which amp for bedroom system with harbeth 7es-3 XD

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649836446-hegel-h160/

a grand cheaper than the benchmark... will make the c7's sing beautifully - very pure sound, but no tubey coloration though

i am a big hegel fan, own/have owned many many of their units, up and down the line

one of my favorite ss amps of all time is the h20

hegel has an ultra clean low distortion sound, dead silent ink black background... there is zero introduced sibilance, grain or artificial high frequency emphasis typical of solid state modes of distortion that is the too-frequent achilles heel of so many solid state pretender high end amps ... as a result, the sound is very natural, very pure, very linear and the imaging, tone/timbre, instrument separation is absolutely wonderful

due to lack of artificial treble emphasis and superior damping factor, hegel’s midrange has a rich slightly warm texture and bass is deep, with slam, utterly well controlled - so in my view, the overall sound (and ability to drive tough loads) is in the same class as uber high end ss - such as ayre, pass, gryphon, boulder, coda, the best of classe, levinson, luxman...... yet at a notably lower price

something has to give, and that is that the gear is assembled in china, the styling is simply scandinavian plain/elegant and there is no bling... but what you get is truly top flight performance/sound and power at a significantly lower tier price

some will shy away due to sonic or aesthetic preferences, or perceived quality or other reasons, but this is my personal take on what hegel is/does, coming from having much experience with this and other brands

(no affiliation to hegel other than being a happy customer many times over)

hi paul, most tube amps i have used seem to me to have too tubby bass when driving the big harbeths, i would say only audio research ref series tube amps (i have ref75 and ref110) approach the neighborhood of acceptability in that aspect... of course you do get a slightly sweeter treble and even more embodied voices etc from those tube amps, but i personally feel even with very good solid state (hegel, pass, ayre, primare, exposure, agd ... ) the mon 40 does voices and natural tone incredibly well already without tubes, and the hegel or similar ss amp driving the speaker preserves the midrange goodness while providing an enhanced sense of overall transparency, speed and transient clarity in the midbass down

as for the hegels, the h390 has a subtly softer touch to its treble, thus is a little more tube like (they voiced that model that way on purpose), while the 190 and 590 are very neutral/extended in the treble, airy, great sense of straight wire w gain, iron fist/velvet glove...