Tube or SS for Sonus Faber Amati Homage

Davidlin, this may help - I have had SF Amatis for nearly three years and drive them with a Lamm L2 preamp and a pair of Lamm ML2's which for me is the most enjoyable combination I could find.I also used them with Classe solid state - CA400 and DR8 and the SF "Musica".I use a Sonic Frontiers Line 3 and a pair of Cary 300B Signatures in my second system and had never actually tried the combination with the Amatis, so a few weeks ago I did and was staggered at how great the results were. The Cary's drove the Amati's with ease and sounded superb.Provided your listening room is not exceptionally large (mine isn't) it would be worthwhile to try the Cary's with your Line 3 SE.

Davidlin,

As a long-time owner of the Amati's, I'd recommend tubes -- I'd also add that you need to give a serious listen/consideration to the Tenors (more below).

IMO, the Amatis sound wonderful with any quality amp, but really sing and make magic with tubes. For 9 months, I used Spectral Pre and PowerAmps with a tubed CJ phono stage, SME 10, and MIT Oracle cabling all around. Tight, accurate, detailed. A trifle (and we are talking subtle items here) hard and aggresive with any CD player, even tubed. Reference class, nonetheless.

Over the last month, I've since gone to a pair of the Tenor 75wi, with Jena Labs cabling. A whole different league altogether. Even with a lowly Arcam CD23T. Pure magic. A sense of ease, musicality, and *purity* of musical expression that betters in every aspect some of the other tube amps I've heard with these speakers. Vinyl on the SME is even better with the Tenors, which was mighty fine with the Spectral.

Room is a 1300 sq foot loft, with 14 ft cielings, so that system has to pressurize the entire space.

One thing to keep in mind with this tube/OTL/Amati discussion is also the gain/output drive of your source gear. For example, with 2V output from the Arcam, no problems at very loud listening levels on complex musical passages (95db+). The Tenors begin to lose a very tiny amount at the upper treble (where the Amati drops to 2ohm) with the same music, same loudness, from the CJ (only 54db gain). I will be changing to another phono preamp with more gain to bring the Tenors into a happier operating window.

The important thing, is that my listening room is HUGE (the whole loft), and the Tenors are making fabulous music as I type.

Mileage varies, but I decided that I couldn't live without the sound of the Tenors, and have since overhauled my entire system, except for the Amati's and my Grand Prix Audio racks. Heck, the level of the Tenors even encouraged me to upgrade from the SME 10 to the 20.2.

Bottom-line, the Amati+Tenor are magic. In a "normal room", IMO, it would be a no brainer.

Best wishes and congratulations on your purchase of the Amati's.

I hope yours provide as many hours and days of visual and auditory pleasure as mine have.

Tom

Thanks for all of your inputs. I know I wanted tubes for my Amati, just a matter of OTL, single ended, or conventional push-pull. I might go with SF Power 3 for the sake of synergy plus lots of options when it comes to alternative tubes (6550/KT88/KT90 & 6922/6H23/E88CC etc). I had owned Power 3 in the past, I like its neutral nature which will enable me to tailor my sound preference with tube types. Power 3 will also give me the dynamic I need when I do want to play loud, something I am afraid Cary 805 can not deliver. On top of all this, Power 3 can be had for relatively little money, certainly one of the best bargain in used market.

I've also heard the ZH270 on my own Merlin VSM-M. Unless you have a berning desire to spend more money you owe it to yourself to try it.

Instead of questioning 30/40 maybe we should ask the others what amp they think is better and have they heard it with the Amati.

For the money your going to have a tough time finding an amp anywhere close to this level.

BTW, congrats on the Amati! Gorgeous speakers :>)

I had asked about your amplification experience, not speaker experience. Your statement of "This is overall the best sounding amplifer I have heard to date in every regard. The match with your Sonus Faber Amati Homage would be shear joy." infers quite a bit.

I have heard the Amati's with the following in a very familiar system to me:

Classe Omega monos
Audio Research Ref 300 MK II's
Audio Research VTM 200's
BAT VK-150SE's

I thought the BAT's were the best I had heard with the Amati's, but I would think there are other choices as well. I am only talking about my personal experience. If I want to make suggestions about what I think MAY be a good match, I would make it clear that although I have not heard the combination, I would try to find someone who has. If it is second hand knowledge, I would also say that.

I have a friend that has Tenor's and Amati's. He likes the combo a great deal. I have not heard the combo. I would think within a performance envelope it might be amazing.

Davidlin: How big is your room and how loud do you listen?