TRL ST225 - Goodness anyone else own this amp

Yes, tubes are a thing of the past for me in my main system. I may play with a small tube based system for my bedroom someday.

Bill

An excellent tube circuit design would yield the liveliness, sound stage, layering, and ambient decaying that many ss designs still come short of. In contrast, an excellent ss design has bass extension, impact, dynamic, and transient attacks that many tube can't quite match. That's why I have been preferring the ss amp and tube pre combo. The ss amp design gives me the luxury of having it turned on 24x7 and not worrying inability to drive difficult-load speakers. Because of TRL extreme low noise-floor, grain-free nature, it makes matching higher sensitive speakers possible also (heard ST-225 with 90+ db speakers before). The tube rolling at pre gives me that flexibility of adding a touch of warmth and improve liveliness without sacrificing (much) neutrality and full spectrum balance. I have no complaint but prasie for my TRL monos. The high gain amp design makes finding a matching pre a bit tougher. However, that's the inconvenience I am willing to go through considering the musical fulfillment the amps have brought for thus far. :)

Grannyring: Thank you for your post. I was considering 2 of the amplifiers within your list and you may have just saved me thousands of dollars. I have been in contact with one ST-225 owner and plan on visiting him in a week for a listen. He also has the TRL 3 ways, TRL cabling and their modified Marantz SA-8001, so I feel that I'll have a good idea as to their house sound.

Hchi: How much does the battery power supply help? Is it worth the extra money? How much room does the battery power box require? I'm assuming they are sealed batteries, so no smell?

Terryn

Glad to read your comments! I have ordered the battery operated Sony player from TRL and expect in in a week or so.

Bill

Wow, Terryn that's quite the find for your total enjoyment. Can't wait to hear what you think of that rig ! Hope it's in a decent size studio. The speakers alone are worth their weight in precious metals. The metals seems to be the only thing that is worth much in the states nowadays.