Whats the FATTEST sounding Tube amp to warm up Lean speakers?

Dumbeat, 

I bought a pair of Merlin VSM speakers from Bobby in 1999-ish... I'd have to check the receipt to remember for sure.  He upgraded them once and they had better bass as a result.  In 2001, I bought a Joule VZN-80 amp.  Why?  Well, my wife and I went to the CES show that January and I'd heard the Joule stuff with the Merlins.  Hear that, like that, get that... It wasn't a hard decision when you've heard the solution.  Pay The Man. 

I am not an expert... but I do know the Merlins are a "damped" speaker design.  They don't need help from an amplifier with a high damping factor and tons of feedback to control the low end.  If you match an amp that is more inclined to low end control (high damping factor) it may sound "lean".  "My Merlins" are not "lean".  

My Joule VZN-80 has a dial to adjust feedback.  There is a reason why it's never been on anything but "all the way to the left"... ZERO FEEDBACK. 

If your amp is trying to bully your VSMs with too much damping, it will hide the magic. By the way... that BAM module makes the midrange you seek even better since it filters frequencies that driver can't produce anyway.  The BAM doesn't just help the low end... it also helps make the speakers more accurate by not asking them to do things it can't do. 

That's one thing I do remember Bobby telling me...

I'm surprised no one has mentioned HH Scott tube gear. Especially when people are mentioning Dynaco. IMHO Scott absolutely SMOKES Dynaco ST-70 in every way possible. If you're looking for that fat tube sound, and want to hear some "magic", or "emotion" in your music. Especially with a bright, or lean speaker. They fatten/smooth them right up, and are just amazing to me. I just picked up another one this past week actually, a restored 340B receiver from 1964.

First time I heard the Dynaco. I kept thinking. "This is it? This is what I've heard about, by so many people? Where's the magic?". And this was on a nice, and very rare, vintage pair of Jensen's I went to look at, along with the Dynaco. I didn't buy either. But oddly enough, the same seller had a B&K ST something, or other. I think it was a bigger model then the original 140. On the same Emotiva preamp, but playing through old KLH Model Ten's (which I've never seen before, or since), that blew me away. And my dumb arse, being new to this at the time, walked away without the KLH 10's that he was selling for only $75. I'm still kicking myself for that one.

I would also think about a parallel SET amp that's fat sounding (not a Mastersound Box obviously), or maybe an 845 SET. Some of them are fat too I've read. The parallel SET from Musical Paradise (forget the model) is supposed to be a little on the fat side, but have a really nice "you are there" sound. And I wouldn't be surprised if they had a good return policy. They're known for great customer service. It's a 55 watt per channel Integrated one. Oh heck, hold on, I'll find the link. Here you go. 

http://www.musicalparadise.ca/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=55

Gets great reviews, at least from the few I've read, and again. The company does too. 

Whatever you decide. Good luck with your search, and I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Andy B. 

I never found that I could enjoy that speaker. To me they were bright and forward. The Esoter tweeter I believe. Not sure they are worth curing. Easier to sell the speaker and replace. Lots of classical music fans like them because you can play them at low levels and not feel like you are loosing much. 

These are my opinions based on owning a pair and pairing them with Joule Electra and Atmosphere and even Sophia Electric 300B ( without the Bam ) 

@dumbeat- Regarding under-biasing: That will somewhat reduce your dynamics and may soften what you’re calling, "bite". Trying that won’t hurt anything, and actually increases tube life, though- at the cost of fidelity. https://wallofsound.ca/audioreviews/amplification/output-tube-biasing-an-introduction/