Amps that are "forward"

Time to visit an audiologist and have your ears checked out. Most audiophiles, for all their interest in sound, never go to an audiologist to find out exactly what they are hearing. Most who do go to an audiologist don't find one that can test beyond the 8K region, a must to find out what 'broadband' their ears are all about. I would love to have all the 'reviewers' who write about gear publish their hearing curves, that way we would know what the basis of their actual hearing is. You could call this 'full disclosure' and keep all honest.

Hi LarryFontana

When I had a re-built Phase Linear 700B with a stock McCormack TLC-1 and a pair of KEF speakers I thought it was forward sounding when the gain knobs were turned all the way up. Whenever music would play I felt it was right in my face. If you can acquire a PL 700B on the cheap I say have it restored.

Buconero117, I don't see the need for audiophiles seeing an audiologist just to see how "broadband" their ears are. That would be like spending a lot of money to get harmonic distortion numbers on my amps - there's a lot going on in the process of listening that test tones don't tell you anything about. The important thing is how you experience music, and if I was told my hearing stopped at 8 kHz, that would just make me feel older and accomplish nothing else.

Everyone gets to decide how much they appreciate music, what kind of gear and set up is worthwhile to enhance the experience, and how obsessive they want to be about all of it.

Stanwal's suggestion regarding the room will not be eclipsed. More than ANY other component, the sound of the room will be what you hear when it's all said and done.

Ditto for what Tomcy6 said. I'll add that talking about an amplifier without the partnering loudspeaker leaves the equation unsolved. The partnership between the two goes a long way toward the sound being more engaging or relaxed.

That being said, NAD amps are more on the budget side of forward, and Krell (though not my cup of tea) on the other. If you're looking for a tube amplifier, consider the tube type/brand. For example, the Music Reference RM10 with EL84 is forward in the best of ways. Also, take a look at an OTL design.

What buc said about hearing is a fact.