Mid-fi tube vs high-end SS
Hello everyone. I am new here but not new to audio. I’ve been meaning to buy a high-end permanent SS amp for 2 years now. But not sure how much improvement I can get.
A little about what I have. I use a high-quality tube amp I bought for around $1,500. 55 watts per channel Class A. With upgraded tubes it’s a little over $2,000. The amp I have is the Musical Paradise mp-501 I’ll link below. Using upgraded Kt-170 tubes along with some nos 5693 red tubes and 717-a tubes.
My audio knowledge and listen ability has improved substantially these past few years thanks partly to this tube amp. Sorry for the long-winded intro. My actual question is, how much improvement should I expect going from this tube amp to something high-end SS like the Gato 150 and the incredible DVA M225? Very little reviews on the Gatos, I’m hoping I could get some help here, even anything about the Gato 150 from users would be helpful. Ty
https://www.musicalparadise.ca/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=55
what efficiency speakers are you using? contemplating less efficient speakers in the future? What sound levels, how large a space? Think 'prefered', not better. IOW, I would expect to prefer the sound of tubes over sound of SS, unless not enough power. Another thought is speakers that can be bi-amped, use SS for Bass only, keep tubes for mid/highs |
My speakers are the Philharmonic BMR towers. 6-ohm 86 db. Easy to drive, confirmed by the designer. My tube amp drives it without a sweat.
I feel like the midrange on the BMR is too neutral. The designed voiced the speaker that way. My preference I want a little more richness to the mids and I'm getting that from the tubes.
AHB2 is a no-go for me for 2 reasons. Price has gone up from 3k to $3,300 and also its weaknesses are things I value highly.
Thank you everyone. |
@samureyex - still not sure why you are looking at switching to SS. If you like the sound you are getting from your tube amp but are just looking to raise the quality a bit, you could consider upgrading the decoupling capacitors. Your amp comes with pretty cheap CDE film caps (at least they aren't electrolytics). There are a LOT of options for caps that will likely improve (and certainly change) the sound. I really like the copper foil caps from brands like Miflex and Jupiter, but you may not have adequate space for them - they are physically significantly larger than the CDE caps. A reasonably priced and sized option is the VCAP ODAM. These are very clean sounding, but are also very neutral which may or may not be what you are looking for. If you don't feel comfortable making this kind of modification yourself, I suspect you can find a local electronics repair shop that will do this for you at a modest cost. |
One manufacturer I can recommend is Ayre. I own both Atmasphere and Ayre, and both sound very close to one another.-With the Ayre being a bit 'tighter' especially in the bass. If you have been getting by with 55wpc, then an AX-7e would probably do the trick.-And, very available used. I would also consider the Belles Aria Integrated. bob |
