Tube amps that kick ass?

I agree with Albert Porter, this one is easy:
CJ Premier One
Melos 400
Jadis JA-500

All butt kicking and all 3D, range 3000-12,000 USD. + All drive MBL 101Es to concert levels.

Peter

I owned VTL 250 mono's for several years and a good bud has owned the 450's even longer. The 250's are wired in triode and sound even better than the 450's when they're switched to triode and either will definitely get the job done; especially since you're only driving the top portion of your Vandy's and they're a pretty easy load.

I too am running a system that has powered subs and only use tube amps for my 89db, 6 Ohm main speakers. About 18 months ago I swapped my VTL's for a pair of 140wpc Atma-Sphere MA-1's and to say they were a huge improvement over the VTL's would be an understatement.

Everything is cleaner, clearer, smoother and much more refined. I'm getting way more information out of recordings, both cd and vinyl and the sound is just more believable. The VTL's sounded sorta muddy by comparison.

My main speakers are good down to around 50Hz and with the MA-1's, bass is fast and weighty but not exaggerated and more importantly, pitch and timbre are spot-on.

Both VTL and Atma-Sphere are well built and you'd probably be happy with either of them but the MA-1's will definitely take things up a couple notches.

Happy Hunting.

I have owned several tube amps (and hybrids) over the years. My rating of the amps that I owned is based on extended listening with many speakers including various Apogees, McIntosh, Legacy Focus, Totem, Avalon Ascent.

My rating is based on clarifty, details, depth, imaging, transparency, control, power, midrange purity, bass control. etc.

The rating is:

1. Tube Research Labs GT-800
2. Tube Research Labs GT-400
3. Jadis JA-500 (the bigger Jadis-800 is not worth the price but the smaller Jadis JA-200 has slightly better sound)
4. Audio Valve Challenger
5. Lamm M2.1 (hybrid)
6. VTL-750 (the one with high-quality caps).
7. Llano (hybrid)

So in summary, the TRL GT-800 kicks butt of everything else that I have tried or heard, including the SS ams in the bass area, as well as any area of sound, subjectiveky and objectively alike. I even doubt if any any amp can outperform it. It should be among the seven wonders of the audio :)

So in summary, the TRL GT-800 kicks butt of everything else that I have tried or heard, including the SS ams in the bass area, as well as any area of sound, subjectiveky and objectively alike.

And at $140,000 (14x-28x the max Keithmundy is looking to spend), of what relevance is this information?

Darkmoebius, the thread evolved from the original question, and several amps mentioned were also out of the intended budget. I listed other amps to indicate the *relative" butt kicking.

The Audio Valve Challenger can also kick butts.

Moreover, list prices hardly matter any more, thanks to audiogon.