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TRL Dude Dilemna

Based on all the high praise for the TRL Dude preamp here and other sites, I took a chance and bought one from a local A-goner to see if it could displace an Air Tight ATC-2 preamp currently in my system. The two amps I currently use are a McIntosh MC-402 and Viva 845 SET Monos. It turns out that the Dude is not compatible with either amps due to an impedance mismatch. So I only got to hear the Dude in a compromised performance mode.
I was not quite wanting to give up on the Dude yet given everyone else's enthusiasm about its performance. I am considering the Samson monos as a natural match. I can convince myself that the Samson's could be better than the MC402..My real issue is that I would have to give up the Vivas. Not sure I can make the leap that a solid state amp will satisfy me as much as those SET Vivas. Then there is the leap of faith that I cannot hear the Samsons with purchasing them....
Has anyone replaced their SET amp with Samsons and remained satisfied with the decision? My speakers are the Green Mountain Audio Continuum 3 which are about 90db efficient with an impedance 6.5 Ohms, +/- 0.75 Ohms 150Hz to 20kHz. Thanks for your input..
tellefsen
agear
1,362 posts
 
very interesting.

Samsons or Paul's newest tube amp. There are two guys in Dallas with Dudes and Paul's big tube amps. You should give them a shout: Gallant_diva (system Texas Heat) and Tuongsy.
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,517 posts
 
Ya, I love the Dude with the Aesthetix Atlas. Best combo yet for me. I don't need all the power of the Atlas, but boy does it sing with the Dude on my speakers!

Tellefsen, the Atlas responds well to tube rolling over stock tubes. You can get more of that SET purity with some CBS
Hydron NOS tubes. Perhaps still not that SET tube sound, but I compared the Atlas to nice set of tube mono block amps last week and preferred the Atlas. I think the Dude mates great with this amp.

Good luck on your system!
agear
1,362 posts
 
Bill, have you heard Paul's tube amps? Comparisons to the Aesthetix stuff?
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,517 posts
 
No, someday I would love to listen and perhaps own one of Paul's amps. A little out of my $ league right now. My Atlas is used and I paid about one half of retail.
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
So after reading Chris Martens review on AVGUIDE of the Burson AB-160 buffer, I decided to give it a try. It definitely solved my problem with both the Vivas and McIntosh MC-402 working with the Dude. I just put it in the system this morning. It does seem to be a very transparent device as Chris Martens had indicated. I will report back after a more extended listening. I think this will let me keep the Vivas and look into the Samson amps as a replacement for the MC402
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