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Amps for Sonus Faber Stradivari Homage

I have a pair of Stradivaris that I love, but I´m having a little trouble finding the right amps for them. My system consists of: Emmlabs CDSA SE latest version, Clearaudio Champion Level two/ SME V/ Benz Ruby, ARC REF3, MSB 202 monos.
I have driven the speakers with a set of Pass XA 100.5 before, but they sounded compresed quite quickly. The MSB´s offer more power than the 100.5´s and sound more detailed and airy, but also leaner and brighter.
I love detail and air, but I also crawe bass slam and body in the midths and highs. I absolutly hate lean and bright sound, no matter how detailed it might bee.
I have owned quite a lot of Krell gear in the past. I liked the bass of the ols stuf like the KSA s series + the first FPB stuff. The rest of the frequency range however, sounded rough and "solid state" to me. I liked the detail of the MCX 450´s, but they sounded to lean in the low frequences to me. I have tried tube amps as well, but I have not yet found a pair that did´nt sound like tubes in the bass region
So I am dreaming of a set of amps that delivers a full bodied, warm but detailed sound with bass slam and bass detail as well.
Any recomendations ?
NB: English is not my native language, so I hope for your understanding if my spelling is off !
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lloydelee21
1,202 posts
 
Wow...what happened to the msb? too bad. yes, Pass and Strads are a great combination. good luck!
teleshack
6 posts
 
I have a sonus faber stradivari with mcintosh mc275 V. I changed the 4 6550 tubes to tung sol gray plates. I used mullard cv492 12ax7 and mullard 12at7 with kondo ksl lp interconnect connected to jadis jp80 mc pre amp and sounds satisfying.
lloydelee21
1,202 posts
 
Nice, Teleshack...i have heard many Strad owners enjoy them with Mcintosh. Jadis! Wow! I have heard them with CJ mid-powered amp, and with CJ preamp/Gryphon Antileon...tremendous speakers! Enjoy!!!
hungphamquoc
3 posts
 
Hi All,

Im using Audio Note M3 Preamp and Audio Note P4 Monoblock 2x300B tube each, driving Tannoy Canterburry, now I'm thinking to replace the Tannoy speaker with Stradivari, does anyone have experience to drive Stradivari with 300B tube or other Audio Note gear ? Tks alot in advance.
lloydelee21
1,202 posts
 
Sorry...i have not done it...only midpowered tube amp. CJ MV60 (55 watts/channel EL34 tubes). it was beautiful midrange and CJ does have a special 'fire' in the midrange when driven by midpowered tubes...but the bass response is superb when driven by very powerful, good quality solid state. I have never driven the Strads with high powered tubes...would love to try. I ended up with Class A Solid State. In your case, how good is the bass control of the 300B tubes? The Strad is not difficult to drive 'well' in the bass...but for it to sound world class i was only able to manage this with high powered Class A Solid State. I have heard good things about ARC Ref 210 tube amps.

hope that helps. good luck. Great speakers! And you've already got a great system!
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