2. amps-preamps
  3. 133108-106832

Full-sounding SS amps (besides Pass)

Speaker interactions aside, what solid state amp brands/designers tend to have a fuller sound these days? Not necessarily warm or tubey per se, but fleshed out in the upper bass and harmonically complete in the midrange, as opposed to lean. E.g. an Australian ME Sound amp I have from a while back has this quality, without sounding overtly warm. 

Obvious candidates: Pass, Luxman. What else?

Cost no object, feel free to throw out one-liners. Think of it as a poll.  (Please don't answer tubes though, thanks. :D )
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jmolsberg's avatar
jmolsberg
467 posts
 
LKV Research

http://www.lkvresearch.com/lkv-verito-1.html
mysticriver
11 posts
 
@ronkent 

I second your nomination of PS Audio BHK amp, I owned the BHK 250 stereo version until August 27th when Hurricane Harvey flooded my house with 3.5 feet of salt water. Other victims of the flood were my PS Audio P10 Power regenerator, PS Audio Directstream DAC, and PS Audio BHK preamp, along with Wilson Audio Sophia 2 loudspeakers. I will definitely be replacing the PS Audio equipment as soon as the house restoration is complete.

As most people know, the BHK stands for Bascom H. King, whose previous designs were for Infinity, Marantz, Conrad Johnson, Counterpoint, Constellation Audio and Audeze. Bascom King got the full support of Paul McGowen in designing the amp with only one strict requirement: "It must be among the five best amps in the world"! So, no pressure.

We should mention that BHK cheated on the design however, if this thread is to nominate the best pure SS amp ever. He overcame Paul’s prejudice against vacuum tubes and designed a tube-based front end. In Bascom’s opinion (along with that of his friend Arnie Nudell, founder of Infinity and Genesis) a tube-based input stage is absolutely necessary for the best sound in an SS amp.


ronkent's avatar
ronkent
370 posts
 
@Mysticriver. 

greetings and let me say how sorry i am about the events you had to deal with.  I think losing my audio system would be the worst thing second only to losing my dogs.  How did  your physical music collection fair though all this?  Replacing one's cd or record collection would be even worse as there is so much work to acquiring it again.  Glad  you will be able to replace the gear.   good luck to you
mysticriver
11 posts
 
@ronkent 

Most of my CD's are ripped in flac files on my hard drive (which I took with me prior to the flood).  Almost all the rest were on shelves above the water level and survived OK.  

I did lose about half of my LP record collection, but to tell you the truth, I have mostly gone over to digital anyway, and replaced my favorites with CDs.  The Directstream DAC made this a no-brainer!

Thanks for the sympathy.  I can hardly wait to get my music room back, listening to everything on my computer with headphones just doesn't quite cut it.

klh007
621 posts
 
I can't believe Wells Audio amps haven't been mentioned, harmonic richness of tubes and taut SS bass, check the reviews.

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