Pathos or ...

Manley Stingray!

I own two of the Pathos integrated in bridged mode with Sonus Faber speakers. I am very happy wiht them. If you like the Pathos get them. They have a very good sound for the money, especially in bridged mode. rudge

Yeah, the Stingray is a nice amp, though not a lot like the Pathos. It's a much more 'tube' sounding amp.

The Pathos virtue is that it does everything well and is neutral sounding with the factory supplied tubes. Start rolling in some other tubes and you can change it considerably.

The Pathos is hard to beat. I have one and love it.

ayon spirit

I have reviewed both the Classic One MkIII in bridged mode as well as the Ayon Spirit on Dagogo.com

The Pathi arrangement is another thing altogether, a very significant step up from a Classic One in stereo mode.

all of you are awesome- Thanks!

thinking of a used pathos classic 1 that has English Valvo tubes ...
any experience with these tubes?

No, I have not used those tubes, but you should not need to break the bank on tube rolling to obtain excellent sound in bridged mode. Even with stock tubes the sound is excellent.

both of your reviews are great Douglas!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.
I will have to start out with only one pathos tho...I'm looking at the first one MK1...we'll see. I have a pretty tight budget and a girlfriend who gets a bit cranky over all this, ha.

Domus, Thanks for the compliment. I enjoy sharing info/experiences about equipment to help people assemble systems that will give them something to be enthusiastic about. Let us know what you end up doing.

Hello Douglas, I've gone a different route than planned. I've just purchased a Tektron 6J5 pre-amp and Prima Luna 6 mono amps. Just basically a deal I couldn't pass up. So excited to finally play with some tubes!
Thanks for all your help!

Hi Domus413 first of all i'm a panel guy i have owned Acoustat's for more than 25 years when i sold my home to buy a condo i had to downsize my speakers because they were to big for a smaller living room and one of the speakers that i loved a lot were the Audio Physic Spark because of there size and the incredible soundstage for such a small speaker my first listend was with the bigger Pathos for my tastes i found the sound to lively then we switch to the Unison S-6 35 watts per channel EL-34 tube amplifier i will tell you one thing i am 63 years old i have been an audiophile for at least 40 of those years and this is one of the best sound that i have heard from cone speakers in my life if i had more efficient speakers 82db i would own this small italian integrated amplifier it is gorgeous and more important sweet sweet sound