Best new amp under $2k?

Leafs, what output tubes are you using with your Rogue? KT88s? Have you done any tube rolling(outputs or otherwise) with either the stereo or monoblock amps? I found the amp pretty cold and sterile sounding with 6550s. Are you using Coincident speakers and cables? Thank you very much.

Thanks for the information Leafs. I too, am using Coincident speakers. Digital Masters w/Troubass subwoofers. The best way to explain them is to picture Wilson WATT/Puppies ala Israel Blume. Very easy to drive, and wonderful, relaxed(unlike Wilson), yet detailed sound. Coincident used to produce some pretty interesting speakers. Israel's mantra was to have no parallel cabinet walls, and they also got into coincident(tweeter and mid) drivers. Have you ever seen any of their product literature from pre 1998? Each speaker had its own unique cabinet design. They put out some REALLY cool stuff. I guess success is a double edged sword, as the time and labor required to produce those interesting cabinets would not allow them to keep up with demand. I think your Rogues are a good combination with Coincident. I had the match for a little while, and found it superb. I think Rogues sound best with KT88s. Next time you retube, give the JJ(Czechoslovakia) KT88s a try. I think you will find them the best of the bunch. Much better sounding to me than Russian KT88/6550.

Leafs, I agree that anyone who wants a no BS reference quality speaker should pick up those Coincident Visionary References. I am not aware of anything better at that price. The three sided box has an 8" mid-woofer, and -3 dB point at 35Hz, so a person who felt the need for the really deep bass should follow your recommendation on the subwoofer. As it is now, it would be perfect for someone with an SET amp. I am still REALLY ecstatic with my speakers. The Troubass subwoofer is fantastic, and addresses the low frequencies extremely well. Coincident states in the specs that the subwoofer puts out 22 Hz @ 105 dB, with less than 1% THD. My speakers have a Darth Vader like appearance, with the satellites sitting on the subs like the Wilson WATT/Puppies. To think that I picked the Digital Masters and Troubass subs for $1300 used back in 1997 still has me in utter disbelief. No one heard of Coincident at the time, so what the market would bear was incredibly low. I have yet to come across anything that presents a better package for me. They were targeted for tube/SET people, yet give up nothing with solid state amplification. When the rest of my system is finally in place(speaker cable and new whatever disk player), I am going to take them to the ultimate level. Talked to Israel over the summer about it. He recommended that I drop in the ScanSpeak Revelator(a perfect fit) he used in the Total Eclipse, and inserting a small polystyrene film and foil cap in series with the Digital Master(to take the deep LF away from them). I will do a couple other mods(which he didn't think so necessary), such as a killer teflon film and silver foil capacitor, a no hold barred coil, and silver internal wiring. The Digital Masters use only a polypropylene cap, and heavy guage coil in the crossover. My kind of crossover, simple, great sounding, and unbelievably easy to drive. For amplification, I use a Jadis with Ei KT90 output tubes.