Tube / SS amp that handles 4ohm loads well and delivers lively texture / palpability
Hi,I used to be a US service center for Audio Analogue from Italy, maker of small integrated amps and CD players. The few amps that came in the door were the most tube sounding SS amps I ever heard. Sweet and musical, I still lust for one... NOTE: the gig described above was late 2000's, and I have NOT heard their newer offerings. |
These Clayton Audio Class-A monoblocs will do the job. They can be used in Class A or A/B mode to save energy during non-critical listening. Best of luck. https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649466855-clayton-audio-m70-class-a-monoblock-amplifiers/ |
This is a very important post by Ralph. This BS audiophile 'tight bass' doesn't exist, it's artificial. I will quote Vladimir of Lamm on connected issue - You can get a killer bass out of transistors but that's not the way it is in reality. And not only bass. Ever heard acoustic guitar or voice live ? They resonate. One of the main reasons why many so-called state of the art systems sound like nonsense even with good analog source, that is hi-fi sound not high-end sound. |
I tend to agree that Ralph's post is a good point, but doesn't that sorta more come down to a speaker thing (in most systems, anyway)?? Boxed speakers in particular...you know, that whole distinction or parting of ways between head thumpin', gut-kickin' or clubbing style bass (the sort of maximized, disembodied drum effect or thud, rather than the sound of the drum as a musical instrument...with a body, individual character and distinct location within the stage). I happened to go the open baffle route my last time around and wound up not having to deal with rear-wave and cone distortions or cab resonances. Power factor correction has given me rather taut bass, but I have to say that that combo of Very transparent bass And tautness seems just all the more unusual, now that I've come by it. I don't come across it much. I'd say taut bass can have a rightful place, and it can indeed be somewhere down the priority list, but that it seems to me to make far more sense after all the rest of the bass ducks are finally in a good row. (To me, from top to bottom, there's nothing like a good, solid and Focused fortissimo!). I can easily accept for example that there probably isn't that much tight bass in the middle of an orchestra, but within which halls, which orchestra outputs are being focused into what rows (if at all) is likely still up for grabs. And, yeah I'd say deep, tight bass reproduction and the disembodied drum effect combo can seem fun at first, but is (for me, anyway) ultimately fatiguing. But, I'm just saying that lately I'd come to think all that was more or less, primarily, a speaker thing??...or maybe a speaker in a box thing, I guess...?? |
