Bryston vs. McCormack

Hi (again) Fpeel; I thought AJ made the case for tubes very well also, and I've tried a comparably priced tube amp; the midrange and highs were beautiful, but the bass, although deep, was so slow, bloated, and boomy that I knew it was not for me. I listen to a lot of populat, mid-bass heavy music (blues, soul, rock, pop etc), and good bass control is essential to me. I've personally found that a good tubed pre-amp with a good solid state amp is the way to go. I have nothing against good tube equipment. You've made a good choice. Enjoy. Craig

I couldn't agree more Garfish. To get the top to bottom coherence of a good solid state amp, you would have to buy high 4 figure or possibly a five figure tubed amp. Then there's the retubing... 70 watts per channel = $$$$ at the tube store once a year. Dont get me wrong, Jerry, I Love the sound of say, CJ Premier 8's, but I cant even afford their tubes once a year, much less the amps themselves. It IS all about the music. But a solid state amp, the McCormacks at that (I guarantee you if Stereophile accepted no advertising, these would be in the Class A listing) paired with a tubed Preamp (now... 2 12AU7's, I can handle that once every 2 years) gives you MOST of the magic of a full tubed rig. IT is all about the music, and if a 20 watt Jolida Tubed integrated does it for you, then great. I would rather find a speaker that I agree with, then find supporting components. IF I could live with Klipschorns, then I guess a 2A3 or 300B based 3 to 7 watt per channel amp would be the answer. Anyway, I like to see the sharing of opinions and information in such a positive manner as in this particular posting. It's refreshing to see that some of us are still interested in spreading the knowledge and love of a truly noble quest.

I couldn't agree more Garfish. To get the top to bottom coherence of a good solid state amp, you would have to buy high 4 figure or possibly a five figure tubed amp. Then there's the retubing... 70 watts per channel = $$$$ at the tube store once a year. Dont get me wrong, Jerry, I Love the sound of say, CJ Premier 8's, but I cant even afford their tubes once a year, much less the amps themselves. It IS all about the music. But a solid state amp, the McCormacks at that (I guarantee you if Stereophile accepted no advertising, these would be in the Class A listing) paired with a tubed Preamp (now... 2 12AU7's, I can handle that once every 2 years) gives you MOST of the magic of a full tubed rig. IT is all about the music, and if a 20 watt Jolida Tubed integrated does it for you, then great. I would rather find a speaker that I agree with, then find supporting components. IF I could live with Klipschorns, then I guess a 2A3 or 300B based 3 to 7 watt per channel amp would be the answer. Anyway, I like to see the sharing of opinions and information in such a positive manner as in this particular posting. It's refreshing to see that some of us are still interested in spreading the knowledge and love of a truly noble quest.

As a late response, ditto! Tubes are great but I can't afford to retube either. The McCormick and the AL3a is a great combination and a poor man's answer to enveloping tube sound. I don't own this set up, however a freind does, and has for some time. This connected to Vanderstiens and VPI/VPI memorial is great. Nordost and a Benz completes the system.

?? Any DC output offset on some tube preamps?? I'm following this thread with great interest (owning a DNA-1 myself) that worked pretty well when once auditioned with a Golden Tube SEP-2 preamp. However, my dealer told me to be very careful of mating some tube preamps with transistor PA's, as some tube preamps have DC output offset, which would really be a problem into a direct-coupled PA! Has anyone experienced this problem, or wishes to otherwise share experiences?