SS amp with Merlins plinius ?

Edorr

If you are concerned about tubes and your little one you may also want to consider the Transcendent OTL T8-LN 25 watter. The tubes are not open and exposed like many other tube amps. There is a top cover. The amp runs AB bias so it is not nearly as hot as other Class A single ended OTL tube amps, including the Atmasphere and Joule. It idles at 300 watts which is cooler than some Class A SS amps. In addition there is a two week in home trial period.

The amp costs 2.1K and I can't begin to imagine anything at the price that could touch it so far as speed, harmonic integrity at all frequencies and the isolation, spacing and air surrounding instruments and vocals without any traces of grain, hash or noise, dead silent. It is simply amazing. The bass is unbelievable for a 25 watt amp with clearly delineated lines without any overhang. You might ALSO want to talk to Bobby about it. It is absolute magic with the Merlins and I can't recommend it highly enough. I am now using it with Paul Speltz's zero autoformer which effectively raises the impedance of the speaker making it an easier load for the OTL but that is for another thread. Good luck.

Will

Hey Lindisfarne is your moniker after the English group from the late 60's and 70's? Loved that group.

I can't speak for the Naim/TSM combo but the VSM-M offers the best combination of smoothness, tonal balance and resolution I've ever heard from any dynamic speaker. They are completely and utterly unfatiguing in my system. One man's opinion, of course but many agree. I certainly haven't heard them all but can't imagine that the best of the rest of the competition could be too much ahead of this design but others may prefer a different presentation. Ear bleeders their not.

Rhyno, like the late FDR once said "There is nothing to fear but fear itself".

I'll be the first to e-mail you when I have a problem with this amp but I don't expect I will anytime soon as it is very conservatively designed. It is a misconception by many that a well engineered tube amp is any more problematic than a well engineered ss design. They DO run hotter than AB ss designs and they DO require tube replacement. Some more than others depending on how hot the tubes are biased. ARC, expect to change more often. I'm betting that the output tubes on this amp will last at least 5 years since they are biased so much lower than their rated setting. Over the 11 years I have run tube amps, the problems have been almost negligible. Don't let tubes worry you. They are typically easier to work on than ss and cheaper to fix, so long as it isn't the output transformer, uh-oh. Don't have one on an OTL amp, that's good. Have a speaker whose impedance dips below 4 ohms? They don't produce current like ss, not good. So the fact is in the right application they are a very special product capable of a very special type of musical magic.

Replacement output tubes on the Transcendent would cost 160.00. Don't worry, be happy. Glad you like the Belles, sounds like a winner, but being a tube groover I must add "for ss" :^). Pair and compare and see how each fare. I sure would like to hear the bass with that 250 watt Belles myself.