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Sonus Faber Sonetto 8g2 - amp pairing

Hello, 

since some time im looking for new amp to my freshly bought Sonettos. 

At this moment they are runing with Rega Aethos. I feel that they deserve a little bit better company. With "better" i mean with a touch of warmness, more musicality, smoothness. More engaging and exciting. What is more, all rounder amp, for any kind of music - main sourse is analog, but my girls will often listen to DAC and they might play anything. 

So far my picks are: 

1. Sugden a21se - only one SS pick. Already listened it with SF, i liked it a lot! But im not sure, if 30W will from SS but A class will be enough for quite big 8 series? 

2. Qualiton A75 - it is AB class, but i supposue that if i will switch to KT88 and also switch other tubes to f.e. gold lion`s, i might be more than happy. I feel, that it is just great value for money. My top pick. 

3. Cayin Soul - want to hear it and probably i will. But, it is build on KT170`s, a lot of power, not sure if triode mode will deliever smoothness and a bit of warmness which im looking for to feed Sonettos...? 

4, Jadis I35 or I50 - extremely expensive for my budget.. but pure A class as Sugden, which i felt in love. Is it worth? I suppose that i should look for I50 instead of I35? Anyone can compare them with Qualiton A series? is it really worth to pay extra for Jadis vs. qualiton? Im not interested in DAC included, what is more, i do not really understand and like such gadgets in tube amps.

5. Leben cs600x - hard to get, will it drive Sonetto`s 8 well? To be honest, this one is second choice after Qualiton. Prices are quite high in EU, significant higher that Qualiton (obvious reasons). 

6. Any other..? But not SS sound signature? 

Thank you very much in advance for any tips!

kojo123
ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,423 posts
 

I'd recommend an Audio Research VT 80... or used to reduce price, or the new Audio Research S-100 if you really want to go solid state. 

 

Audio Research and Sonus Faber are very synergistic. Over time one by one my components shifted to Audio Research because of their natural, musical... but detailed character. I prefer tubes. But their new S-100 is a great starter amp... I would choose the VT80 over it. 

There are many amps that will sound good with those speakers. I am on my third pair of Sonus Faber speakers. They are wonderfully natural and musical.

kojo123's avatar
kojo123 OP
8 posts
 

Thx! what kind of pre are you using..?

soix
11,233 posts
 

What’s your budget, and are you looking for new or used?

1bitsoul's avatar
1bitsoul
34 posts
 

The Sonetto's are somewhat demanding (4 Ω nominal) but 90 dB sensitivity is decent. So you’ll want an amp that handles low impedance loads well. Recommended 50 W‑400 W means you have a lot of headroom, if you run at moderate listening levels you might get away with less than 50 W, but if you push dynamics or room size is large, more power helps.

Given your goals being “warmth, more musicality, smoothness, engaging/exciting, all‑rounder, analog as main but digital also”, my pick in your list would be the Qualiton A75. It strikes the best balance of “tube warm/engaging” + “sufficient drive/power/headroom” for your speakers. 

The Qualiton gives you a strong tube flavour, smooth voice‑centric richness, and enough power (75 W Class A) to drive the Sonettos in many listening situations, especially if your room isn’t massive and you don’t push extremely high SPLs or heavy bass‑extensive music constantly. If you listen moderately and want the “tube musicality” as a priority, this is a very good match.

 

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