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The Fourfold path...which way to go?

Ok, I thought I could do it....forsake tubes for solid state. I miss the bloom and liquidity, no matter how smooth the sound, no ss seems to be able to reproduce that crystal glass midrange and high. So now I've got to find the best way to take advantage of both worlds...the tight bass of ss and the glorious midrange and highs of tubes. As I see it, I've got three choices within my budget. 1)I can biamp my Vandersteens using my old Dynaco on top to run the mids and highs, but to do this I'll need a good active crossover 2)Dump my cheap ass Nakamichi CD player and go with either a Tjoeb or Jolida tube output CD player 3)Dump my Aragon Pre amp and go with a Conrad Johnson PV10AL or 4)The cheapest option...get one of those Musical Fidelity "tube buffers" to put between the CD and Pre or the Pre and Amp. I figure that with these four options I can get away for somewhere between 100 and 400 bucks (not including trade in value) Any suggestions? No, I'm not spending more than 400 bucks.
issabre
garfish
1,840 posts
 
You don't say what SS amp you plan to use, but my experience with several McCormack amps is that I've never heard it (I do have some HF hearing loss though). Its been my experience that tube type determines the size, shape, and character of the soundstage, but it can be huge with the right tubes. I put a set of premium NOS tubes in my SF Line 2 and got a huge-- but unnatural soundstage (I thought), and with a forward mid-range and reduced bass. I didn't like the effect, returned the tubes, and went back to the stock Sovteks-- sort of a flat soundstage but excellent tonality and PR&T. Good Luck. Craig.
issabre OP
120 posts
 
Hi Craig, I'll be using my Perreaux 2150B. It's plenty powerful to give me the good tight bass. I think it does have a touch of Mosfet haze though. Sean, here on the site, has had some experience with perreaux gear and is hooking me up with a pair of his recommended interconnects and I'm going to see if that takes care of the glare. Other than that, I think the Perreaux is pretty good and might sound nice with a good warm sounding tube pre.
sedond
1,314 posts
 
electrocompaniet components - both amps *and* preamps - don't have your typical solid-state glare or haze, imo...
trelja
3,215 posts
 
Sedond, you are quite right about the Electrocompaniet components - no mosfet haze. That's because there's NO mosfets. They're bipolar. I guess it all depends on what you like. To my ears, there's two kinds of solid state. Those trying to sound like tubes(Adcom, previous generation Musical Fidelity, Muse), and those that don't(Electrocompaniet, McCormack, Mark Levinson). But while the ones using bipolar output transistors don't have have haze, they don't have warmth, bloom, or a tube's soul either. Bottom line, there is NO substitute for tubes. Conversely, tubes will NEVER do what ss does well either.
harrysum
15 posts
 
Issabre, I used Perraux 5150B with SFL2 and Martin Logan Sequal II, the bass is very fast and tight but the high is not detail and rich (the sound stage is kind of narrow)- I didn't know it until I changed the amp with SF power 3(originally I planned to use the Perraux for the bass and use the SF power 3 for the mid and above, but it's too difficult for me. So now I am just using power 3 without the SS.
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