Tube or SS for Sonus Faber Amati Homage

Jtnn, might I suggest you contact Sonus Faber directly and ask them about this particular combination in regards to the Amati Homage, they know this amp well. I have heard many amps and speakers, which amplifers were you wondering about specifically?

My recommendation is not based upon pure assumption but rather upon personal opinion and experience. Does this mean only those who actually own the Amati and experimented with nearly every tube and SS amp in their own home may provide opinions here? Well, I think thats fine if that was the intent but this was not expressed by the person who began this thread.

The one thing a 70W tube amp lacks is the power to drive every large full range speaker on the market(room size is also a big factor), the reason I suggested the Berning is because this individual is looking into other tube amps like the BAT and Nagra (yes, I have heard both).

Davidlin: "Who is right and what do you use?" I believe that *current* is useful in order to get homogeneity out of the speakers but the rest is really up to your musical tastes IMO...
I listen to classical. I have enjoyed the Amati with YBA Passion stereo (ss) / Passion pre, Bearlabs cabling, AND with KR Antares tube (same equip upline). I give an edge to Passion (that happens to be ss) and yes, the low end was better -- but that's not conclusive... YMMV!
Cheers

David- You lucky dog you!! Always wanted to own a pair of SF Amatis and someday it will happen. But in the meantime my only advise to you is that if you do decide to go with the big Passion amps, I heard them at GTT Audio in New Jersey and they are very good. If you need a big solid state amp, this is a must audition. Check it out and good luck.

In defense of Thorty40, he only stated that the ZH270 was the best he had heard to date. I didn't see anything in there about "best there ever was". The ZH270 is an excellent amp and value for dollar, and I'm sure it would do a great job with the Amati. Let's try not to resurrect the Berning vs Tenor thread here.

Thanks everyone for your input. I have heard great things about YBA, but I don't think any solid state can be a tube regardless how hard they try. I am still leaning toward real tube amps instead of "tube like" solid state which I already used to have.

I might stay away from OTL as well as Amati does not have the most friendly impedance and OTL usually chokes with varying impedance. I know Berning has proprietary output stage that will cope with varying impedance, but nothing beats the old fashion transformer.

Any more input?