Playing with the idea of solid state amps

I too have had a long held bias (no pun intended) for tubes, but there are some very nice SS amps out there. I respect Ayre and Sim Audio but they are not quite my cup of tea. I think the McCormack is very good. My favorite, though, enough so that it will soon be a new addition to my household, is the Hovland Radia.

My experence and recent desires are just like yours. I just sold my Wright Sound 3.5 SET tube monoblock amps for a 400 watt/channel SS amp. I tried many.

I purchased a Mcintosh MC401 SS amp. It is wonderful. I also suggest these,

Blue Circle SS amps - any of them!
Belles 350 or 150 reference

The Mac is the best of this group in my home, but these are all what your looking for.

Bill

Wow! Thanks for the many responses. My system is a little fat and soft so, I don't want an amp that is trying to be tubey. I'll keep my Joule and 300B for that. What I want is balls to the wall volume and ultra-revealing. The Pass X series just might be the trick. I know ealier in this journey I tried a pair of Clayton 100 Monos and loved them the best of any solid state I've tried. If I could get a pair of those,I'd swipe them up in a heart beat!

Thanks Grannyring---For reinforcing me on my purchase of the Belles 150,reference. I've had this amp for about a month,in conjunction with my new speakers.At first I was thinking; 'gonna have to dump this amp. Well things have changed for the better. This is one musical amp with great--;--- Well,great everything,top to bottom. These don't come up that often and can be sold for the same as you paid. Like I said I have almost bought 2/3 different amps since the Wilson's got here; glad I waited it out.---I'm not saying this Belles is better than any of these other amps---all of which I've never heard.--I'm just happy with the music---Then I'm happy with the price they sell for-used.

Consider the GamuT Mk.3 series D-200 or M-250. These have an outstanding reputation in Europe and USA. I have had my GamuT for 2 yrs and still love it. Please see many outstanding reviews out there.