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Valve Amp for Sonus Faber Sonetto IIIs

I'm looking to move into the enticing but deeply confusing world of valve amplification. The more I read online the more bewildered I become. The SF Sonetto III's that I own are 89db sensitivity and 4ohm nominal impedance and I've seen the suggested amplifier output given as anything from 50W to 250W. Can anyone enlighten me as to realities of the situation. I don't play music at ear-bleeding levels, mostly it's classical--chamber to opera, jazz, and acoustic, although I sometimes get nostalgic for my lost youth and play King Crimson and Jethro Tull.

I'm currently looking at the Sinfonia & Triode amps from Unison Research, the McIntosh MA252, and the Synthesis Roma 510AC. 

Any thoughts or advice (of the idiot's guide variety preferably) others may have will be gratefully received.

grauerbar
ghdprentice
8,098 posts
 

@jjss49 

+1

I power my Sonus Faber Amati Traditional with Audio Research REF 160s in triode mode… so 70Watts per channel…. They can be played a lot louder (and sound good) that I ever want to hear them. 
 

One of the known synergistic combinations is Sonus Faber and Audio Research. Detailed, big soundstage, great imaging and midrange bloom and excellent bass. 
 

Once I switched to tube amps, I realized I never wanted to go back.

russ69's avatar
russ69
3,579 posts
 

I think a lower power tube amp would be a bit under powered for your loudspeakers and big tube amps make a lot of heat and can be costly to run. How about a Unico Nuovo hybrid? Sweet sounding from what I hear. 

carlsbad's avatar
carlsbad
1,551 posts
 

I don’t often recommend decware since there is a 2 yr wait. But currently there is a ZMA amp for sale on the Decware classifieds that is currently available and a smoking deal.

I have the ZMA and highly recommend it.

Your speakers are not the best for tubes but the ZMA is 35+ wpc and should handle your less efficient speakers well.

Good luck,

Jerry

jbuhl's avatar
jbuhl
1,054 posts
 

Might consider the Rogue Pharaoh II 

 

Discussed here

 

 

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 

@grauerbar

You have a couple of very nice Italian amplifiers under consideration. Given your taste in music I think that you would be happy with a good quality and well implemented tube amplifier.

I found a review of your speakers and it seems that they’re a fairly easy speaker load according to the reviewer.Paired well with both Their solid state and tube amplifiers. So the speakers appear to be a plausible possibility with your amplifiers of interest.

 

 

 

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