Tube Pre for Klipschorn

Has anyone out there tried pure class A Solid State gear with their Khorns? I have heard that pure class A S/S can sound like "tubes without tears", ie maintenance, etc. Any opinions on this?

I've used various Mosfet based amps on several different pairs of Klipsch products with different levels of performance. With a modified B&K, the system was actually pretty dark sounding ( believe it or not ). With a Perreaux, the sound was both powerful and more tonally balanced but lacked open-ness and top end "sparkle". Using them with a Class A Forte' 1A, the sound was lean but not hard sounding. With a Classe' 70, the sound was VERY lean, bright and grating sounding. Other than that, i would think that the Pass Aleph series, Ayre and a handful of other SS amps might be good candidates for K-horns or other Klipsch "classics". Sean
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Marco,

Correction of the gain issue. My line stage is 27db and the phone is 39db.

Has anyone out there tried pure class A Solid State gear with their Khorns?

Yes the Ayre V3 works very well with Klipsch. in my experience. Combined w\ the GTA tubed preamp yields a nice holographic soundfield.

I've also tried Class A with Klipsch for a couple of months. My experience was with a Pass Labs Aleph 5 with vintage Heresy's. That combination also was very nice. Though it did have width and depth (first time I've heard SS have such depth) to the soundstage I would not have called it "holographic". With tubes (mini-mites) I do experience those same speakers as holographic. If I had to try to describe the difference between the two, the distinction would be in the airiness around the instruments/performers with the tube amplification. With the SS, it did indeed impart width and depth, but in comparison seemed a bit smeared and less defined in space. If I had to listen to SS with them the Aleph 5 would not be a bad choice, and if I didn't know how good Klipsch sounded with tubes I may stop right there.

Marco