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Nola Viper Owners, Lend Me Your Amps

Hey all, I've been trying to do this on my own without a whole lot of success. I even sent Nola an email about amplification and got no response. I guess Carl didn't want to come off as biased towards one product or another, and that's cool.

I have been going back and forth between tubes and solid state gear for my Nola Viper IIa's. I've heard all the claims that Nola/Alons sound best or are viced with tubes, but I see that they also require a good deal of power to sound their best. As a result, I have been strongly considering the tube preamp, solid state power amp combo.

I'd like to know a couple of things; if I go tube power amp, how much tube power is required for the Nolas. If I go solid state can say, 125 watts do the job? Also, what are you guys using, all tubes, tube/ss combo, all solid state, and why?

For some info, I listen to all types of music, but I am a huge fusion fan where I listen to Jean Luc Ponty, Al Di Meola, Stanley Clarke and the like, so the music is hard driving and dynamic a lot of the time. However, I like my vocals too, both male and female, so the midrange has to be up to snuff as well.

Amps I've considered so far: Rogue, Dehavilland, Primaluna, Musical fidelity, McCormack, McIntosh, Primare and Emotiva. The only one that I have not heard is Primaluna.

Budget? I'm really trying to buy used but I will cough up the new price dough if there is a piece of gear that I decide that I have to have.

Thanks for looking and I look forward to responses.
hawk28
fjn04
1,561 posts
 
"I even sent Nola an email about amplification and got no response." Hopefully, he is just slow to respond, or maybe out of town.
"I guess Carl didn't want to come off as biased towards one product or another, and that's cool."
IMHO, this would not be a valid excuse.
I recently heard a Pathos Hybrid amp on a pair of Avalons.
It is one of the best non-tubed amps I have heard.
Best of luck in your search.
willieaspen
20 posts
 
I have the Alon Lotus Elite, which are the predecessors to your Nola Vipers. I'm using a Classe 15 & Cary SLP-2002 to good effect right now.

I've also used Threshold Stasis 2, Jeff Rowland Model 3s, & Belles 350A for amps. All had plenty of power and musically involving with the Lotus.

I've also used the following preamps: Threshold SL-10, Belles 28A, Jeff Rowland Consonance, McCormack RLD-1, Rogue 99 Magnum and Threshold Fet 1 to good effect. The Belles was the best of that lot and may yet stay. Still have some other preamp candidates to try.

Haven't tried a tube amp, but I have a Rogue 88 Magnum that I'm going to try. But having a tube pre and ss amp seems to make a lot of sense with them. IMO, high-powered tube amps are just too difficult to deal with for the most part.

Hope that helped!

Jeff
hawk28 OP
121 posts
 
Thanks for your responses. Pubul, didn't really know that Carl used Audio Research exclusively at shows, but thats good to know.

FJN, I have started to explore Pathos, thanks for the tip.

Willie, you've got a lot of experience with a lot of equipment. Is the tube pre ss power your favorite combo?
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
I am not sure if it is only ARC, but at two recent shows that is what he was using - the REF series.
willieaspen
20 posts
 
Hawk,

I've only played with SS amps, so my preference right now is tube pre over SS pre.

I'm very limited in the positioning of the speakers and they are very close to the rear walls. This seems to fatten the bass a bit...to the edge of acceptability. I'm afraid that using a tube amp will push it over the edge. I've got to dig out my Rogue one of these days to see what really happens.

The SS pres have all been very listenable, but the tube pres have the added presence in the midrange. They are just more relaxed.

The Belles 28A though is awful close. I really liked it and it has a great sounding MC/MM phono stage buit-in. Definitely the best SS pre I've had in my system, but also the most expensive.

As usual, YMMV.
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