Gleb, you seem like practical type guy. I would suggest that if you're going to play around in tubes that you don't go all the way to some incredibly expensive amps...you can do pretty nicely with an upgraded Dynaco St-70...with mods from either Curcio, Van Alstine or Kimmel (Welborne). Honestly, although the amp is vintage, it wasn't bad at all and with the mods it compares to some stuff that's pretty expensive. In fact, a friend of mine is the rep for Zanden (make 50k amps) and he tells me that from what he sees on a day to day basis, really not many folks out there are doing very interesting stuff in terms of circuit topologies... many of the top brands are just straightforward circuit designs with high end materials (expensive caps...silver wound transformers..etc). Ron Welborne's kits are great, if you can still find them...but in the end they may not have enough juice for your speakers. If the Dyna is too mainstream for you, other nice entry gear would be a Conrad Johnson. But yes, tubes are really the way to go...I've not been able to find a solid state amp that can match the beatiful decay that tubes can give you. In comparison, solid state sounds harsh and sibilant to me now. Ok, well all the best
What's next for the ultimate sound quality?
The question may be naive, but I'm not sure what's next to try in the quest for the ultimate sound. I owned the entry level magnepans mmg (didn't like them much for anything but jazz), monitor audio S6 (good all around, imho, but nothing spectacular except for the cheap price tag). Lately I built speakers myself that should supposedly rival the best in the world (ZRT 2.5 from Zaph Audio with Scanspeak drivers)
(design):
http://www.zaphaudio.com/ZRT.html
actual speakers:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grybkin/ZRTSpeakers
The question is what's next? These speakers use one of the best drivers in the world and the best I've heard to date with excellent bass and accurate sound, but soundstage and imaging could be improved (magnepans are better). Also, the sound is a little thin. Am I asking too much, though, from 2 wooden boxes with paper diaphragms in the middle? The speakers are built precisely up to spec and I'm pretty sure that's the way they should sound.
Have I reached the limit where the speakers should be left alone and improving other components can make better returns; e.g, room acoustics and/or amplifier not to mention using quality recordings?
P.S. The receiver I'm currently using is Panasonic SA57 connected to a computer via digital COAX cable and JULI@ sound card. Despite the cheap price, this receiver is great, imho, and sounds better than my NAD 754 (probably because Panasonic is on the bright side and the speakers are warm, so it pairs with them better).
Thanks!
Gleb.
(design):
http://www.zaphaudio.com/ZRT.html
actual speakers:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grybkin/ZRTSpeakers
The question is what's next? These speakers use one of the best drivers in the world and the best I've heard to date with excellent bass and accurate sound, but soundstage and imaging could be improved (magnepans are better). Also, the sound is a little thin. Am I asking too much, though, from 2 wooden boxes with paper diaphragms in the middle? The speakers are built precisely up to spec and I'm pretty sure that's the way they should sound.
Have I reached the limit where the speakers should be left alone and improving other components can make better returns; e.g, room acoustics and/or amplifier not to mention using quality recordings?
P.S. The receiver I'm currently using is Panasonic SA57 connected to a computer via digital COAX cable and JULI@ sound card. Despite the cheap price, this receiver is great, imho, and sounds better than my NAD 754 (probably because Panasonic is on the bright side and the speakers are warm, so it pairs with them better).
Thanks!
Gleb.