Slam possible with Tubes instead of SS ??

islandman

Plinius has it all, smooth, very powerful (the dynamics will scare hell out of you), great imaging and soundstage

ahhh now that sounds like my kind of amp. Put on diaper.....
turn up to 11 !

Rleff, Isn't it true electrostatics typically sound best with tubes?

My Soundlab A1 speakers seem to really open up with a very powerful SS amp. I am currently using a Sunfire Signature 600 x 2 amp that is amazing on this speaker. I know some will think no way a Carver amp can sound this amazing with SL speakers, but it does! 600 watts per channel into 8 ohms and all the way up to 4000 watts into 1 ohm!

By far the best amp I have had on my Soundlab's. OTL amps like Atmasphere also work nice as I have tried an Atmasphere MA1. An MA2 is really needed to drive this speaker to louder levels (over 92 db with a good amount of remaining headroom) based on my experience. The Sunfire amp just opens up this speaker and runs them unlike anything else I have tried. Bass is outstanding and the mids and highs are open and so rich and warm. Quite special really.

Point is careful matching and trial may be needed for the best speaker and amp match. I have found tube amps have slam in spades when matched with the right speaker only! Typically this should be speakers with higher efficiency and minimum impedance not below 6 ohms.

I read once that Soundlab speakers do bass well with SS amps that are designed with a large number of output devices per channel. The Sunfire Signature does and my past SS amps have not had near as many output devices. Perhaps this is why the Sunfire SS amp mates so wonderfully with Soundlab speakers.

This is a good example of what I was talking about with regards to Sound Lab- if you are going to use transistors you need something that has a lot of power. 600 watts is about the minimum.

Now if you do your math, one thing that becomes apparent right away is that a speaker that needs 600 watts must be really inefficient. But that is not the case here- you need that power because in a transistor amplifier they won't be able to make nearly that power into the lower frequencies.