Hi Sogood51, pop away my friend!

we have to be careful here in describing what we are hearing in the presentation. The amps you mention are all ok. Nothing wrong with them. Trust me once you hear something like a Halcro you will understand. It adds nothing and is utterly detailed. It is the last word in faithful reproduction. Remember it has the honour of being the amp with nearly 0 distortion! No valve amp I know of can do that.

I dont want to be a valve amp basher as Iike most good ones have owned some great ones. But you will find in a full range set up, there is a "thud" like approach to low bass in comparison. Some recordings benefit from it, but its not real, its an artifact of the amp. The rest is down to taste but facts are facts

chadeffect January 15, 2008 20:31

Vinyl19 "Jolida JD 3000 mono blocks"
Remember the valve is over 100 years old now. Technology has moved on.

The only problem with these tube amps is driving a full range speaker. None of these valve amps can give you real controlled bass especially with a MG20.1 or MG3.6 etc. Besides wasting more energy than is ever right in the 21 century! Think ice caps.

We love them for there midrange and 3rd harmonic distortion but the new generation of solidstate amp really is as fluid as a valve without any of the problems. Just make sure its good one and your source is good.

chadeffect January 15, 2008 01:10

I had 3.6r and at the time tried a lot of different amps. I have to say the big Audio research tube amps were a match made in heaven. But at the expense of the last bit of control and volume. But what they did was magical. Anything from VT150 onwards would be good. If you want that last bit of control and ultra low noise and distortion, Halcro DM series will blow your mind. If thats too rich for the blood try ICE power amps like Bel canto Ref 1000 etc! I use them on my Apogees and it is the finest sound you will hear if your source is good! Oh BTW move the Maggies away from the back wall when you are listening. In your picture they look too close. The panel will sound congested and less dynamic like that

chadeffect January 12, 2008 12:39