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Is there a SS amp that can offer tube bliss?

I currently own a tube system and love the sound. But honestly I'm not sure if I have the proper disposition for this tube thing. I cannot stand the constant worry over tube wear, looking around for NOS tubes, and wondering if maybe...just maybe my system will sound better if I spend still more money on different tubes. I would love to find a SS amp that will give me what my tube gear does and rid me of the worry about maintenance and the discontent inherent in tube upgrading. I've heard the Clayton M100s are wonderful and offer a "tube" sound. Any other SS amps to replace tubes? Any advice is most welcome.
Thank you.
samwise

Showing 3 responses by gliderguider

gliderguider's avatar
gliderguider
294 posts
 
Eldartford - the only "hum" I get from my system appears to be coming from Glenn Gould.

The nice thing about buying well-engineered tube gear is the silence that is broken only by the appearance of musicians in the listening room :-)
gliderguider's avatar
gliderguider
294 posts
 
I've wondered the same thing, but I still have tubes... I'd probably start off looking at amps that have a lot of Class A bias. The Claytons caught my eye as well, and apparently Accuphase has some amps that would fill the bill. The ones I'm keeping my eye on at the moment, though, are the Parasound JC-1 and maybe some of the new digital amps like the Rowland 201. I've never heard either, but they'd be at the top of my list to investigsate if I were to get serious about jumping from SET to SS.

I currently run Wavelength amps with WE 300B's, and I think it would take a pretty remarkable SS amp to give me that kind of magic.
gliderguider's avatar
gliderguider
294 posts
 
Yes, I just couldn't pass up the "Glenn Gould" crack :-)

It has amazed me, though, to hear less noise from a combination of tubed DAC, tube preamp and tube power amps, than I was used to hearing from my SimAudio 4070 sand amp.

Engineering is king.
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