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Sacrilege Going from Tubes back to Solid State

Hello gang,

Well the time may have come. I am getting way over the fuse blowing, bias adjusting and general baybying my Tube Monos are putting me through. I love the sound of my VTL MB 300s that I had VTL upgrade to the new 450 status a few years ago. I love the depth, stage, sweetness and punch they give my Meadowlark Hot Rod Herons. I love the front to rear layering and detail they reveal.
Can anybody recommend a solid state amp or monos that MIGHT give me some of what I love? I am in the $4000.00 range and looking primarily at used product. I use JPS labs Super 2 Speaker and ICs and a modded VTL 2.5 pre with an Ayre CX-7e Digital front end with a Rega P-25 sporting a Dynavector Karat 17 mk II driving a plinius Jarrah Phono stage.
My frustration may be getting the best of me here but I am tired of crossing my fingers when I turn on my stereo!
I have heard good things from Older levinson gear, perhaps newer McIntosh? How about Accuphase? or ARGGGGGGGGGGHH a little help please! Thanks in advance.
meadowman
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
It is not sacrelige going to solid state. In fact it has certain advantages just as tubes do.

Buy and use what sounds good to you, not what some salesman or forum post recommends.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
10-28-06: Tbg
Much to my disbelief I have no tubes in my system. I kind of evolve into this, first with the solid state H-Cat P12 line stage, but then I moved to the Esoteric X-01 Limited sacd player, and finally the LSA/Exemplar Statement amp.
Tbg, doesn't the LSA/Exemplar Statement amplifier have a 6DJ8/6922 tubed preamp section?
09-20-06: Lrsky
These are stock units, that being the Reference, all QC'd by our Seattle facility, John's facility, then an upgrade to the preamp section only, the Signature Edition, with the final upgrade being to STATEMENT Version, which is a full exchange of parts in all areas, replacing inexpensive op amps, utilizing Active Tube Loads, stabilizing the tubes into the 4/6 MHZ region, generally unheard of.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Tvad, yes the amp is still integrated but it also allows bypassing the line stage. Briefly I used the line stage. While it is okay, it is not state-of-the-art. I must say that I was surprised by this. It may suggest how superior the H-Cat is.

At the RMAF I heard the Statement amp driven by the Exemplar cd player and the Exemplar external power supply linestage. The speakers were the LSA Model 10s. All I can say is wow, but the speakers are beyond my means.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Thanks for the info, Tbg. You're the first to comment on the Exemplar/LSA system at RMAF. Which Exemplar CD player was being used. You may or may not recall I am using an Exemplar Denon 3910 with the balanced output option.

It's interesing to me that you bypassed the linestage of the LSA Statement amp (and that LSA Group did the same at RMAF). Not insofar as I doubt your preference because I don't, but rather because I thought this was the primary area of improvment/redesign by John Tucker to the LSA integrated.
loudandclear
79 posts
 
I highly recommend a used Audio Research 100.2

Do a search on these forums for some incredible testimonials!

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1149377337&read&3&4&

Good Luck!
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