Help me find a smooth solid-state amp?

i usually own a classe ca 400 amp in my system but it nothing compare to the new trinity amp from llano design. check them out, they just release the new v-plex design which is solid state. my trinity amp use two tubes which is call hybrid design. very smooth sounding amp with very tight and deep bass. prices from 1999 to 6999 and have a 30 day money back.

Pass amps are very smooth sounding solid state amps. The Aleph 3 in particular is a real deal compared to what you can get in its price range. It would be plenty of power with your Soliloquys. I have owned the Aleph 3 and the Aleph 2 monos, and the 2s are not that much more powerful. Also as someone else mentioned your speakers require significant break-in. I have read many comments stating that they were extremely bright until the got a couple hundred hours on them.

above responses to check out sam tellig's article in the dec s'phile are good - he also liked the mccormack & the musical fidelity amp, but from what he said, i don't think the m/f would be a good match for you. prolly would be better off getting a tubed pre-amp - imho, it seems the only way to enjoy cd's.

but, if yer intent on getting another amp, here's a shameless plug: check out my ad on this site for my electrocompaniet aw100 - 100wpc, 190 into 4 ohms, 80 amps current output... ;~)

doug

I would suggest you use a tube Pre if you must use a SS amp.The Classe are nice as is Bryston.Though i find the brystons can be bright.The tube pre can take some of the brightness away.

As Garfish also noted, I have found that most DVD players tend to sound brighter than a good CD player. It might be cheaper to invest in a seperate CD player instead of buying another amp. Keep in mind that MOST solid state preamps also tend to err on the bright side too. As to the specific amps that you mentioned, i would go for the McCormack as being the warmest sounding. The smaller Classe' amps sound bright (not grainy though) and slightly lean, the Aragon's have a reputation for a slightly "hot" high end with very solid bass and the older Bryston 4B that i had was nothing special at all. The newer Bryston's might be better or worse, i don't know. I would agree that the Pass amps are very "sweet" sounding but may not be "warm" enough for what you want. My suggestion is to evaluate each component on its own and see if they fit into the plans that you have for your system down the road. You may find out that changing one component simply "re-arranges" your problem. Sean >