Tekton Double Impacts

Hey Charles,

Not only is fair to claim both of us are Jazz lovers I have Lee Morgan and Lester Young tattoos on my arms to prove it!

All the gear that you mention is still in-house in my smaller up-stairs system.  It's a great solid state system, however as we both know it does not sound like a great tube based system.  As one of my listening guests said ,"your up stair's system sounds like great HiFi, your down stairs system sounds like great music".

 I want to share I'm not a great fan of KT-88-120-150 based amplifiers because they sound "solid state-ish" to me.  I also find any gear ( Audio Research, BAT) that uses the Russian 30 super tube in its design quite unpleasant to my ears.

Now,  El-34's, 300B's, 211's, 2A3's, 845 based amps SET or Push Pull that sounds like music to me, with the right line-stage, like the LTA's Micro-ZOTL which is still the best preamp I have ever heard in how uniquely deals with space and macro-dynamics, now we have music to my ears/personal taste.  I have never been a fan of horn designs and have reviewed single driver designs, which have a beautiful purity but lack extended highs/lows that can be easily driven with a few watts. Now, that I'm using the DI's I can play with all these great tube low watt amplifiers, without any drawbacks at all.  

  

Hi Teajay,
Well I must confess, no tattoos. However I do have large photographs of Bird, Dizzy, Miles and Monk on the walls of my listening room 😂😂
I understand the analogy you used to describe your 2 different audio systen’s character, I know just what you mean.  I can imagine how Morgan’s trumpet and Lester’s tenor must sound with your current system.
Charles 

@charles1dad :  Thanks. Good to get a strong second opinion from you on Backert Labs. I will look into the Dan Sachs Preamp.

Any others on Preamp choices?

Hi Guys,

I have been getting scores of Emails regarding which is the "BEST" combination of these three possibilities: 1) the Micro-ZOTL by its self  2) the Micro-ZOTL/ZOTL-40 amp  3) the Micro-ZOTL/2A3 amp to drive the DI's.

All sound terrific, all though slightly different, and factors such as how loud you listen to get to the sweet spot in your system, types of music, and what DB levels are needed for your acoustic space would decide which one you would prefer.

Right now I'm getting the total signature of the Micro-ZOTL plus the colors/3D imaging of the 2A3 tubes which I find enchanting on all acoustic jazz music, which I mostly listen to the great majority of the time.

All three combo's are great, it's your personal taste to reach your decision.  

I would love to hear about the comparison between the coincident pre and the M-ZOTL... especially on Charles' side since I have Coincident speakers and Franks myself (copycat).  I currently run my DAC directly into the amps but think regularly about adding an active pre.  Unfortunately I absolutely need a remote (it seems odd to buy a pre and then continue to use the DAC's volume control) and am scared a bit by Concident discontinuing the remote version.  So many options once I leave the Coincident universe though.  It's intimidating.  Please keep us updated.