Conrad Johnson MF series. |
Blue Circle amps, the hybrids actually use a tube for the input stage and ss for output. The BC8 monobocks soundstage like no amp I have eber heard including tubes. check out www.bluecircle.com |
There are several amps to consider in that price range. Ususally a MOSFET amp will give you a more "tube-like" sound. I have always been partial to the sound of Hafler and Bryston but there are many more. Happy hunting. |
I replaced Rogue monoblock Magnum 120's with a Plinius SA100 MKIII and it was a very smooth transition, the Plinius is almost as liquid in the midrange but more extended with more detail and I prefer the tone as well. The Plinius hae very high current. I do not miss the Rogues.
I do not know if you can get a used Plinius SA250 for $3000 or you could get a SA100 MKIII for about $1800 and when you can afford it get another one and have awsome mono amp with about 350 watts. |
If transistors could or would "sound like" tubes, why would anyone want to build or buy tubed amlifiers? My opinion (from experiance) that there is not such a thing as tube sounding solid state amp. |
Mandatory Pass Aleph series mention. Agree with the CJ nod as well. |
Monarchy SE-100 Delux monoblocks. $2400 new, much less used. Excellent reviews everywhere. |
I use Ayre V-3s in my system in a biamped configuration. They put out 200 w/ch into a 4 ohm load. Very musical! |
THE THRESHOLD E SERIES ARE SOME OF THE BEST SOLID STATE AMPS PERIOD,I.M.H.O. OF COURSE AND I HAVE HAD ALOT OF AMPS.
MY FAVORITES ARE THE THRESHOLD SA6E MONOBLOCKS.THEY ARE RATED AT 125/WATTS OF PURE CLASS A MAGIC WITH VERY HIGH CURRENT. |
Plinius SA... amps are good with low impedance speakers and able to produce tube-like... ah,, forgetabout tube-like it's simply great and natural. They tend to be bright with 8Ohm speakers or if the speakers are too efficient >90dB.
GamuT D200 is also great amp. You might also try out SS BAT VK500 that somewhat have BAT "signature" and also "presence". |
I too have heard the Gamut D200 is unbelievably transparent, but I have not heard one yet.
Of the amps I've heard/owned, the pass labs aleph series and the ayre v-1x are the most tubelike sounding of solid state amplifiers. The ayre would be a good choice for your high power needs. I am using mine with the notoriously power hungry eidolon speakers to excellent result. I would like to try out a monster (i.e 250watts+) tube amp with this setup some day.
The ayre sounds like 1/2 solid state and 1/2 tube. The he instrument textures and harmonics are correct, it has a sense of space and presence, but it's not as liquid as a tube amp. It's also more transparent and a gazillion times more powerful than any tube amp I've heard. It's the only solid state amp I've heard that I MIGHT 'blindfolded' guess is a tube amp. No transistor grain whatsoever. |
BAT VK500. Best amp I've heard (and now own) and with electrostatics the only SS amp I've heard that makes smooooooooth music that makes me smile. The VK500 can be had for ~$2500 used and well worth the money. |
If you ever listen to a great tube amp you would say that no SS sounds remotely close to that real tube effect. Many claim to for selling purposes and many great ss amps are listed here but no cigar. |
Consider the Sim Audio Moon W-5
johnny7 |
Ligi, is your cigar a pleasing fequency response anomoly provided by your tube amp? Maybe it's just a great speaker/room/amp synergy that provides a spectral landscape you like. Perhaps a great ss amp with a different speaker could provide the same magical cigar? I tried supposedly-great VAC glass on my Parsifal Encores, and it absolutely slaughtered their carefully-honed neutrality! Glad my Alephs sound great AND allow these great speakers tocome alive in my room as their quite expert voicers intended.
This is not to mean that ss is better...just more predictable at the getgo. A high output impedence and a multi-driver cum passive crossover array is an exercise fraught with variability. If you get really lucky the world seems better, but I contend that it's a LOT easier to get there with a great speaker in a well-treated room and a NEUTRAL fine amp, and that led me to Pass Labs...and NO, they're not for sale! Let's all just enjoy the music...and continue to pass the cigar. |
I've been collecting audio toys for years. Currently I own a few small tube amps, and one solid state amp. For a long time I always thought "Solid state. Why do people bother ?". Powerful yes, but afflicted by dry, lifeless transistor haze. Either too edgy and bright, or so toned down you ventured into midfi. Music on a really big black and white tv.
I've changed my opinion in the last year or so. The truly great ss amps don't sound like tube amps so much as solid state with great soundstaging, instrument timbre, and lack of transistor grain. I would guess that many people could not tell by ear that an ayre or pass labs amplifier is NOT a tube amp.
Strangely enough one of my friends who is a college trained sax player commented that he liked the 'sound' of my cary 300 B amp, but felt the ss ayre sounded 'more like a real horn'. |
By no cigar I do not mean to say that SS amps do not sound great - some really sound great - in fact a lot do - just not the same as a great tube amp. Some people prefer the SS sound and I have also in some cases against some tube amps but my taste is for the really good tube amp over the SS but not always by much. |
STOP this SS-TUBE fight over here! I've seen it b4 a bunch of times already. It is absolutely useless. I could never say that SS sounds like tubes but there is no matter SS or tube rather it can or cannot perform the task for a particular speaker.
yes it can no it can't
yes it can no it can't
yes it can no it can't
yes it can no it can't
yes it can no it can't
!@#$%^&*((*&^%$#!@#$%^&
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!@#$%^&*((*&^%$#!@#$%^&
!@#$%^&*((*&^%$#!@#$%^&
!@#$%^&*((*&^%$#!@#$%^& |
If I had to pick a SS amp that comes close to the tube sound it's the Mcintosh 352. They are after all famous for some of the best sounding tube amps in the business. I own the 2102 and the 352. |
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