2. amps-preamps
  3. 1353682627

Affordable SS amp that has tube characteristics

I have been listening to tubes for a few years now but I do run 2 systems and I want one to be a higher powered SS system. I have a bad habit of turning the stereo on and leaveing it on all day and sometimes leaveing the house and not commeing home for hours and leaving the system on.
I listen to a wide array of music from soft female vocals to hard chargeing Rock and Roll. I do more of the mellow stuff though maybe 80% of the time.
My room is not that big,17X19 and my speakers are a little large for the room,Aerial 10T's. They are not going anywhere I love the way they sound and they are one of the few speakers that I have heard that sound just as good at very low volume as they do at higher volumes.
My current set up is an ARC VT 100 MKIII,ARC LS15 ARC CD3 and I use a Sonos for computer audio and PS Audio DLIII.
I also Have an ARC LS25MKII but I think the LS15 sounds better in this set up.
I have been wanting to use a SS amp here just because the time this system is on and in the summer the heat build up is so bad.
I hear class A mosfets is the way to go to get the tube sound but trying to find something affordable that is large enough to drive the Aerials is where the challenge lies. Yes I would love to have a large Pass Labs amp but they are not in the budget and neither is a Krell amp. I have been thinkng about a Belles amp but most are class AB and then I have to wonder if the Belles Ref 150 would be big enough to drive the Aerials or if I would need sometrhing like the ref 350.
Any have any suggestions on an amp that might fit the bill.
coman61
lou_setriodes's avatar
lou_setriodes
672 posts
 
Your budget is $3500. I'm going to give you the best piece of advice from 28 years in this hobby....save yourself a load of green and check out a B&K EX442 Sonata, incredibly tube-like, powerful, mosfet, a true giant-killer of an amp that you can pick up for about $400.

If you want something that's going to be on all the time, a Class A amp will run very hot.

Years ago, I a/b'd the Sonata against a pair of Paoli M60 monoblocks which are essentially super moded 8417 based Dyna MkIII's and we couldn't tell the difference between both amps - that's how tubelike the B&K is. 200w into 8/360 into 4, and 75 amps, dual mono mosfet design....

With all that extra green you'll have laying around burning a whole in your pocket, please send me about a K for all of this great advice, as I recently had to dispose of my whole system to pay some taxes, so that I can get back into the audio game with an int amp and speakers...

After you send me the $1K, you'll still have $2000 left and I'll bet anything that this setup will be 95% as good as any other SS amp that people on this forum are recommending to you...

If you agree with my logic, I can send you my address and I very much appreciate your kind consideration :)
Happy and healthy New Year,
Louis
Ag insider logo xs@2x
edwyun
244 posts
 
what about a pair of Pass Aleph 2 monoblocks? They can usually be found used for under $3K.
raytheprinter's avatar
raytheprinter
1,234 posts
 
Another vote for Conrad Johnson MF 2500-A . I am still kicking myself for selling mine,what was I thinking.
timlub
2,039 posts
 
TAD HIBACHI MONO BLOCKS... INEXPENSIVE AND VERY TUBE LIKE
abrew19
146 posts
 
In listening tests by Stereophile golden ears, a prototype of what would become the Carver M-1.0t production model was found to be sonically indistinguishable from the Conrad-Johnson Premier Four tube amp. I don't see how you could get any closer than that. Build quality is no doubt lower than what you are used to, but you said you wanted to spend less than Pass Labs. You should be able to get a used M-1.0t re-capped, refreshed, and be out only $650 bucks or so.
More to discover