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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
hjdca's avatar
hjdca
247 posts
 

@kojo123 

Congrats !  That amp looks a lot like my McIntosh Mc275s, so, I am sure it will sound great !  Very interesting that it has a built in Pre-amp with "one less" small tube than the Mc275 - which is an amp only, although, one small tube in the Mc275 is only for "single ended" input.  It would be interesting to know if the preamp line stage is "tube" or "solid state".  Also, I am guessing that your system will be all digital input, because as you may already know, it look like there is no phonograph preamp in the A75. 

I noticed that your original post said, "I listen to mostly Analog".  Remember, a phonograph cartridge outputs a very low voltage, typically between 0.0002 volts and 0.007 volts, which is then amplified by a phono preamp to a standard line level of around 1 to 2 volts.  The specs for the A75 say "input sensitivity" is 0.92 Volts Unbalanced, 0.92 Volts Balanced.  So, for your phonograph, you would need a separate phono preamp to boost the signal to the A75. 

 

 

kojo123's avatar
kojo123 OP
8 posts
 

@hjdca thanks!! :) Surely, ive got phono preamp, as mentioned. Im happy owner of phasemation ea 320 :)

bkpinder
4 posts
 

Hi

For what is worth I have owned a number of Sonus Faber speakers and currently still own a pair of the original Guarneri Homage's.

Over the last 25 years of which I have had them only a few amplifiers that I have tried worked for me but the ones that did were.

David Berning ZH-270 ( this amplifier was actually used by SF to voice some of their speakers.This would be my #1 choice.

LSA Statement integrated.

Antique Sound Labs Hurricanes

Sorry to add to the confusion but just trying to help.

Regards

 

stillbuyingtoys
26 posts
 

As a owner of the Sonetto 8s gen 1 i started out with the ARC75.  The ARC75 was a good sounding amp but the 75 watts did not move me, so I replaced it with the ARC150SE.  This was a great amp.  Very musical and holographic, however after racking up 1000 listening hours within a year, I sold it due to tube replacement cost on the horizon of at least $3,500.

I now have the Classe Delta Monos that I absolutely love.  The are musical, holographic, have more bass, and extend the sound stage better than both of the ARC tube amps.  600 watts @ 4 ohm is more than enough power yes but it's also 35 watts of Class A that in my opinion bets the competition under $30,000 in the solid state amp market.  True bi-wiring of the amp brought another step up in performance in the upper mid and high end.

Good luck on your journey but I will be keeping the Delta monos for a very long time as they hit all of the key attributes.  Demo the Delta stero as the only trade-off that I experience was "some" of the sweetness/soul that tubes bring but I don't think I'd ever go back to tubes again with the biasing and tube replacement.  Look at Coda if you want sweet tubelike sound but they are not as three dimensional in my opinion as the Classe.  

soix
11,233 posts
 

Congrats on a nice amp.  Hope that 75Wpc is sufficient.  

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