SS amp with tight deep bass ?

Bryston amps have about the deepest, tightest base I know of. You might find a 3bsst for around that.

Audiogabby,

I take it that you mean that you're pairing it with the Eastern Electric Minimax PREAMP, not amp?

I've never heard the Minimax, but if it's like a lot of tube preamps, then it may be a little soft in the bass. Don't neglect the importance of the preamp in the overall bass response. You might find that you won't have the deep bass that you want until you find an amp/preamp combo that can achieve it.

Michael

I bought a Plinius SA 100 MKIII here on the 'Gon, very reasonably, and its bass is superb, as is the mids and HF.

Best,
Dan

Sufentanial,
The EE Minimax has very good bass. That's why i'm keeping it. I love that little preamp and i'm building the system around it. It's very fast too.

What speakers? This will provide a bit more direction in recommending an amp.

I have found few that can compete with the Krell's. Maybe an older Krell (KSA) at this price point (but I would want to know the caps have already been replaced in buying one of these or expect that you will be footing that bill).

While I don't care for Class D amps (let's just leave that alone and not hijack the thread), lots of people have good success with them and they are usually much "cheaper" price-wise. I'd check into some of those threads.

Legacy Classic speakers.

Good bass is more a function of the amp/speaker interface and the room than the amp itself.

IMO

Pay attention to Audiofeil's response.

As stated above the Bryston are legendary, Coda, Pass, are also very good but some are pricey, and for budget items, the Muse are very good. Rotel is also good, but the biggest factor is how well your speaker mates with the damping factor of the amp, not the power alone or brand. Depends on many factors..........jallen

How do you move "slightly" towards HT?

I sold my big amp ( Ayon Spirit II ) in order to regroup for Christmas. I was left with a vintage receiver
( Sansui ) that even when it sounds good, it does not go down in the lower frequencies as some of my previous amps.

When I say I'm moving slightly to HT, I meant I've been watching movies more and more thru my system. Don't take me wrong, I still enjoy listening to my Jazz CDs at night with my girlfriend, or when I read. The truth is my system is serving a dual purpose now. Later on when my finances allow, I'll get back to something like the Ayon.

The EE pre-amp has a 1.5k Ohm output impedance. A Bryston would have too low an input impedance for it, resulting in lean bass. Look for something with a high input impedance, say 100k Ohm.

You should be able to find an Eagle 2A for $1K or less. Hard to beat for bass.

That EE pre has a whoppingly high output impedance. I don't know if they are the only ones, but the only ss amps that come to my mind, that have an appropriately high input impedance that might work your chosen pre., are some of the Electrocompaniets.

The specs shown here indicate an output impedance of 700 ohms, although reviews from some years ago indicate 1.5K.

I would suggest that you try to obtain clarification of that discrepancy from the manufacturer or importer, and, as Bob suggested, try to determine the worst case (highest) output impedance within the range of audible frequencies, which probably occurs at 20Hz.

Regards,
-- Al

Eastern Electric's web site indicates 1.5 KOhms:
http://eeaudio.com/eeaudio_013.htm

Thanks, Unsound. The EE site's description, just above the "Specifications" link, says "We hope that you will consider voting for us in the components of the year for 2007." And the Morningstar page I linked to refers to "the newly upgraded Minimax." So it seems as if it was redesigned at some point, and perhaps the output impedance was lowered in the process.

We can't really say much more until we know which version the op has, and hopefully what the 20Hz impedance is (as opposed to the nominal impedance).

Best regards,
-- Al

I have the updated version. I'm actually on my second EE Minimax. To be honest, this little preamp is an overachiever.

Also, the Bel Canto "Ref" series and the S125 (but not the S/M 300) have an input impedance of 100k Ohm according to the Bel Canto website.

I have the updated version. I'm actually on my second EE Minimax. To be honest, this little preamp is an overachiever.

OK, good. The Bryston 3BSST that was suggested has an input impedance at its unbalanced inputs of 50K. The Plinius that was suggested has a 47K input impedance. Both of those numbers seem comfortable in relation to a 700 ohm nominal preamp output impedance.

Chances are a somewhat lower number would be acceptable too, but that can only be said with certainty if the 20Hz output impedance can be determined. If you can ascertain that number, multiply it by 10 to get a comfortable minimum amp input impedance.

The one thing that strikes me as being a possible concern with the Bryston is that it isn't rated to double power into 4 ohms, the ratings being 150W into 8 ohms and 250W into 4 ohms. That raises some concern that if the Classic's nominal 4 ohm output impedance dips significantly below 4 ohms in the bass or mid-bass regions (where a lot of power is required), and/or if the impedance phase angles are highly capacitive in those regions, the amp might run out of steam. Impedance curves that I've seen for some other Legacy speakers do exactly that. You might want to do some Googling to see if people have successfully used that or similar Bryston amps with that particular speaker.

The Plinius can double power, although its ratings are a bit lower (100W/200W), and that together with its 30A short-term output current rating seem consistent with being able to handle low impedances and difficult phase angles well.

Regards,
-- Al

Thanks Al. Geesh, You'd think the manufacturer would update their own website, as it is kind of important.

So with a single-ended connection the 3B-SST may do fine with many tube amps.

I was going off my experience of the 3B-SST with a balanced connection (10k Ohm per leg) to a BAT 3ix. The output impedance of the BAT is spec'ed at 1000 Ohm, but is actually much higher according to JA's measurements.

I also found the following statement in the marketing writeup for the PS Audio Trio amp (50k input impedance):

"No tube preamp should be asked to drive an input impedance of less than 30K"

Thanks a lot guys. I'm checking AgoN everyday now waiting for a deal. In the meantime, the Sansui is sounding pretty good.

Bel canto ref 1000m

McCormack DNA 1

Don't forget Belles. Very good amps.

Another vote for Bryston. Happy New Year!

My recommendation would be a used Hafler XL600... Any BAT SS amp would be my second choice. I have compared the Hafler to many "super" amps...this one has the best LOW END punch/control I have experienced. Larry