comparison between SS Spectral and LAMM tube amp

back in the day; i owned Kharma and 75 watt Tenor OTL monoblocks. however; my Kharma Exquisite 1D's were a little easier load than the 3.2's. when i had the Kharma's i did listen to the 3.2-Lamm ML2 combo i did not care for it as it had a slightly 'dark' character where the Tenors had fire and sparkle in the mids, and was lacking overall energy and control on the 3.2 as others have mentioned. the Tenor's sounded much more alive and more linear in the bass on the 3.2's to my ears. however; the Tenor's were not very stable and tended to grenade from time to time taking out the ceramic mid-range with it (happened to me twice).

i did not hear the ML-2.1 version on the 3.2's or the even more recent version. they could sound different.

the Kharma 3.2 is a lovely speaker and i would suggest that you try the darTZeel NHB-108 solid state amplifier. i would expect that it's sweeter high frequencies would be a better match for the 3.2's than the Spectral, and it will control the bass wonderfully. the dart will give you much of what tubes can in terms of refinement and delicacy on speaker such as the 3.2.

the 3.2's will come alive with the dart.

thank's all,
I completely changed the subject. I sold the Kharma and just purchased a pair of Avalon Eidolon which I found to be sweeter and less analytical of Kharma. I am waiting for delivery. But the question is still alive, the tube amp will be able to give the deep, controlled bass which SS amp are able to?

The Avalon is a good Speaker, remarkable midrange, listened to it multiple
times. The sensitivity is not really a top match for tube Amps, 87dB, 3.6Ω.
The Bass has nothing to do with SS or Tube Design, I listened multiple times
with the latest Pass electronics connected and it was dead, thin,dry, analytical
and far away from a deep, full Bass or a lively midrange.
A top Performance I got from an owner with - old -Threshold amps, that was a
total different chapter.
I know owners who tried tube amps with it, but honestly, between
"great, I looooove it" and "great" is a difference. Try to
loan some from Dealers, this will give you the best impression.

i have heard there is 'synergy' or certainly a good match between CJ Premier 350SA amp and Avalon.

["Hi Vic,
Thanks for the mail, and glad you like the Eidolons. I still think they are amazing, and expect to continue to sell their current iteration.
My first experience with tubes and Eidolons was with Audio Research 100's. Clearly not enough power to have the full bloom of the capability of the Eidolons, but, there was still enough info to let me know that with a bit more power there would be some very nice results. Indeed, I later heard them with both the AR 300, and later the 600. These are both super amps, and priced accordingly, but in the interest of letting you know that it will work, I give you those examples. On the other extreme, if you can find a small tube amp, called the RM200. These little tube amps are quite extraordinary. Probably on the low end of power requirements, and admittedly I have not heard them with Eidolons, but many years ago I lusted for the RM9 for myself. The company is very small, but passionate, and is still in existence, and I believe in California. Also, a bit more mainstream, is VTL, also a California based company, with a variety of 'affordable' mono and stereo tube gear. We shared a room with them at the recent Audiofest show in Denver in early October. Always a good match, and we share a number of dealers and distributors around the world. David Berning also makes a few very good amplifiers. We used their amps at CES a lifetime ago, and never forgot that sound, and now people have started to tell us how good the combination still is.

Lucien Pichette
On Nov 24, 2009,"]

The Music Reference is a tube hybrid that provides a very stable platform for difficult loads also available in mono. Best to read the designers description.
http://www.ramlabs-musicreference.com/rm200.html

This is a very new and unique switching amplifier. The less powerful nCore 400 DIY version can be bridged to equal the power of the OEM version if needed. Theses may soon be the replacement for my NuForce mono's currently powering my Eidolons.
http://www.mola-mola.nl/epk_files/molamolafolder.pdf

A solid state hybrid also available in mono.
http://www.aesthetix.net/saturn.php?product=atlas

All tube
http://www.manley.com/n250.php

Regardless of the direction you take in amplification the Eidolon can be an amazing speaker. More important than amplification is room placement. I found the placement guide in the manual to be an important part of the magic that lets these speakers work. Toe in is slight and very delicate. I ended up removing a great deal of the sound absorbing materials I was using with my previous speakers and began using reflection and baffling methods.