Amplifiers:A Keeper for Life. Do you know of one ?

I've had my Quad IIs since 1981 -still use them in my main system. I've had them rebuilt twice by Quad first and then GT Audio (manufacturer of Tron high end tube amps). They now sport phono sockets instead of the 6 pin Jones plugs and have separate power cords (not reliant on Quad 22 for power). I've bought enough NOS valves to last until I'm 70 - reckon my hearing might not be so good then. Even if I upgrade, I'll probably hang onto them.

My current system is
Platine Verdier, Schroeder Model 2, Allaerts MC1B
Verdier Control B tube preamp plus dedicated valve rectified PSU (soon to be upgraded to Tron Meteor)
Avantgarde Duos 2.2
oh and my old Meridian 206B!

Warner Imaging ER-300M

My Quicksilver V4's. My gosh, what depth they posses. I love them so much I just bought a pair Bruce Moore Custom M 120's. While the BM's are on a boat heading my way, I'm thinking, these V4's sound so awesome, how could something else sound better than these? Still, they'll have to go when the new amps arrive. Or, the new amps will have to go. Will the Bruce Moore's really sound better at 3 times the cost? Maybe I just need a twelve step program for audioholics....

David

The CAT JL-3 Signatures are the end of the road for me. They are rated at "only" 150w but this is very misleading compared to the rating of many other amplifiers I have tried on Magnepan series 3 speakers. Of course the JL-3s are a lot of amp to use with these speakers, but it quickly showed me that these amps are affected by nothing.

The JL-3's each have 16 6550 power tubes driven in triode. The older ARC Classic 150 amps used 8 of these tubes to achieve the "same" rating in triode mode. And the CL150 amps shut down just as the Maggies were starting to play their magic. With the JL-3s driving the Magnepans, the only limit here is the speaker itself.

And the JL-3s are claimed to drive the very difficult MBL 101s and also can be configured to drive the difficult 1-ohm Apogee speakers. So driving the Dynaudio speakers should be a piece of cake for the CATs.

And not only do they have phenomenol drive capability, they have a dynamic contrast and resolution potential that you have to hear to believe.

So all of this adds up to an amplifier that I suspect will be with me for a long long time.

The only issue is that they need dedicated 20A circuits as they take quite a surge when powered on.

John

Krell 400cx, I'm done