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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
kojo123's avatar
kojo123 OP
8 posts
 

My budget? Well im from europe, so: 

1) Qualiton 75 is affordable, it costs 6,7k EUR, 

2) Cayin Soul costs around 9k EUR, 

3) Jadis around 11k EUR (it is expensive for me, if difference vs. Qualiton in sound signature doesnt justify its price - it is out of scope)

At the end of day, point one and second are my top picks. Qualiton is significant cheaper, and i can even squeez more from this piece by switching to KT88 and lions. Jadis is being to expensive for me. Gear might be new or used.

My other gear: phasemation ea-320 + Rega P8, Lab12 Dac1 ref + holo red, all wires - Ricable dedalus. 

Room is in L shape. Gear is being placed at the top of longer side of L. Longer side has around 28m2, rest ca. 20m2. Im siting around 2,5-3 meters in front of speakers.

Thx Gents! 

PS. Audioqualiton - both 50 and 75 - are not class A. They are AB. Only first few watts are A (confirmed directly with AH/Qualiton).

kennyc
2,873 posts
 

Synthesis Audio

soix
11,233 posts
 

Looking at the specs of your speakers they dip below 4Ohms with difficult phase angles, so some of your amps may well not be up to driving them fully.  Here’s an exerpt from Stereophile’s measurements of the Sonetto V G2 that likely has very similar specs in terms of its load on an amp…

The Sonus faber loudspeaker’s voltage sensitivity is specified as 89dB/2.83V/m; my B-weighted estimate was 88.6dB(B), which is within experimental error of the specification. Sonus faber specifies the Sonetto V G2’s nominal impedance as 4 ohms. The impedance magnitude (fig.1, solid trace), measured with Dayton Audio’s DATS V2 system, remains above 4 ohms for most of the audioband, with a minimum value of 2.9 ohms between 90Hz and 100Hz. The electrical phase angle (fig.1, dotted trace) is high at low and very high frequencies, which means that the effective resistance, or EPDR (footnote 1), drops below 3 ohms between 43Hz and 46Hz, from 65Hz to 203Hz, and above 4.3kHz. The minimum EPDR values are 1.95 ohms at 34Hz, 1.26 ohms at 81Hz, and 2 ohms from 6.5kHz to 7.7kHz. The Sonetto V G2 is a very current-hungry load for amplifiers.

This is a hard load for even a higher-powered tube amp, and I’d be looking at a hybrid like a Unison Unico 90 or 150 with a tube preamp section and solid state amp that can give you that tube goodness with enough grunt to drive your speakers properly without having to work too hard.  No amp sounds its best when it’s pushed to near its limits.  Hope this helps, and best of luck  

 

parkergetdean
1,036 posts
 

I'd check out the @abritishaudiophile7314 reviews on youtube. He loves to analyze amps and go deep into technical details.

 

1bitsoul's avatar
1bitsoul
34 posts
 

The accurate specifications of the Sonetto 8 G2:

Sensitivity: 90dB SPL (2.83V/1m) 

Nominal Impedance: 4 ohm

Suggested amplifier power output: 50W to 300W

https://a.storyblok.com/f/259299/x/a134a54e57/owners_sonetto_148x210_low.pdf (page 36)

 

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