Sacrilege Going from Tubes back to Solid State

my most enjoyable experiences using ss amps with quad 63s included the aragon 2002 and the b&k st 140.

to my ears those amps exhibited minimal objectionable characteristics of solid state amps.

i find that the current production ss amps are lacking something. the only word i would use to describe their presentation is clinical.

i had a conversation with viktor, the designer of bat electronics.

when he introduced his first ss amp, back in the 90's, i heard a prototype at CES. he said that he tried to "tune" the ss amp to sound like his tube amps, but admitted to me that the differences between them were clearly audible.

there certainly are virtues to ss amps, but they are so unforgiving of recordings, that it is often a challenge to listen to them unless one has high quality recordings.

i'll stay with tubes.

Mrtennis, "resolution" is an unfamiliar term to you, obviously.

The year is 2006. You are still in the 1960s or 70s with your vintage tube gear sonic memories. You are dissatisfied with the sound of modern tube equipment. You hate solid state components. What exactly are you recommending here?

I have no problem with grit and grain with solid state and I have horn loaded speakers! It probably helps to start with a ss amp known to have a grain-free treble like the Odyssey Stratos. I also like its warmish & transparent sound which makes it an excellent candidate to match to a tube or ss preamp. I'm sure because of its small price tag it will sometimes get overlooked by some audiophiles who think you have to spend money hand over fist but it shouldn't. Besides, its sound & build quality far exceeds its price tag. I love audio bargains which frees more money up for other things like music purchases, home improvements, & of course family.

Meadowman, it is not sacrilege to go from tubes to solid state, I have done it without any reservations or regrets. If you want the best of both worlds match a tube preamp to a ss power amp. I suggested the Odyssey only because I like it a great deal better than the newer ss Mcintosh amps I have tried.

Well, the Odyssey Stratos sounds nothing like McIntosh or tubes for that matter so for a guy who is used to listening to tubes would be a completely wrong advise. Here is a quote for TAS review on Stratos: "The sonic character of the Stratos kept reminding me of the SimAudio Moon designs of Jean Poulin: coolish clarity and transparency; airy, unbleached highs that have a touch of mid-treble silvering. And the sense of transient speed helped to distinguish it from the B&K Reference more than any other attribute. It's not particularly warm-sounding, certainly not tube-like. The Stratos, like the Marsh Sound Design A200s stereo amp (review, Issue 123) won't enrich a lean voice or add bloom or bloat to the lower mids or mid-bass.

Flyski, there are many reviews on the Stratos, most all being very positive. All though this particular excerpt from your above mentioned Stratos review would lead one to believe that the Stratos is certainly not tubelike inspite of the fact the reviewer's final conclusions are very positive. There are other reviewers whose conclusions are quite different and I will give you an example of this shortly. From my own personal experience and in my system the Stratos exhibits a warmer sound than other solid state amps I haved tried but yet still has some tube-like qualities without the solid state nasties. Like any amp the speakers & preamp used will have some effect on anyones final conclusions including those of pro-reviewers.

From IAR Master Guide to the best of 1998.
Odyssey Design Group Stratos:

This power amp is a sonic miracle at its $995 price and an easy IAR Best Buy. We (and then others) have praised the sonics of Symphonic Line power amps in the past. They sound very transparent, fast, and clean, with capable extension to the frequency extremes, all the typical strengths of solid state. Yet throughout the midranges and trebles where virtually all other solid state products run into trouble of one sort or another (too glazed and hard in some frequency region, or too defocused and smeared), the big symphonic Line amps stay eminently neutral giving a very natural portrayal of music by straddling the line between solid sound and tube sound (what we called the hybrid sound). Thus the sonics of the big Syphonic line amps give you the best of solid state sound combined with at least some of the best aspects of good tube sound.

Finally their opinion of Class 1 (class 1 being the best) amps are Odyssey Design & Plinius & rated musically natural. Some Class 2 amps are Levinson 33H & Krell FPB 300 and try valiantly to smooth and soften the hard edge typical of solid state, attempting to sound musical but instead they succeed only in being veiled and defocused.

I'm very certain that no solid state amp will have a 100% of the tube sound but some will come closer than others. So which reviewer is right, you decide.