Okay, Classe CA 2200 or and Ayre V -5xe amps


......if you had a choice for my Avalon Eclipse speakers, Jeff Rowland Synergy IIi pre-amp, Esoteric P-5 and D-05 front end with Purist Audio 20th Anniversary power cords and interconnects with PAD Proteus Provectus speaker cables.....music ranges from jazz, blues...from the Allman Brothers, to Frank Zappa ...to Bach to Allison Krause ...you get the picture. Looking for a good ss amp from an established, reputible, American company....no Krell's, no Levinson's...
garebear

Showing 1 response by kurt_tank

Well, besides Ayre that you originally mentioned, and Rowland that was suggested, I would also recommend Pass Labs. They make solid state amps that are built like a tank and sound very good. They make a variety of models, in a range of power outputs, including both stereo as well as monoblock designs. They come in a variety of full Class "A" and Class A/B designs. They tend to run pretty warm to very hot. (So a large and/or well ventilated room is a requirement.)

Now, if you are willing to go with a hybrid design, (i.e. with solid state input and output stages, but with a tube driver stage, that has only one 6922 tube per amp), I highly recommend the Lamm series of hybrid designs.

They make two types of hybrid designs:

The first is a 100 or 110 wpc full class "A" design, (the M1.1 or its predecessor, the M1.2 Reference). These will drive most any speaker, and sound incredible. But they do run hot as they run all out, all of the time, so they will heat up a room several degrees.

The second is a 200 or 220 wpc Class A/B design, which is heavily biased into class "A", (the M2.1 or its predecessor, the M2.2). These will drive virtually any speaker design, and sound very nearly as incredible as the full class "A" version. (The full class "A" version is just a touch sweeter sounding.) These run very warm, and will warm up a room a few degrees, but they will not burn your hand if touched.

(Note: the M1.1 and the M2.1 are very slightly dark sounding in comparison to their predecessors, the M1.2 and M2.2. The later two amps are among the finest amplifiers I have ever heard. They are powerful, with outstanding bass control, a well extended and sweet treble response, and a touch of that old tube magic in the mid-range. The only high powered amplifier I have heard that rivals them is the VAC Phi 300, albeit it has different strengths and weaknesses.)

FYI, I own the Lamm M2.1, (and hope someday to upgrade to the M2.2), and have found that using the Nordost Valhalla speaker cables has mitigated the aforementioned slight dark sound for the most part. Used, the M1.1 and M2.1 run around $6-7K, while the current designs, the M1.2 and M2.2, tend to run around $8-10K used, and $22K new.

I am not sure of your budget, so it might help to let us know what that is.

My two cents worth anyway.
Good Luck in your search!