First Watt is your best bet. But I would still rather have a nice 300B or PX25 SET.
Is there a Solid State amp that can satisfy a SET guy?
Have been a SET guy for so long I have forgotten what a good SS amp even sounds like.
Just bought a pair of $33k speakers that will replace my current $16k speakers. Both are from the same designer and both are 92db and a flat 8 ohms. The new ones arrive in 4 days!
My 300B based amps well drive my current speakers even though I do use the system nightly as a 2 channel home theater. Especially considering the HT usage, I think I may enjoy a SS amp with many times the horsepower. The speaker designer suggests using a Leema Hydra II. I have written to Leema telling them of my 300B preference and they assure me that their amp does not have the destructive harmonics that make a SS amp bright. There must be other SS amps that can satisfy?
Just bought a pair of $33k speakers that will replace my current $16k speakers. Both are from the same designer and both are 92db and a flat 8 ohms. The new ones arrive in 4 days!
My 300B based amps well drive my current speakers even though I do use the system nightly as a 2 channel home theater. Especially considering the HT usage, I think I may enjoy a SS amp with many times the horsepower. The speaker designer suggests using a Leema Hydra II. I have written to Leema telling them of my 300B preference and they assure me that their amp does not have the destructive harmonics that make a SS amp bright. There must be other SS amps that can satisfy?
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Sad to hear about the Leema sounding very SS. The thing that, I think, bothered me the most about SS is the edge and brightness. And, I think, the thing I love most about SETs is the musicality. I heard the Dartzeels are amazing but I can’t afford one. And I understand the Line Magnetic is also good but I think I will gravely miss the 300B sound. Think the more power the less musicality. My speakers are Tetra 606s. Love the Tetra designer’s hear. So, maybe, his recommendation of the Leema is good. But talking with him about this, he used the phrase “what you like” referring to my 300Bs. |
Great question. I've always been interested in this since hearing of the infamous 1985 Stereophile Bob Carver challenge. For those unfamiliar, I won't spoil it, but their honest conclusion speaks volumes. Hey, it was the days of J. Gordon Holt. Different times. "But whatever Bob, and others who can match his technical virtuosity, choose to do with the results of this project, I think that the field of high-end audio amplifier manufacture will never be quite the same again. High price and high status will continue to be handmaidens in audio, but the knowledge that high performance and high price need no longer be inseparable cannot help but impair the glamor of cost-no-object power amps. We're still a little bewildered around here about how all this turned out. Not the way we expected. But that's the way it was." https://www.stereophile.com/content/carver-challenge More here. https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/the-carver-amp-challenge-and-the-21st-century-and-it-s-failur... |
- 288 posts total