Thanks for all the kind comments, folks, and I appreciate in particular the nice remarks from Charles and Al, two longtime members here for whom I have the utmost respect. It is also great hearing from fellow Double Impact enthusiasts, a couple of whom put me on this trail to start with. And thanks to teajay for his outstanding, spot-on review.
As for the question about amps I have known and loved prior to the LM 508ia, yes, there have been a few solid state amps along the way, a couple in particular that I really enjoyed. I was very fond of a Plinius SA-102 that I had several years ago, which I can easily imagine sounding great with the DI speakers. I also once owned TRL Samson monoblocks designed by the late and much missed Paul Weitzel, which I ran along with his Dude preamplifier. They were also very fine sounding amps. I took them to a friend's house to compare directly with some very expensive Pass Labs monoblocks--I believe they were 160.5s--and I thought the Samsons were within the thinnest sliver of being as good as the mighty Pass (both were driving another pair of Ulysses speakers). I also had a couple of years with a Devialet amp that, while very clean and powerful, just did not engage me on a musical level. It was "impressive" and a technological marvel in terms of its versatility and power, but I found myself listening to music less and less when I had it.
The bottom line is that Charles is right. None of these amps have engaged me on a visceral level like the best tube amps I have owned, especially the VAC Renaissance 70/70 and now the Line Magnetic 508ia. For years I split the difference, running several different tube preamps with my solid state amps, because prior to the Ulysses, I had speakers that were not as efficient and I thought I needed solid state amps to drive them properly. I had several pleasing combinations, but was never completely satisfied, which is why I kept trying new preamps, believing that the next one might be the last one.
When I bought the Ulysses, with its much more amp-friendly efficiency rating, I couldn't wait to try a tube amp, and when I finally bought the VAC amp, I found what I had been missing. Pure bliss. I think the LM 508 integrated might be just as good, perhaps even better in some parameters (although I have yet to hear any amp surpass VAC's magical midrange).
As so many of you have already noted, one of the great attributes of the DI speakers is that you can drive them with just about anything. For sure, the 508 drives them beautifully. It has finesse and that tube magic--especially if you roll the 300Bs and 6SN7 tubes--and it can also rattle the china in your cabinet and the fillings in your teeth, if you're in the mood to "entertain" the neighbors. It sounds great at low volumes and great at high volumes. For me, a great tube amp just has that "breath of life" that keeps me up way too late listening to music.
Chris
