Just picked up a Music Reference RM-200 to amp a Chardonnay, using a half-recipe of Chris VH Cat-5 to drive Hales Revelation 2s. The RM-200 has 8, 4, 2, and 1 Ohm taps, with a hybrid design that allows the lower taps to produce successively *more* power (contrary to most amps) and rely increasing heavily on the pre's amplification; i.e., using a lower tap shifts the total (amp + pre amp) amplification more towards the pre, requiring less from the amp's KT-88s. In the Chardonnay I'm using a 1955 Mullard CV 378 (GZ-37) rectifier, 1940's era Sylvania 6L6GA regulators, and 1940's era Ken-Rad Black Glass VT-231 line tubes.
With a tube CDP source, high end extension is very good, with sweet harmonics, a delicate, long decay on bells, and a "splash" on cymbals; mid-range has a true tube bloom, but not too much; mid-bass is tight and crisp, and bass, while perhaps not the absolute end-all in SS composure, is still quite good and low and strong enough to be felt through my feet when sitting six feet away with no sub-woofer. All this collapses if the source is not well mastered (more the rule than the exception) or if the volume is at a background listening level (sound is then very good, but--presumably in part due to the Fletcher-Munson effect--not at its best). I think improvements can be made in depth and soundstage, but I'll look at the room and isolation tweaks to try to capture that.
All-in-all, a nice synergy with the Supratek.
With a tube CDP source, high end extension is very good, with sweet harmonics, a delicate, long decay on bells, and a "splash" on cymbals; mid-range has a true tube bloom, but not too much; mid-bass is tight and crisp, and bass, while perhaps not the absolute end-all in SS composure, is still quite good and low and strong enough to be felt through my feet when sitting six feet away with no sub-woofer. All this collapses if the source is not well mastered (more the rule than the exception) or if the volume is at a background listening level (sound is then very good, but--presumably in part due to the Fletcher-Munson effect--not at its best). I think improvements can be made in depth and soundstage, but I'll look at the room and isolation tweaks to try to capture that.
All-in-all, a nice synergy with the Supratek.