Most Refined? Plinius 102 - Bryston 4B - Pass 250

No question the Plinius 102 is the best choice.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money, you can get the amp which is the current version of what Harbeth's designer used to voice his speakers- the Quad 909.

I use it to drive my Compact 7. I haven't tried other amps with these speakers but when I listen I never feel like its too warm, too bright, not transparent enough or the like. "Colurfully uncollored" is how REG described it.

Thanks for the responses gentelmen.

As for "which came first", I think the amplifier is AS important as the speaker for making good music. I don't think any speaker could sound good if the amp was passing junk forward.

What impressed me in the Harbeth room was a sense of precision coming from the monitor. A sense of absolute control that translates into a clearer sense of the event being recorded.

I've heard others say that tubes tend to homogenize the character of a system so everything you play feels the same.

My concern is that, while impressive in the short term, the SS effect may be fatiguing in long listening sessions.

Considering that you've owned tubes, the Bryston will be the driest of the ones you've mentioned. I would consider Sim Audio Moon since you are looking at the likes of Plinius and Pass Labs.

Speakers make more of a difference in overall sound than amps do, IMHO.

-Ed

I own the Plinius SA 102 hooked up direct to a Resolution Audio Opus 21 and driving Nautilus 803's. I think it sounds lovely, natural and very powerful whether in A/B or A.

I bet the Pass is nice too. I think there's a couple X250's and SA 102's for sale right now for about the same price.

I agree that the sound was great in the Harbeth room and also in the Plinius room, where the SA102 was driving the Harbeth Super HL5's. Made we wonder about the TAS review of that amp. Made me want to get Harbeth speakers and then think about looking at a Plinius amp. Which was more responsible for the seductive sound in those rooms?.

I was helping out in that room. We had the SA102 biased into class A most of the time - that helped the sound. The Pass stuff is a newer design - no idea vs. which is better.

I have owned the 47Lab gaincard - it's a nice amp that has more power than it's rating suggests. (easily 45wpc instead of rated 25wpc). It will drive most stuff no problem, including full range electrostatics and others. It has a very fast and immediate sound vs. other SS amps.

-Ed