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Best amp for Avalon

Just bought a pair of used Avalon Radian HC speakers and wondered if anyone can tell me which reasonably priced amp would best suit the old classics. I currently have a Tube Research ST-100 but I just wonder if they would be bettered served with something else?? Anyone out there have experience with this speaker. Any input would be appreciated.
carey1110
carey1110's avatar
carey1110 OP
568 posts
 
Biamping not beaming sorry auto correct
johnsonwu
469 posts
 
Tried all sorts of preamps during my Ascent days.
The only preamp I liked was an MFA Lumi which I eventually cloned myself.
Had a Ref 1 for the longest time when I had the Ascents as my main speakers. Open, quiet, overwhelming, and not musical.
You can't trust sand devices with small signals.
Might as well use a transformer based preamp if you dont want tube pre.
Biamping gets you the space and depth that the Avalons are known for, and using a tube amp for the highs tames the Titanium dome a bit so its less dry (Triode only, UL amps make it worse), but bi-amping is finicky and too much hassle.
You end up spending all your time adjusting the gain of the bass amps rather than listening to music.
Thats why i gave up on the Ascents. Are your TRLs S100 monos or stereo? If its stereo then you absolutely MUST biamp to deal with Radians.
carey1110's avatar
carey1110 OP
568 posts
 
Johnsonwu
The TRL I have is stereo and even with it's low power I can hear the potential of this speaker. I even thought of possibly getting another TRL ST 100 and using one on each side. I also considered an Audio Matiere Equilibre for the highs which is class A tube triode. Just trying to keep from running down "amp after amp" road if I can get some insight on what works. I once heard this speaker at CES and it was amazing but they were using the monster VTL Wotan 1200 WPC. a little over the top for me. Did you prefer the TRL or the Pass in your setup.
johnsonwu
469 posts
 
You are running the ST100 in stereo/triode mode right?
(Not sure what Paul's orig design was), the TRL S100 Mono I listened to was a DIY hand-held by Paul.

Anyway in terms of solid state driving full range I'd say nothing beats the TRL Samson. A close second would be 350.5.

For now I suggest you borrow a SS amp with high input impedance and huge current capability and stick with the ST100 for the highs.

Make sure your preamp has enough current to drive 2 power amps. Some preamps wimp out bad when presented with a less than 50k input impedance load (eg old Pass Aleph) when its already driving a tube power amp.
carey1110's avatar
carey1110 OP
568 posts
 
Great I'll try that and let you know
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