Anyone recommend a neutral tube amp?

there has been a trend in recent years in amplifier design, which i would term convergence. tube amps are sounding more like solid state amps and solid state amps are sounding less "transistory".

most tube amps, excluding some set designs, have minor deviations from neutrality. yes, there is an occasional clunker, but it is not difficult to find a tube amp whose flaws are not objectionable, if resolution is your goal.

"...no warmer, cooler, lighter, darker, or sweeter than the music it transmitted." Atma-Sphere amps and preamps are by far the most neutrally transparent electronics I've heard in my system.

Albeit an 87dB sensitivity, specs on the Opera Callas monitors show an 8-Ohm nominal impedance. I'd give the Atma-Sphere M60s a try.

With regard to Audio Research ... historically I've never thought of ARC gear as quite as neutral as Neil suggests. For a long time they were the yang to CJ's yin. Their turn-of-the-century sound leaned toward a somewhat 'aluminized' flavor. *However* (imo) the latest batch of ARC Reference gear (Ref 3, 210, 610) along with their PH7 phono stage demonstrates vastly improved tonality, as near to neutral as I've heard from ARC. If anything, it is now reveals the barest hint of warmth - not entirely a bad thing.

I think of 'tonal neutrality' as relative - as Mrtennis suggests - you can hear differences in coloration between two pieces of gear, just as you can hear a difference in coloration between two concert halls. Its rare for two different amps to sound the same. 'Tonal transparency', if you will, can be truth relative to the source. How close to the sound of Grumiaux's "Rose" Guarneri does the gear render? Live music is a tune-up for the ears.

Tim

I thought my Conrad-Johnson Premier 140 was quite neutral, although as others have said, it is nearly impossible to confuse it with a solid-state amp. The 140 was replaced by LP70S and LP140M amps, so I am not sure how they sound.

I have seen folks mention SET amps that put out only 8 watts. Amps like these are indeed great sounding, but only on a small group of high effeciency speakers. Not really an amp for the masses of speakers and not the best amp for the poster here.

VAC amps fit the bill here as well as Bruce Moore amps.

Bill

The CJ 140 is one of, if not the, most neutral CJ amp I've heard, though by direct comparison it still hints at their house sound, the CJ golden/caramel tonality. My sense is that CJ began moving more toward neutral starting w/ the likes of their 16LS preamp and then further with the ACT2 and Premier 140. I suspect some of this comes from their adoption of the Soviet 6H30. The LP amps are back to the 6922 and my sense is that, in response to customer input they've swung back, or at least not gone even more toward the yang. The 140 should also be a great match with the Callas monitors.