Tube amp for Dynaudio Contour 2.8 speakers

Seanstrong,

If you don't like the traditional Krell / Pass / Levinson sort of high end solid state sound, but still need something that mates with inefficient speakers like the Dynaudios, you may want to try something like the Bel Canto Evo 2 line (a company that knows tube sound) or the new PS Audio GCC amps, which have substantial bass control, but don't have the glare of traditional SS equipment. They don't sound exactly like tubes but they don't sound exactly like SS or hybrid amps either, so I'd at least audition them with your Dynaudo 2.8s (Esotar tweeters?)

Most high end dealers will allow you an in-home audition, so it can't hurt to check it out.

I think first you need to find if the soft bass is from the speakers or the amp. You could try to borrow or home-demo a high-power (wattage) solid state amp with your speakers to see if that improves the bass. If it does then a new amp would help. If it does not, then it's probably the speakers themselves (or it could be your room acoustic). Most Dynaudio speakers tend to have warm and sort of boomy bass especially those big floor standers. Almost everyone who has Dyn would agree. Even the smaller stand-mount have somewhat overly warm bass. A guy just came over to my house to audition a CD player said he had a pair of Dyn 52SE edition but the bass was too warm so he finally sold it.

Anyway, make sure it's the amp before you committ to buying one.

Once in awhile, there are a couple of VTL 200W amp that come up here at Audiogon you can try. It is amazing that those old tube amps can sound a lot better than the so called modern solid stage amps. I had a chance to listen to a Electro-companiet amp with my setup and there was just no comparision considering the VTL amp I have was made 15 - 20 years ago.

I will have to look for a VTL and hopefully this will work. Thanks for the the advise!

I am also not a fan of tube based power with Dyns. I have always been a tube guy at heart, but then I heard Sims stuff with my Dyns... man o man.... dont look back.

Seantrong -

I understand the adversion to using SS power - Yes, tubes are great, I used to be an SET tubes only guy with high eff speakers. but this hi-fi thing is about synergy and system matching. Your Dynaudio speakers were built for high current SS amplification. There are a lot of great sounding SS amps out there, you just have to look for them. What you ought to do is get a great tube preamp and a great SS amp - that is the perfect combo for your Dyns. I use Supratek Syrah pre and Plinius SA-102 on my Dyn S1.4s. Perfect combination. Extremely dynamic, rich, but not lean and "SS sounding." Like the poster mentioned above, Sim is also a great match for the Dyns. The w5 + dynaudio is AMAZING. But - stay away from sim preamps (in my experience the P5 killed the sound. lean-dry/SS sounding). Hovland preamp is a great pre for dyns. Also Nagra. Try a Hovland 100 and a Sim w5 hooked up to your dyns and I'll bet you'll change your mind about your SS amp generalization.

In regards to the posters comments above about boomy bass from dyns - You've really got to have them setup right, or yes, you'll have boomy bass. That means the right kind of amp that can drive the woofers (high current SS like plinius, sim, etc) and more importantly, proper room setup and placement. They've got to be WAY out from the walls or the bass will be boomy. If you can't get them way out from the walls, you've got to stuff the ports, or Dyn may not be the speaker for that room. Another option is to use a sub or pair of subs and high-pass crossover the dyns above the boomy bass frequencies (40-80hz in my exp)

Todd