Tube / SS amp that handles 4ohm loads well and delivers lively texture / palpability


For Triangle signature theta speakers. Real 90db(measured - most manufacturers would claim 94db) Minimum impedance 4.4ohm
amp or integrated. Low volume listening. I would drive an amp with a dac with included class A Ss preamp.

triangles have very sharp high frequencies (horn loaded tweeter) and need a very warm fullbodied amp with texture that manages to be still lively and fast and open.

that screams tube amp but in am concerned about bass performance an coherence as rock solid timing is my goal no.1 and full body my goal no.2 

I thought about el34 amps like lm211ia or class a amps like densen or valvet, class b like LFD.
Small and light gainclones would be nice as well if they can deliver the performance.


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Showing 2 responses by bdp24

Ralph, your Atma-Sphere amps are known for, among other things, their superior reproduction of bass frequencies and instruments. In the technical details you provide for the amps, you cite their unusually wide bandwidth, possible only by not containing output transformers. One of the benefits of wide bandwidth, I understand, is less phase shift than is possible when employing bandwidth-limiting (i.e. all, to one degree or another) output transformers. Isn't the presence of those transformers in non-OTL tube power amps one cause of their often mediocre bass reproduction?

Transformer design and manufacture is a tricky business. One has to strike a balance between abilities at low frequencies (requiring a large transformer) vs. high frequencies (the smaller the better, all things being equal). Music Reference amps have unusually good bass because, amongst other factors, Roger Modjeski is an expert in their design, winding his own for some applications. Of course, no transformer is better than any transformer, but not without a penalty (amp-to-speaker impedance matching).

I have seen examples of the Music Reference RM-200 offered for around $2000. That's the original version of the amp, not the Mk.2, which goes for around $3000. The RM-200 is an unusual tube amp (bipolar input stage, tube driver and output stages), putting out more power (over 100w/ch) at 4 ohms than at 8. It also has an unusually low output impedance (high damping factor), and produces solid state-tight bass. For details see Michael Fremer's review of both versions on Stereophile's website.