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"Warm Sounding" Solid State Amplifiers

As a Canadian I am naturally a huge fan of Bryston products but not long ago I switched things up for a NAD C355BEE integrated amp and instantly realized what I had been missing in terms of warmth, sweetness and overall pleasant sound.

I'm interested in moving up from there into some Class A or A/B amps but I don't know of any other warm sounding Solid State amps other than Pass Labs which are out of my price range at the moment.

Tubes are obviously "where it's at" as they would say but the maintenance factor is somewhat of a deterrent for me. Should I just go for an M series NAD amp or is there another intermediate product between that and Pass Labs??
pontifex
pontifex OP
31 posts
 
The journey continues...

I have purchased a Threshold T400 power amp. Like the MF A308 it is a dual mono design but the Threshold is pure Class A, as most of you probably know already.

It will be arriving at my house tomorrow and I am looking forward to comparing it to the A308. The A308 is an excellent, musical sounding piece though it is not "warm" and lush sounding like the Pass Labs amps I auditioned a few weeks ago. Threshold was suggested earlier in this thread and I figured I would sieze the opportunity once I found one at a reasonable price.

Stay tuned for more!
veroman's avatar
veroman
299 posts
 
maintenance factor for tubes? what is that? they last for a damn long time.
dbong
20 posts
 
I was pleasantly surprised by an Audia Flight FL3 integrated. Held up nicely comparing back to back with modern tube gear at the local store. Can be found heavily discounted on demo at a few stores. Might be worth a listen and a google.
learsfool
1,215 posts
 
I would say stick to tubes. However, this reminds me of a funny thread once where someone asked tube lovers that if a gun were held to their head and they had to listen to a solid state amp, the overwhelming choice was Naim. My brother has one, and it does sound pretty good. I would give them a try if you just have to have solid state.
digsmithd
913 posts
 
My modwright kwi 200 has some nice warmth to it...
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