Power tubes as drivers -- Line Magnetic

Tbooe, I can see a little of the dealers perspective on this approach, these are very heavy amps to deal with taking in and out of systems. If you are worried about scratching your speakers, you can imagine his worry about having the amp messed up. Also, I would be hesitant about someone off-site testing with my low watt SET amp on inefficient speakers and driving the daylights out of the amp. It is not as unreasonable as it might seem but at the same time, spending this type of money without an audition is also tough too. Given it is not likely a good match on paper, I wouldn't buy without an audition either.

I have heard stories of a manufacturer not allowing an amp to be sold to someone unless they have suitable speakers for the amp. Reminds me of my days dealing with rare hunting dog breeds and you would have to sign a contract agreeing to a training, testing, and breeding program if you were allowed to buy the dog.

Truemaniac, thank you for the perspective. This is definitely a quandary for both the dealer and the customer. I guess my attitude is why have local dealers if they are unwilling to offer this kind of service. Might as well only sell the products online, cut out the dealer margin, and perhaps lower the price a bit to sell more units. Frankly listening to electronics in any system other than your own is a crap shoot. I don't have any ill feelings towards this local dealer. It's his business and he can run it any way he feels is right for him. In this case, there was not a good match between seller and buyer. Happens all the time. I will happily move on and look for a product and dealer better fits my needs.

Tboooe,
I like your attitude, find a more cooperative dealer. One of the supposed advantages of a brick and mortar dealer is providing equipment for home auditioning.Truemaineiac what increased Tboooe's interest is a review of this very amplifier driving his speakers brilliantly.
Charles,

TB. Looks like you already found the Steve Huff review of the 518 and 219. He's having such success driving your speakers with the LM amps. I haven't heard the 219, but have had similar experience with the 518's "fat" sound. With my Merlins, this is very welcome and I'm happy to have a bit more bass. Mind you, that isn't code for "bloated"-- it's taut and tuneful bass rather than one-note boom. Steve does seem to prefer the 219 with the Sonus Fabers, but I believe that amp is about $3k more than the 518 and those 300b tubes make for expensive tube rolling, especially considering how expensive 845s are.

Steve's experience should give you a lot of comfort. My dealer wouldn't let me bring the amp home either, and bringing my speakers into the shop was definitely a distant second choice, but I did get to spend as much time as I wanted driving my speakers with the 518 and was therefore absolutely sure it was the right choice. It's a bit more hassle, but you get to the same desired place. I also got the benefit of the store's expertise: without their suggestion and blessing I would never have thought/dared to change output taps on the fly to experiment and end up discovering the 16 ohm taps sounded best on 8 ohm nominal and 6.5 ohm minimum speakers.

Dkidknow,
Good post! I had also suggested taking the speakers to the dealer. Tboooe has some reservations about the LM amplifier's ability to drive the Sonus Faber, well this would address that concern. Steve Huff found the 518 to be "very close" to the 219 amp and said both drove his SF speakers effortlessly. For 3000.00 dollars less the 518 seems a terrific buy.
Charles,