find a reason to replace them,based upon my listening tastes,and room size.My system is highly modded,and I am quite satisfied with performance.BTW,I am a fanatic about equipment care,and my speakers look about two weeks old.
You're Osiris is another story,altogether.A really stunning product that is really of heirloom quality.The Avalons of that era were voiced to blend well with the Rowland and Spectral stuff,but I have heard Avalon products(from that pedigree)work well with a variety of amps.The sky is the limit for you.
I was fortunate enough to be invited to Jonathan Skull's home a few years ago.He had just gotten rid of his Ascents,for the wonderful JM Labs Utopias.
He had a HUGE NYC loft,and I asked him "how could you get the Ascents to fill such a space",where the Utopias really opened up,quite well.I mean the room was gargantuan in size,and I did not believe the Ascents could possibly be a good match.His response was that they "liked Power",and he used a 400 wpc Forsell amp on them.According to him,they filled that room,but I simply cannot get around the thought.BTW,how did your Ascents perform in areas of dynamics,volume etc when pushed?
To me,the power thing may be important(my room is 22.5x8x13,and not too large),but the TONAL BALANCE,and HARMONIC PURITY of music is what I look to,in voicing my stuff.The best tube set-ups excel here,but some SS designs are no slouches in this area,as of late.You owe it to yourself to hear the ASR!All SS,and not hot running.Very ergonomically appealing for long term pleasure.
I do wish you the best!

Sirspeedy, this may surprise you but I thought the Ascents got slightly hard sounding when driven very hard. I suspect that the amp was the cause of that not the speakers. I was running the amps in full triode. I have only recently discovered they sound much better running in tetrode and it is too late to know now (the Ascents were sold to a friend)but it probably would have been fine at high spl's if I had run in tetrode. I paid special attention to Johnathan Skulls reviews, I thought his sonic values were similar to mine. Now that you have recommended the ASR, I will make a point of auditioning it. I am trying the Nuforce 9 SE's next week. They have a thirty day money back guarantee so it will cost me nothing if they are not keepers. Check out the review on ultraaudio.com. So now on my shortlist of amps to hear are the CAT JL2 Sig, Dartzeel and ASR Emitter. I'll keep you posted and thanks for the advice. Maybe we can meet at the next NYC home entertainment show (It will probably be next year). Bart

Thanks Bart,best of luck!!

I sold my Radians in order to buy a pair of Ascents Mk2 about one year ago. After that I sold my ss amps (monos) and bought a pair of Fourier OTLs (Pantheres). Quite a few members of the audio community were quite negative because Fourier has a bad reputation. My amps proved to be reliable however because the caps mounted are of Japanese origin instead of those that are from India. Pre amp is still solid state (cello). The sound is very detailed with spectacular dynamics. If a small Ongaku amp can drive these speakers a 200watt OTL has no problems at all I assume. Even digital classical records prove to be listenable now. I hear plenty of bottom end (is there any sub that will mate with an otl?). I think the Osirus could also be a good match for such an otl. I read that even newer Avalons with a more difficult load work well with Atma- Sphere. Does the Osirus also have minimum load of 5.5 ohm? Can anybody describe the difference between a Cat and an otl? Has anybody similar experiences?