2. amps-preamps
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The Fastest most musical amp

Since I got the upgrade bug and the only cure is to change my preamp and amp I am looking for some advice of our great Audiophile community to help me find the amplifier and preamp combo that suits me best. My priority are the folowing: I want to find the FASTEST and MOST MUSICAL amp and preamp ( It can be tube preamp ( tough I think all tube preamp are slow) or solid state preamp but only solid state amp.) I know that spectral is known to be one of the fastest but I don`t like the idea of being forced to use the Networked MIT cable (which slow up the sound much)
dismalonyx
kana813
956 posts
 
Go to http://www.spectronav.com/index.htm.

They have what you're looking for.
cdc
1,800 posts
 
Audio by Van Alstine as well as Spectral.
Fet valve or Omega
SET's sound "shouty" and hyped to my ears more than fast. Maybe higher 2nd order harmonics are part of the reason.
dismalonyx OP
36 posts
 
Thank you all for you really great and informative reply!

I started this thread as a open one without having to let you know what is my taste and my setup (since this setup is ever changing) but to try to find out with the help of our really great Audiophiles comunity what amp/preamp would qualify as the fastest to help anyone with that kind of taste to find their match.
naimfan
166 posts
 
Disma--

Try something like a Naim 82/Hicap/250 combination. Very fast, very tuneful, terrific sounding. Also built extremely well, will last forever, and the company will be around in 20 years if anything does go wrong.

Best Regards,

Bob
billspecfoc
103 posts
 
I used to own an all Spectral/MIT system driving speakers very similar to JM Labs Utopias. This system was extremely fast. The MIT cables actually opened the sound up tremendously,i.e., they did ib no way slow things down. The one complaint I had for this set-up was that it could have been a touch warmer. But, hey, this is THE big trade-off still out there, speed vs. musicality. The choice is up to you.

I have since been forced (economically) to downsize my system. I currently use a tube hybrid AVA Transcendence 7 preamp. This unit is in now way "slow". It is extremely fast (not as fast as the Spectral DMC-20 pre) with very good dynamics and bass control, all qualities I like in a system. Tubes do not have to be slow. Just do your research on this subject.

Hope this helps.
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