The Fastest most musical amp

There is a such thing as music soudning "too fast". Linn, Naim, Chord, they all seem to
bumping up leading edges a tad and have a shorter transient decay which
give you a good sense of drive and speed. but, they all seem to lack in
organic substance up top. Not to say, they aren't resolved and extended
or anything but, for me, I would like to have bit more weight and spread
on the high frequency.

You can mix and match between preamps and power amps till you hear
just the right combo. Speakers in the mix make a big difference, too.

The *fastest* I have heard in my rig was Nagra PL-L + Art Audio Jota (
strange, these are Single-ended triodes )
+ Wilson and Krell kps preamp + Quick Silver Triode Mono push-pull amplifiers.

Most larger solid-state amps seem to lack in bass agility one way
or another. ( excluding three above ) And the ones that give good pace
tend to lack in treble decay. Having said that, larger Naim is excellent.
I am not sure if i can live with it long term and for what they don't do
for what they cost, I couldn't justify to own one.

Dismalonyx, you're right on about complex cabling networks messing things up. As for what's fast, I've owned some of what's mentioned above, no names mentioned as I don't care to take prisoners, but have found my current Parasound JC-1 amps to be at least as 'fast' as anything out there (disclaimer: I peddle them). If you don't need as much power there are other good choices out there - before discussing the options, could you please post what the rest of your system is? I'll be happy to make suggestions, including products I don't sell. Would like to help you get an enjoyable synergistic combination.

Brian Walsh

The slew rate is the measure of an amplifiers ability to respond quickly (fast) to the musical signal. It is interpretive based on the power of the amp: a 50 wpc unit can have a lower slew rate than a 100 wpc unit and still be "sufficient". There's alot more to an amp than that, but that's part of "FAST."

Dismalonyx, if you're looking for a completely natural presentation possessing good speed, agility and tonality without sacrificing dynamics or the "life/energy" associated with great music, you should consider Blue Circle's BC8 monoblocks. They're very fast and are one of the most musical amps I've listened to! Regarding a preamp match, I think your musical preferences would need to be known before making a good match... the good news is that there are a number of solid state and tube preamps out there that sound great with the 8s.

Let me know if you'd like to discuss!

Kevin Allen

My recollection is that Spectral and Goldmund have the highest slew rates among solid state amplifiers (1,000 volts per microsecond, I think). Atma-Sphere is certainly among the fastest tube amps, with a slew rate of 600 volts per microsecond. Note that 50 volts per microsecond is a typical solid state slew rate, and 25 volts per microsecond is probably typical for a push-pull tube amp.

Since I'm an Atma-Sphere dealer that's where most of my experience lies as far as "fast" amplifiers goes. Atma-Sphere amps really like to be driven by Atma-Sphere tube amps, using balanced connections. I would expect likewise that there's a very good synergy between Spectral amps & preamps, and between Goldmund amps & preamps.

I would not see the Spectral/MIT combination as some kind of sacred bond. I bet Spectral amps sound just fine with other high-quality cables.

Best of luck in your quest!

Duke