Charles1dad:
I largely agree, and you raise an important point about the practicality of the two designs. The Phi amps may be better suited for the typical 87 db. efficient / 4 ohm speaker. While the Renaissance amps have excellent power supplies and output transformers, allowing them to drive speakers that ostensibly more powerful designs cannot (Lyric in Manhattan could not drive the big Pipe Dreams with the VTL 750 watt/channel Brunhilde, but was able to easily drive it with the 70/70; another Manhattan shop, I can't recall which, hooked up a 30/30 to a pair of B&W 801N's, a speaker that requires bi-amping with big SS amplification, just for laughs, and it drove the speaker), they do have their limits. That said, on the state-of-the-art, 93 db. efficient MM2's with all-darTZeel electronics that the author of this thread is running (my closest hi-fi friend runs MM3's with all darTZeel electronics - these systems play at the very highest level), this gentleman wants the best sounding tube amp he can find, i.e., full Class A biased, directly heated triode, zero-feedback, point-to-point wired and otherwise featuring top parts and build quality, etc. He also writes that he wants auto-biasing, something that puts out 50-75 watts/channel, and that he can buy used $3,000. A 70/70 Mk. III fits this profile.
I largely agree, and you raise an important point about the practicality of the two designs. The Phi amps may be better suited for the typical 87 db. efficient / 4 ohm speaker. While the Renaissance amps have excellent power supplies and output transformers, allowing them to drive speakers that ostensibly more powerful designs cannot (Lyric in Manhattan could not drive the big Pipe Dreams with the VTL 750 watt/channel Brunhilde, but was able to easily drive it with the 70/70; another Manhattan shop, I can't recall which, hooked up a 30/30 to a pair of B&W 801N's, a speaker that requires bi-amping with big SS amplification, just for laughs, and it drove the speaker), they do have their limits. That said, on the state-of-the-art, 93 db. efficient MM2's with all-darTZeel electronics that the author of this thread is running (my closest hi-fi friend runs MM3's with all darTZeel electronics - these systems play at the very highest level), this gentleman wants the best sounding tube amp he can find, i.e., full Class A biased, directly heated triode, zero-feedback, point-to-point wired and otherwise featuring top parts and build quality, etc. He also writes that he wants auto-biasing, something that puts out 50-75 watts/channel, and that he can buy used $3,000. A 70/70 Mk. III fits this profile.