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infinity 1b's- should i go tubes for top end???

audio friends,, i have infinity 1b's. a parasound 3500 for the bottom end and a rotel 1090 for the top end. the sound?? i think it sounds great. smooth and clean with great power. everybody says tubes for the top. to do this would mean selling the rotel for maybe $1000 and having to put out another $1000 to get say a 100wpc setup. amps in my range would be something like rogue 150's, audio research vs110's, cary slm100's. lets face it, i would want at least 100 wps for the mid/tweed panels. the BIG question is on just how much of an inprovement in sound is there going to be??. everybody says the rotel 1090 is a great amp, i tend to agree, and it does sound good. i would just hate to spend the time and money without decient results. and the reliable factor. the rotel probable will last for years. tubes?? how much up keep will they be just to get a decient year out of them. can someone convince me either way.
tomtab
tomtab OP
97 posts
 
thank you rick for your input. i am very happy with the amps i have now so maybe i will go for another one of the two. if i had to pick one over the other i think i would go with the 3500 parasound. heres why, first of all the amp provides top notch strong clean bass. most reviewers would agree with that. second, i did have the 3500 on the mid/tweeter panel once to see how it sounded and it did sound very good there. some folks might say the rotel is a little smoother then the parasound in the middle area but i really cant hear that muself. how some people can hear every little difference between amps i cant figure. i had five different amps on the mid/tweeter panel and to me, they all sounded 99% the same and ive been listening for a long time now. just maybe to my ears,any good amp sounds good. thanks for the help
randy4354
6 posts
 
I just finally started to run my RS-IIb's with a Mac275v on the top and the difference from running ss is very big!I ran Threshold,Bryston, and Classe' on the speaks before but the tubes changed the whole presentation.
I feel anybody running the vintage Infinity's with the emin,emit topends are missing alot without at least trying tubes on top.The 275 has more than enough output for the 2b's and I think it would drive the 1b's quite well.While I own the 2b's or if I venture up the line it will be tubes for the top.It can't hurt to try.

Randy

tomtab OP
97 posts
 
thanks randy, i see you alot on the ak site also. now just do me a favor, send me your 275 for a few weeks. i will try it out and if i like it i will send it back to you and pick up one myself tomt
randy4354
6 posts
 
If you were close enough no problem, but i dought that's the case.Do you not have any options to try any tube amps in your area?I really think you will be quite impressed and I was a skeptic when first reading about this same combition with the vintage Infinity's.But a good deal came my way and WITHOUT hearing the amp bought it and I'm not going to consider a ss for the topend again while I own Infinity's anyway.
Like anyone else I like to try pieces before buying but everthing that I bought the Mac with the 2b's was one of the best investments that I've done.If you can I hope you can try!

Randy
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,154 posts
 
Mixing tube and SS amps to the same speakers sounds like a risky, overly complex, and potentially expensive solution unless you really know exactly how well the amp configuration will play with the specific speaks in question based on experience of others.

Personally, I would not go there.

If the speaks are a good match for tube power, just find a good tube amp that fits the bill or, particularly if speakers are not tube friendly or you are tube shy, consider using a good tube pre-amp. Switching to an Audio Research tube pre has produced wonderful results from top to bottom in my system, and the sound is just very clean, smooth and effortless, not "tubey" sounding at all.
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