Is there a Solid State amp that can satisfy a SET guy?
Have been a SET guy for so long I have forgotten what a good SS amp even sounds like. Just bought a pair of $33k speakers that will replace my current $16k speakers. Both are from the same designer and both are 92db and a flat 8 ohms. The new ones arrive in 4 days! My 300B based amps well drive my current speakers even though I do use the system nightly as a 2 channel home theater. Especially considering the HT usage, I think I may enjoy a SS amp with many times the horsepower. The speaker designer suggests using a Leema Hydra II. I have written to Leema telling them of my 300B preference and they assure me that their amp does not have the destructive harmonics that make a SS amp bright. There must be other SS amps that can satisfy?
It is kind of impossible to find an Aleph 3! There are a couple of Aleph 5s but I think the 3 may be better? An amp designer friend says that "the lower the power the better". Don't know if that is necessarily true but may apply to SET amps? Should I try the Aleph 5? Not sure if it is as sellable as a 3 if I don't like it. Then there are the comments that there is NO SS amp that can satisfy a SET 300B guy. I don't know for sure if that is true. Three amps I would now be interested in trying are: Pass Aleph 3 (or 5?) Bakoon 13R Pass XA 25!
BTW-The ongoing thread for months now on its 214th page is @whitecamaross discussion and many videos all about SS amps (cables, et al). Not a tube amp considered at all... well maybe an AR or two.
Re the Bakoon 13R, be aware that the input impedance of its RCA input is only 10K, which will not be a good match for many and perhaps most tube-based components.
I believe the other input choice provided by the 13R, a "Satri Link," would only be usable if driven by a Bakoon component providing that kind of output.
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