The best I’ve heard are by Nic Poulson, who started by creating IsoTek (mains conditioning and regeneration) in the 1980s and then Trilogy Audio in the 1990s. Some is pure solid state, some hybrid. The last I heard were the 995R mono blocks, which can be run in either pure class A or class AB, plus an eco mode.
Personally I’ve tried tube amplification and for me the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. One disadvantage of the 995R is that they cost £22,500, about $30,000.
As far as the attractiveness of a warm glow and some heat, I’d rather buy some fairy lights for $10 and turn on the heating. I don’t buy audio for a lighting display.
My system has solid state MC preamplification built in, but I just bought the upgrade of the EAR 834P, now called the EAR Phonobox. It has three valves hidden inside and sounds very nice indeed. Adds a little sonic warmth and is dead quiet.
I’m not much of a tube roller but do have a couple of the BHK preamps running and a set of BHK 300’s that I haven’t hooked up yet. The BKH preamp had a tube with a few hundred hours on it degrade and it took a while for me to figure out what was wrong with the sound.
With that said I would like to see a solid state amp with a “tube sound setting” that can be digitally or mechanically adjusted. Then you would have the smooth sound everyone seems to want and none of the life / pop / hiss / hum / rush issues that tubes tend to have sooner or later.
Being an engineer I hate variables that adjust themselves. Just sayin’.
I just got the BHK preamp and BHK 300s (already had the dac and direct memory player) and Focal Sopra 2s. Six glorious tubes. But that is not my only “problem.” I also have the Prima Luna Dialogue preamp and 2 HP amps which were previously coupled to Focal 1028 Bes. Lots and lots of tubes. Oh how I love it.
Now for my real problem. Do I keep the PLs in my dedicated listening room, or move them to a smaller second room with the 1028s? Its madness I tell you, madness. But I don’t need no stinken intervention…
I like Prima Luna because they took a very commercial decision about 10 years ago to retain all design and administration in the Netherlands, but to move manufacturing to China with their own Dutch production managers and quality control staff based in China. This ensured quality and a very competitive price, plus designs with decent power using KT120 tubes.
The Focal Sopra 2, a lovely speaker and very popular here in the UK, are 91dB and very easy to drive, as are the 1028 Be. It would be interesting to hear if the BHK are any better than the PL, especially at the low end.
I’ve relocated a couple of months ago and am just getting the room acoustically treated. It’s 19 x 23 x 8 feet over a poured concrete slap and floating wood floor. I’ve got a couple of 8 x 10 rugs set down over felt pads. That was mandatory for the slap echo. Just got some GIK tri-corner bass traps after a 8 week wait due to the covid virus. A huge improvement. Now to get the real traps back up, add some diffusion panels and then seriously dial in speaker positions.
After all that work, the fun will really begin and I’ll let you know about the low end with some a/b testing. I will also do a/b testing on the HP amps with different power tubs. Right now, I have no regrets with either PL or PS audio paired with the sopra 2s. I really like the focal sound paired with the PS DAC and DMP.
I also have a VPI prime signature TT with a Soundsmith Paua cartridge that I need to get back up and running. Love vinyl! Just getting into digital with an Aries G2.1. Never knew there was so much great music out there. Streaming was a real revelation.
Aries G2.1 seems to be very popular and I find them a very innovative company. Had two of their streamers, my son still has one of them.
I have a Soundsmith Zephyr Mk3 as one of my two cartridges in use. It is high output and uses the same aluminium cantilever as in the Paua Mk2. It’s a fabulous cartridge.
I had less luck with GIK panels - after a week my wife told me in no uncertain terms to remove them from the house before she did!
You have two excellent systems! Congrats. The newly acquired hybrids will give you the best of both worlds. However, fatigue free sound (as per your own benchmark) is the best thing to have in your main listening room.
Thank you serhan62. I achieved that in my prior listening room. It was about 14 x 14 x 8. But the back wall opened up into large open spaces on both sides of my listening position. Only 2/3s of a wall was there, so bass control was good. Still have a lot of work to do with this new space, but the potential is slowly coming out!
You don’t have to spend $30,000 on a tube pre-amp and amp to get great tube sound. I bought a fantastic tube line stage and tube amp custom made by a guy in Canada for about $5500 that sound freaking awesome…they sound so good that I don’t even think about upgrading line stages or amps any more.
I have a modified TV 7 A/U…If I didn’t have one, I would buy a TV 7 D/U. The stock TV 7 A/U is not great with small signal tubes…some unstable readings. Hence the modification. My older brother is a wizard with the things. I just know how to measure the tubes.
That series is what I have experience with. Circa 1950s/1960
I had a thing called an Art Audio Jota, 300B-XLS SET, silver wired, Sowter transformers, etc. Bought second hand and pimped by the manufacturer (actually a man in a shed). They just couldn’t do proper bass, run very hot and you just hope the valves don’t need replacing.
Hello Speed-racer. I fully agree with you on not having to spend 30k. Matching room acoustics with a good sounding speaker is a first order effect. Matching the amp to the speaker is next. That’s the magic! BTW, what tubes are you using in the line stage and amp?