I posted earlier to a different thread, I think. The local dealer let me borrow his Cronos and I have been surprised at what it does. I have trouble finding amps to drive my Aerial 6's, but the Cronos has no trouble at all. It seems to put out a lot more than the rated 55 watts, or at least has a lot more headroom. This is not your average EL34 amp.
I did some reading and found a couple things. One is that the Cronos uses the same transformer that the 90w Rogue does. SoundStage measured the Atlas amp (same amp in the Cronos) at 78 and 89 watts at 1 and 10% distortion respectively. Given that tube distortion is friendlier, what you have is, yes a 55 watt amp, but one with nearly 3 db headroom left at 50 watts.
This explains a few things. Add to that the detail and image this thing is capable of throwing up, and it is an impressive amplifier. And it is the kind of tube amp i like, one that doesn't sound "toooby". It just sounds like a good amplifier.
I have been using it this week side by side with my Sim Audio i-3 SE. If i can learn to stand the heat this cronos puts off, the Moon may be on the block soon. Fact is they sound an awful lot alike. Clean high end, very fast, and bass that makes you think you don't need that REL after all. I like tube amps though, even though the cronos isn't the prettiest one I've ever seen.
I did some reading and found a couple things. One is that the Cronos uses the same transformer that the 90w Rogue does. SoundStage measured the Atlas amp (same amp in the Cronos) at 78 and 89 watts at 1 and 10% distortion respectively. Given that tube distortion is friendlier, what you have is, yes a 55 watt amp, but one with nearly 3 db headroom left at 50 watts.
This explains a few things. Add to that the detail and image this thing is capable of throwing up, and it is an impressive amplifier. And it is the kind of tube amp i like, one that doesn't sound "toooby". It just sounds like a good amplifier.
I have been using it this week side by side with my Sim Audio i-3 SE. If i can learn to stand the heat this cronos puts off, the Moon may be on the block soon. Fact is they sound an awful lot alike. Clean high end, very fast, and bass that makes you think you don't need that REL after all. I like tube amps though, even though the cronos isn't the prettiest one I've ever seen.