Tube Amp Recommendations $1500

Thanks so much guys!

I will look into these tube amps mentioned. I'm sure there are some good recommendations in there.

Al, I do believe that stereophile review was of my speakers (Sig 2 V.3's); I look into that further to confirm. I wondered how these would pair with tubes but I thought the Prima Luna Prologue 5 pushed a variety of speakers well (jamo d830, quad 22l2, joseph audio rm7si and 25si) but maybe I was wrong...

This may have opened a whole new can of worms because I really like these speakers. I thought I could gain a little more extension in the highs, more of that organic life like sound I was experiencing with tubes, while keeping the more controlled bass of a solid state and gaining more headroom and higher volume than my current Acurus A100.

Maybe I should be looking at high power solid state amps that have a "tube like"' sound? CJ? McCormack? ...?

And since I have your attention, I'm open to criticism on my rig. Do you see other weak links or areas to possibly change? Thanks!

Al could certainly be correct in suggesting your speakers were designed with SS amplifiers as the expected choice for driving them. I've never really heard a SS amp sound like a tube amp if it's truly "tube" sound you're seeking.
Best of Luck.
Charles,

I did reference that Stereophile review that Al posted a link to and those are v.1's, not the v.3's like I have... I don't think there is a huge difference in their specs sensitivity wise but there could be.

Aren't there tube amps in the $1500 range that are stout enough to drive these speakers?

-Bruce

Bruce, to clarify, my main concern with pairing a tube amp with your particular speakers is not related to power, sensitivity, or volume. It is related to tonal balance. The variation of the speaker's impedance from 3.6 ohms at 180 Hz to well over 20 ohms at critical mid-range frequencies will cause the tonal balance of the speaker to vary significantly depending on the output impedance of the amp. Nearly all solid state amps have negligibly small output impedances, while most tube amps have output impedances that are significant in relation to speaker impedances. In this case the result would be that a tube amp would give greater emphasis to some mid-range frequencies than a solid state amp, and would de-emphasize mid-bass frequencies relative to a solid state amp. It seems to me to be probable that the speaker was designed with the expectation that it would generally be used with solid state amps. If so, using a tube amp with it would mean that its tonal balance would deviate from what the designers intended, and would be a compromise.

I'm not saying that the degree of that compromise would necessarily be objectionable, or that it would necessarily be a bad matchup, but I suspect it would be significantly less than optimal. And that compromise would involve parts of the frequency spectrum that are particularly important.

Regarding v.1 vs. v.3, I know of another member here who uses a much larger and much more expensive Paradigm model, and it has similar impedance characteristics. Which reinforces my expectation that the impedance characteristics of your speakers are similar to what is shown in the graph I linked to.

Regarding the Acurus A100, one factor that may be in play is that its input impedance is only 20K, which may be too low to be optimal for use with the Lightspeed. You might want to ask George about that, either directly or in the Lightspeed thread. The output impedances of your sources will be a factor in that, since with a resistance-based passive attenuator the impedance at the output of the attenuator will depend to some extent on the output impedance of what is driving it (as well as on the volume control setting).

Regarding your question about the rest of your equipment, I see nothing that particularly stands out as a weak link. I'm assuming that you've kept the length of the cable at the output of the Lightspeed short, as it should be.

Regards,
-- Al

Al is right! Paradigm isn't for tube amp. All you will gain is a new $1500 toy and distorted unbalanced and unrealistic sound where Johnny Cash will sing with voice of Madonna.