2. amps-preamps
  3. 128377-9095

Tube vs Solid State

Folks,

For past few months, I have been trying to achieve best possible sound in my rig. The focus now is clearly on a improving 2 channel sound in what started as a home theater room.  

In past couple of years, I have added N10, Modwright DAC and very recently a LS36.5 linestage . The amps are Modwright KWA150SE. I am running pair of KWA150SE's in bridge mode (450Wx1) for the mighty B&W 800D2's.  While I like the sound as is, still feel something is missing. 

I have been toying with the idea of bi-amping.  One thought is to add mono tube amps to run mid's and high's and let the KWA150SE's handle the LF's. I am pursuing that seductive, slightly warm mid-range and top end that usually comes from tube amplification.  

I don't think there is any tube amp out there by itself capable of powering up bass hungry 800's. I prefer not to use a subwoofer in 2 channel setup. I listen to mostly jazz and classical music and quite sure that 800's are capable of producing adequate bass with proper amplification. 

Any feedback would be appreciated. 

Cheers! 
128x128lalitk
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
4,966 posts
 
LS36.5’s output impedance at low frequencies is correct the 10K input impedance of the Schiit is likely to be a problem.
Maybe the Schiit Freya then it has xlr and se in’s and out’s

"LS63.5 Output Impedance: 110ohm"
At 110ohms, even if it were cap coupled, surely it’s still big enough, not to roll of the bass, only 2uf would do to be -3db at 7hz into the Schiit Sys’s 10kohm.


Cheers George
Ag insider logo xs@2x
gdnrbob
2,421 posts
 
Would this be a good time to add those Zero autoformers that Ralph advocates?
Bob
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
use a tube pre-amp with a quality SS amp that can drive your speakers well

ARC pre for accuracy and rel. neutral sound

CJ for a phatt tubey sound (or an old ARC)
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
7,068 posts
 
Would this be a good time to add those Zero autoformers that Ralph advocates?
Maybe.

What I was thinking is that hard to drive speakers are hard to drive. As the many posts in this thread are pointing out.

Amps of any persuasion don't like working hard- they invariably make more distortion which is easy to hear as it tends to be higher ordered harmonics (which the ear uses as loudness cues). This is part of why balancing the lows and highs can be so tricky, since the ear converts distortion into tonality, and the distortion is not an actual frequency response issue! So you wind up trying to adjust for a perceived frequency response issue which that's not actually the problem.

So you might consider switching to a speaker that is easier to drive- they are out there and can make just as much bandwidth and detail as you experience now but without the driving headaches (which often lead to real headaches).
almarg's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
almarg
8,673 posts
 
Thanks for chiming in, Ralph.

Regarding the earlier discussion of the LS36.5’s output impedance, after researching a little further I see that its outputs are transformer coupled, rather than capacitor coupled. And as previously stated its output impedance is nominally specified as 110 ohms. So it should have no trouble driving relatively low impedances, including the 7.5K impedance it would have been driving when Lalit tried using the amps in a vertical biamp configuration.

Given that, I have no idea why he would have found the vertical biamp configuration to result in a less weighty deep bass compared to running the amps in bridged mode.

Regards,
-- Al
More to discover