Best Solid State Amp For 10k Or Less

I have the same setup as subaruguru. Dead dead quiet with no distortion, dimensionally accurate soundstage, and an incredibly detailed midrange. You hear singer's every breath, and things like people brushing their hair back or brushing against an instrument. The krell FPB, KAV, LEVINSON 23.5, and my old dna1/Gold all had a transistor 'background noise' by comparison. It's almost not worth mentioning. I didn't know it was there until I'd heard a pass amp. These amps are a little wimpy in the bass. Not even close to my house shaking DNA1. My vt100m2 actually walks all over them for bass. The pass preamp did take the system up a notch. More of the quietness and with a better soundstage. What cables are you using subaruguru? Did you find XLR's to help a lot? I have red dawns rca's. A guy I know who uses dynaudio 3.0's commented that the alephs were a great match for his system. He had tried a plinius and found it was not as good. Another great solid state setup is all spectral w/MIT cables. One of my friends has that. Could be warmed up a little, but ruthlessly revealing with great depth. Hey Jtinn, are you in Portland?

Hi Subaru. I think you're right on with the grittyness being in the cd player. I put a cheaper cd player into my system it displayed this exact characteristic. I'm really happy with my Sony XA7ES. It's within a wisper of my friends Levinson 36 DAC. Can pick those up used for 1100ish. The Levinson guy also had a rega planet as his transport for a while. The system sounded very good. He upgraded the planet to a dedicated (EAD 1000?) transport and found the system has greatly improved. He's got a full blown spectral/MIT setup which is the quietest and most detailed I have ever heard - so keep that in mind.

I think the nordosts aren't weak in the bass, but they do emphasize the treble. I tried some 'ace of bass' $2000 speaker cables this weekend. The treble was turned down and the bass up little. Red Dawns were a much better match for my system. Never seen such an extreme case of system compatibility. I'm trying to find some Yamamura 6000 cables to try - heard those are another 'ideal' match for pass labs/virgo's. Take care.

By the way, Subes are great! They ( and 4x4 toyota pu's :> ) were a great choice for outdoors in Colorado. On dirt road trip one time, I swear to god the Sube Outback was eating a Ford Explorer and 4x4 S-10 for lunch! It actually had better ground clearance than the trucks!