Solid state amp to go with tube preamp; used ok; budget: $3k max
We recently compared a number of SS amps. Hegel, Coda, BEL, etc. For pure musicality the BEL was way above the others. Class A design and it was bought for $450. Don't recall the exact model but for that kind of money is was excellent. Sweet music for sure. You can easily upgrade the four power supply capacitors and a few resistors and you would probably be laughing al the way to the bank. Happy Listening. |
@hilde45 @jjss49 mini gan 5 — that’s a really nice offer and my inclination is to say "yes!" but I suppose the question becomes whether it could possibly compete with the local Hegel. as you well know, h90 is an integrated, your stated goal is to have your qs tube pre feed a very good ss amp to achieve a desired synergy between the two (tubey sweetness dimensionality plus solid state impact/grip/foundation) if i were you i would try the mini gan 5 - i think you read my comments when i got it (if not i know you can find them), i think it is a prime candidate for happiness fed by a nice clean quiet tube pre the hegel is also excellent, maybe just a teeny touch richer through the mids than the gan, but the gan is really really good, crazy good for the money, and with an ounce of tube goodness, could be winner winner chicken dinner re the h90, @tvad mentioned rightly the pass 30 wpc rating is conservative, same for hegels i would say, your salks are not current hogs at 8 ohm nomimal, the h90 should do just fine power wise (esp in your low ceiling room), heck the boys in toronto at audio excellence canada had the h90 driving maggies clean and loud, to their surprise and endless amusement for cryin’ out loud :) of course the mini gan 5 is 200 wpc rms into 8 ohms... so output is no issue there btw i have a klaus’ odyssey stratos+ here too, with big blue caps upgrade, this one can’t fight its way into my rotation, you can try that too if you want, but shipping will be a bundle its a tank |
First off: no one mentioning PS Audio. Why? @twoleftears @pennfootball71 Good ideas, there. I am tempted by the Belles but is it as good as Pass and Ayre? Might not hurt to try. Another vote for Benchmark — noted! Hoping for that Class A sweetness… @mwasilow Schiit up there with Hegel and Ayre and Pass, in your view? I tried Van Alstine for $2.2k and it was not "there" for me. Don’t want to make that mistake twice. Another vote for Conrad -- thanks for the specific model numbers. Noted. BEL Canto -- noted. @jjss49 -- the mini gan is 5 lbs? I hear you on the Hegel. Could be fun to compare, but I’d have to pull the trigger on the Hegel. I’ll send you a p.m. |
