Anyone pairing Cornwall IVs with solid state amplification to good results?
Because I have an obsessive need to try out all sorts of gear, I paired my Cornwall IVs with a nice Marantz PM KI Ruby integrated. What surprised me was I actually liked a Class D design at a "reasonable price" and the resulting sound is more than livable. It's a great pairing.
There's little chance I sell off my tube museum of gear and valves, but this experiment was a pleasant surprise. I have now tried them with push pull EL 34, KT88/KT120, KT150, 300 B, and Class A solid state, and Class D solid state.
Any of you out there in hifi land using a solid state amplifier with Cornwall IVs or a horn loaded speaker to great effect? I am appreciative to hear your experience.
Jbhiller- In another 30 days, I'll reinstall the Pass XA-25 and make a final evaluation, but as I feel right now, the sound of the SIT-3 is more "tubey", and definitely my favorite. The First Watt F-8 would be another outstanding choice. As to the Bluesound Node 2i, I was meaning to say, it's on the way out. The weakest link in my system. My Bluesound 2i might make its way upstairs or the Golf Course Pro Shop. |
@coachpoconnor , HA! Yes, the Node was my gateway into quality streaming. It's not hard to best it, and it can mate well with a bona fide stand alone DAC. I built an Intel NUC Roon Rock endpoint--just followed Roon's directions. And it was a huge step up feeding the same DAC that the Node did. Your comments on the SIT-3 are exactly what I was looking to hear. I may give that a try. I will say the Marantz Ruby integrated is wonderful sounding. The presentation is really nice and it has good 3D soundstage. I'm just very curious to play with SS amps now as I've had a good 5-6 tube amps in here with the CWall IVs. |
@jbhiller I don't know about ASR or the rest, you may have mixed me up with another poster. I owned the Coda while I was on a speaker binge last year. I wanted to try a few speakers _CW4, Spendor D7 and Gershman. I found the Coda to be neutral, textured without being bright, had great musical flow (PRAT) and large scale sound while still being subtle. Great transparency. Warmish or neutral without loss of detail, fast without the shiver. In my opinion it was better than an el34 and el84 amps I tried or heard. I'm not crazy about the front panel of the CSIB, mainly the fact that all the lights stay on when you power the amp down, but it's an amp that I would own again and I would even say I regret selling at times. I shipped in from New England to California (where it seems most gear goes) and the volume display and the bottom plate were damaged in transit. It's heavy and packaged well but shipping is horrible these days. Coda fixed the issued for around $275 (very reasonable). I've never heard the Pass Labs. I wish they had a presence in the northeastern part of the US. |
@bjesien , Yes you are right! I need more coffee today. I was referring to @blkwrxwgn . Please excuse that. |
