an amp without "electronic" sound

As Nate mentioned, you should definitley put the Red Wine Audio 30.2 or 70.2 on the top of your audition list!

Good luck,

Jeff

Toufu, the short answer is 'yes', but I would not automatically assume that all triode and all class A amps will be 'clean' and neutral. Re-read my post again- one thing about SETs and push-pull transformer coupled amplifiers is that the larger you build them, the harder it is to get the output transformer to have full bandwidth.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but having an 845 I am assuming that your amplifier is an SET. 845s make a bit more power, in fact that is very large for an SET, and it is also very difficult to get wide bandwidth with such an amplifier. Fifteen to twenty watts may not sound like a lot, but for an SET it is. The best sounding SETs will be 7 watts or less.

Fifteen years ago the 300b power tube was the reigning star- with them you can make an amp that is more or less 7 watts. That was supplanted 7-10 years ago by the 2A3, which is about 3-5 watts. Nowadays the 45 is the big news, and that's only good for a watt or two.

That's what I meant about needing high efficiency speakers. If you have speakers that are less than 103 db or so, its very difficult to experience what these amps have to offer.

While I prefer tubes, I would say the Pass XA.5 series (Class A, little NFB)have a lot of the what I enjoy about tubes. I regret having sold it (XA30.5). I think you will find much of the same qualities in the Ayre gear as well.

Dave, even in the highest echelon you can hear clear differences between amps. With some of the amplifiers that have ultra high resolution you do not only hear the beginning and decay of tones but it's as if there is "air" or texture surrounding the notes even prior to the beginning of the sound. Take a guitar player. With a high resolution amplifier you can hear all the notes and decay of tones but with the ultra high resolution amp you hear tiny movements of the air molecules (probably caused by the movement of the guitar player's arm or change in his body position). This is what I actually mean by ultra high resolution, not the hyperdetailed scratchy treble that is the hype today. If you hear this phenomenon once you will never forget the sound. Many high end manufacturers are not able to achieve this sound quality even when they have the financial resources to make it happen. I know you'll probably condemn me because of serious bluntness and narrow-mindedness but I'm only trying to describe some phenomena I've encountered during listening sessions.

Chris

No, not at all Chris. I think we're actually on the same wave-length, so to speak and no pun intended. I myself want TOTAL resolution, with no added "hyperdetail" or unrealistic treble, but also no euphonic colorations. With my recent move to Rowland I think I've gotten very near. I need more weeks of listening to validate my early impressions.

The question comes to my mind, since you know so much and seem to have a well thought out position, based on apparent actual listening experience, then what do you think meets your criteria as the OP here??? (I'm not poking you my friend, this is a real question).

Dave