hi, not wanting to rain on your parade; but--- The mesa rolls of the top and especially the bottom in triode. This is for sure. So If you push it I've had lots of listening time on this amp with good front end stuff. Had 2 in home demos.I remember 6/7 years ago when Chip Stern did the Stereophile review and "ozzed" about it--In a side-bar JA said something like the new kid is easy to please (CS's first review).The all triode is seductive for sure / but when it gets loud--you have to go t'ward pentode;it'll start to clean up and play much better as it gets louder.
too much power now-dump active for passive pre?
Just went from a pair of 89db moitors where my Mesa Baron in Triode worked nice with 90 wpc.But new floor standing speakers the snesitivity is 93 db and I can only get the volume max to 11:00 before I am overpowering.many folks say that I should get into SET and have been thinking about it.Bit wondering if getting rid of my Mac 712 and going with a passive line control or pre-amp like the Adcom GFP750 where you can run it in passive would be the way to go.BTW I had that pre with some B&W 805's and the 300 watt amp they make.Was bummed because of the same problem.I had to run it in passive but thought it sounded better in active mode (contrary to "audiophile purism").I like the Mesa and if I ver get another set of speakers that do need the power it's a gem.So .......