about 10 years ago i owned a pair of proac response 1sc which had a reputation for vivid soundstages. i had them paired up to an exposure pre/power amp but the soundstage was more 2d and lacked involvement. it wasn`t a very good pairing and eventually sold the system. back then i had no idea about tube amolifiers. i only ever looked at solid state stuff. about a year or maybe more ago a tube amplifier caught my eye. one of the chinese ones. the yaqin mc100b. i ended up buying one and reading some reviews, some people were recommending quads L2 range of speakers. i bought a pair of quad 12L2. nothing prepared me for the soundstage i got! the only way i could describe it apart from saying depth and width would be solid, vivid, mildly warm, textured, layered and very transparent. there was a bloom to the bass and midband which i absolutely loved. closing my eyes, my brain registered that there was a band in front of me playing instruments and a singer directly in front of me. i had the sensation i could lean right forward and be able to touch whats in front of me. when you open your eyes is kinda strange and to a point fairly freaky, again your brain is registering people are there. you can pin point the voice, the guitar, drums and bass or if other instruments are playing. all thats missing are the actual people! another thing i loved was closely mic`d singers. the reality was astonishing. there`s no doubt much better out there but for me it was an amazing experience. currently building up a new tube pre/power system :)
