Pass Labs or Audio Research Solid State Amplifiers

If you want to rock and are thinking about Pass Labs, avoid the Aleph's and go for the X amps. Far more focused and punchy but not as sweet and romantic. Can't comment on the ARC SS amps.

Meisterkleef, i am amazed that you have a set of Kinetic's. I've never known anyone other than myself to own a product from this company. How do you like their TATL's ? I've got a smaller set of their speakers that work quite well. While the cabinets are not real attractive due to how they are constructed, i have to admit that these guys were building "tanks" ( super thick & "dead" cabinets ) LONG before anyone else that i know of. Sean
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Thank you all for your suggestions.
I'll be listening to the gear mentioned if and when I get the chance.

As for my gear I currently have
1) NHT 2.9 speakers

2) Arcam Alpha 9 cd player

3) Transparent Ultra RCA's, Transparent PowerBank Ultra line conditioner, 3 Transparent Reference Power Link power cords, Transparent Ultra speaker cables.

4) 2 Dedicated Circuits w/independant grounds and fuses instead of circuit breakers. And 2 FIM receptacles, one for feeding the amp and one for feeding the line conditioner.

5) And I am currently using an Acurus A200 amp and an Acurus RL-11 preamp.

Although I was much happier with this Acurus setup than my previous Adcom, I was wanting something more than the budget amp sound.

I found out from a conversation with Mondial Designs
( the makers of Acurus ) that before NHT loudspeakers sold to Recoton, that they recommended Acurus and Aragon
( Mondial Designs products ) for their speakers.

I was also told that it would be a VAST IMPROVEMENT over the Acurus to use an Aragon 8008BB amp an Aragon 28K preamp even though Acurus is good too. They also said that the Aragon 8008BB was an amp that would never need to be replaced.

Would this be a good amp also compared to the other ones mentioned above??? I would tend to go with what NHT recomends since they made my speakers.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

I used to have NHT 2.9's. The can sound bright with the wrong amp. After trying a NAD 218 and a Bryston 4BST, I ended up with a Classe CA200, which was a much better match. If you are going to crank Metalica you will need a CA300 or 301 unless you are in a small room. I have not tried Aragon.

Hey Sean - I got my Labyrinths back in '96. Fell in love
with the sound of transmission-line bass done well and came
across Kinetic. Not a very big company but they sure do make
some great t-lines. Also make their 12" woofers, 6.5" mids,
and 1" dome tweeters in-house. I believe the only driver
they now outsource is their 2" dome mid. And yes the
cabinets are deader-than-doornails. But that definitely
comes at a price as they're 250lbs each!!! I love their
sound, and they seem to thrive with as much power as I can
feed them, which is why I stick to SS amps. Real nice match
with the ARC pres/amps. I'll probably have this combo for a
long time to come.