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Dennis Had Inspire Fire-Bottle SET amp review

Hello to all,
I have been a tube amp lover for years and foolishly parted with a HK-CII and CV a couple of years ago. I have a Don Sachs 6SN7-based tube preamp that is even better than the HK-CI I had, with all the HK gear upgraded by Don with Jim McShane mods. I recently got a pair of Spatial Audio Hologram M4 open-baffle speakers and wanted to make the foray back to a tube amp. I auditioned a Musical Paradise MP-310 with an unfavorable impression of its sound so I casted about for an affordable ~12 wpc tube amp and ran across a Dennis Had Inspire Bottle-Fire amp. It came with new JJ EL34 tubes which, after a few hours on them, sounded quite good at low SPL, but at maybe 85 db, just sounded awful, with the bass distorted as hell. Well, a buddy laid a pair of KT120's on me to swap for the EL34's, and holy hell, the sound is just fantastic! OMG, I can drive them very nicely to 90db with negligible distortion.

 Here is my take on the amp.   With the KT120's, and a 274B rectifier, this is a quintessential "tube" sounding amp. It gives up a degree of accuracy and control compared to my CJ MF80 SS amp, but ah, Dennis's amp creates such a luxurious warm and euphonic sound, like a "warm wet wall of sound", with and enormous soundstage, far beyond the speakers.  Honestly, I have been in search of exactly this sort of sound for decades and the pairing of Dennis's amp with my OB speakers, which are very conductive to a low-powered SET amp, is just a supreme match. The vast array of power tubes and rectifiers available to roll through this little gem very well might tailor the sound to benefit of many listeners.  My best advice is that if you have compatible speakers, you would be smart to acquire a Dennis Had amp. I feel fortunate that all the knowledge and skills he applied to his Cary Audio line of tube gear is still available to us tube-amp lovers in his current line of tube equipment.  There are lot of fine SET amps available on the market these days, but the price of most of them is quite expensive, out of my budget for sure, but the cost of Dennis's gear is affordable to all music lovers. 
Cheers, Whitestix
whitestix
whitestix OP
720 posts
 
Mikirob,
I have posted a review on Audiogon of the M4 Turbo's.  As much as I like them with a SS amp, they are even more euphonic with the SE amp.  I paired a REL T7 sub and they are very full ranged.  If I had the room, I would have opted for the M3's.  I hope you get a chance to hear them sometime. Whitestix
mikirob
955 posts
 
Thanks whitestix, I'll look for the review. I'll catch the Spacial at the next audio show I attend. Best, Rob

whitestix OP
720 posts
 
Right on, Rob.  I have been through a dozen speakers in the past maybe ten years and enjoyed all of them a lot, except for the KEF LS50s.  Before the Holograms, I had pair of Linkwitz LXmini's, which in many respects were simply amazing -- very holographic -- but they lacked a strong sense of presence and sonic impact.  The Holograms fulfill that need very well.  And again, I personally think they sound their best with tube amplification, but it is of course a trade off.  

Finding the Inspire amp was serendipity.  The less expensive Musical Paradise MP301 amp was not at all to my tastes and the Decware SE amp are a fair bit more expensive so picking up Dennis's amp was a boon.  With my Don Sachs 6SN7-based tube preamp and the Inspire amp, running the volume pot at 12:00 yields about an average SPL of 87db with peaks to 100db, which I only listen to for short periods of time.  Yet at that volume, there is no perceivable distortion and great control of the bass.  However, the amp did not perform well at all to my ears with new JJ EL 34's, breaking up like hell in the bass on loud passages.   However, with the KT120's, the amp is "large and in charge" all the way around.  I am gonna roll some Gold Lion KT88's through the amp and I have no doubt they will be splendid.  However, the Tung Sol KT 120 are just remarkable and not expensive.  I have few NOS rectifiers on the way to see how they sound in the amp, including the laudable NOS Phillips 5R4GYS tube, which Dennis advises is fine to use.    

I have responded to several folks about the amp so sorry if I am repeating myself here.  I have never had the pleasure of hearing Cary Audio gear, but don't doubt its legendary status and Dennis's contribution to the nascent interest  ~20 years ago to the sonic wonders of tube amplification.  The path of many audio designers is towards increasingly more complex, sophisticated, and uber-priced gear, but Dennis has taken a road less traveled, but not less rewarding for his customers.  I desire more of his amps for my other systems.  Cheers, Whitest 



audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,197 posts
 
As good as the kt120 may be the KT 150 may have better mid,low bass and has a  nice open top  end. Well worth checking out !!
whitestix OP
720 posts
 
Audioman,
It was a big jump in performance from the EL34 to the KT120's, night and day.  However, I plugged in a pair of new KT150's this week and after a dozen hours on them, I'd be hard press to notice the improvements you refer to above.  I will swap the KT120's back in after 100 hours for a useful comparison.  BTW, I have never been much of a fan of JJ tubes, but the Gold Lions KT 88's and the big Tung Sols have been an excellent value/performance proposition.  

I just ordered a KT88-based amp from Don Sachs in which he spec's the Shuguang  KT88 Treasure tubes.  It will put out 60-70wpc and Don feels it is a significant improvement on the upgraded HK-CII amp that has been near and dear to his heart for many years and which I had for a couple of years.  I am running the Shuguang CV181-Z (=6SN7) Treasure tubes in Don's preamp and they are simply stunning and in Don's view, better than nearly any pricey NOS tube around.  They are faultless to my ears and fairly affordable.  Happy listening!
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