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Tube vs Solid State

Folks,

For past few months, I have been trying to achieve best possible sound in my rig. The focus now is clearly on a improving 2 channel sound in what started as a home theater room.  

In past couple of years, I have added N10, Modwright DAC and very recently a LS36.5 linestage . The amps are Modwright KWA150SE. I am running pair of KWA150SE's in bridge mode (450Wx1) for the mighty B&W 800D2's.  While I like the sound as is, still feel something is missing. 

I have been toying with the idea of bi-amping.  One thought is to add mono tube amps to run mid's and high's and let the KWA150SE's handle the LF's. I am pursuing that seductive, slightly warm mid-range and top end that usually comes from tube amplification.  

I don't think there is any tube amp out there by itself capable of powering up bass hungry 800's. I prefer not to use a subwoofer in 2 channel setup. I listen to mostly jazz and classical music and quite sure that 800's are capable of producing adequate bass with proper amplification. 

Any feedback would be appreciated. 

Cheers! 
128x128lalitk
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,973 posts
 
Would this be a good time to add those Zero autoformers that Ralph advocates?
Maybe.

What I was thinking is that hard to drive speakers are hard to drive. As the many posts in this thread are pointing out.

Amps of any persuasion don't like working hard- they invariably make more distortion which is easy to hear as it tends to be higher ordered harmonics (which the ear uses as loudness cues). This is part of why balancing the lows and highs can be so tricky, since the ear converts distortion into tonality, and the distortion is not an actual frequency response issue! So you wind up trying to adjust for a perceived frequency response issue which that's not actually the problem.

So you might consider switching to a speaker that is easier to drive- they are out there and can make just as much bandwidth and detail as you experience now but without the driving headaches (which often lead to real headaches).
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Thanks for chiming in, Ralph.

Regarding the earlier discussion of the LS36.5’s output impedance, after researching a little further I see that its outputs are transformer coupled, rather than capacitor coupled. And as previously stated its output impedance is nominally specified as 110 ohms. So it should have no trouble driving relatively low impedances, including the 7.5K impedance it would have been driving when Lalit tried using the amps in a vertical biamp configuration.

Given that, I have no idea why he would have found the vertical biamp configuration to result in a less weighty deep bass compared to running the amps in bridged mode.

Regards,
-- Al
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
why he would have found the vertical biamp configuration to result in a less weighty deep bass compared to running the amps in bridged mode.
Bridged = less damping factor = less control = thicker bass (weighty?)

Cheers George
lalitk's avatar
lalitk OP
5,614 posts
 
"less weighty"

Al and George,  I might add, may not be listening my music at loud enough volume to 'feel' low bass frequencies in vertical bi-amping. 

I normally listen to my music at 60db's. I had someone come over last weekend and we conducted some A/B comparison. His preferred listening level was right around 85db's which was bit uncomfortable for me :-)

Don't know about you guys, my room is 15'D x 30'W and 60db's is plenty loud. 

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Don’t know about you guys, my room is 15’D x 30’W and 60db’s is plenty loud.
In that size room that’s a bit quiet for me, especially with the 800D’s, they are a speaker that’s likes to be driven to get the bass going, at those low levels I’d want the old fashion loudness switch on. And this may explain why you may like bridged mode because the damping factor is less and the bass may be warm'ish(sort of a loudness switch)

Cheers George
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