Have you tried class A?
Krell KMA and BAT 150 were my next amps, and they were all Class A. The midrange of BAT was getting to a level very close to 300B, but they were less “accurate “ and sounded on the warm side.
I’m surprised myself that I’m very happy with my current PSA M1200 which is Class D. I’m waiting for PSA’s next generation of M1800. Paul is working on them right?
My very first “real” amplifier was a Bedini 25/25 pure Class A miracle. Beautiful, beautiful sound. To this day I regret selling it.
Yeah, gonna be tough to beat the mid-range performance of a well implemented 300B
Best,
-JP
I’ve replaced my BHK 250 with a 7 wpc Dennis Had Inspire 300B-V. No downsides so far, only glorious midrange and imaging.
(It’s a testament to the BHK 250 that its sonic presentation is very close to the 300B amp, which I found somewhat surprising.)
I am finding a similar “magic” with my Conrad Johnson pre & power amps and the BHK/M1200 combo.
There are a few guys on the Decware forum that use a space tech lab super rectifier with the Decware equipment and all reviews so far say it was a big step up in sound quality.
Yes, I’ve been following that closely–I’ve been on that forum since nearly the beginning. I don’t think I’m going that route to be honest. Seems a little “too much” for me, and I really love the sound I’m getting right now with either a Sophia Electric Aqua II 274B or an old Zenith 5U4G rectifier among all those I’ve tried, and I’m lacking very very little. If I were to make a change it would be towards another SDFB as these are really something.
I don’t own any Decware equipment, but I do own some space tech lab equipment including the super tube rectifier 104 mk2 which did make a huge positive difference in my system. I actually thought it was going to only make a small difference when I purchased it, turned out to be one of the biggest differences I’ve ever heard in my system.
Cool. Thanks for weighing in. I’ll put it on the way back burner for whenever another ship comes in. One may never, but as Fats used to say “One never knows do one?” It also presents a problem as far as rack space and outlet space in the system. Nothing is easy.
Another really interesting product of his is the analog component said to add adjustable subwoofer depth to speakers.
I read some user reviews of his virtual subwoofer, very positive as well. He also has a couple of dac’s that use tubes as part of the upsampling process.
My speakers are super efficient (LaScala), ± 100dB. So I definitely don’t need much power, but to help prove your point, I don’t have that much either.
I’m using a First Watt F2J with a whopping 5W. I’m not sure I ever really go beyond the first 2W.
Its better than my XA25, my SIT3 and my J2.
I think its the best bang for buck piece of audio gear I ever bought.
Nelson is as much an artist as an engineer. I’ve owned many of his amps and every one has a personality that is distinctive enough to own several.
I love my XA25 (which I just gave to my nephew) and also X250.8 and my XA100.5 monoblocks.
But lately, I just can’t stop listening to my little F7.
The synergy is huge… Many have been down that road. My Zu DW6 Supremes and a little Cayin 10w EL84 tube amp and Cayin 220Ti FM Tuner do just that… Favorite Jazz station out of Detroit, WRCJ, sounds better than streaming by lightyears. Spent the monies on a good antenna.
My Michi X5 was something ridiculous like 500wpc and my Quicksilvers are 40. Both played really loud. Unless you got very low efficiency, most power ratings seem irrelevant.
I have no idea what my current amp will do. I think its just 90wpc but it is described as:
The power amplifier section features a Accuphase specialty, namely the MCS+ topology in combination with current feedback, ensuring outstanding S/N ratio and superior electrical performance characteristics.
The output stage for each channel uses three pairs of high-power transistors with a Pc rating of 220 watts, arranged in a parallel push-pull configuration. This ensures low output impedance. As demonstrated by the power rating of 500 watts per channel into 1 ohm (music signals only), the P-4200 can easily drive speakers with very low impedance, and speakers with uneven impedance curves are also handled with aplomb.
Output relays have been replaced by MOS-FET switches that combine excellent reliability with highly pure amplification. Redesigned output coils and other features result in lower energy losses and allow a drastic improvement of the damping factor to 500.
- Output stage with triple parallel push-pull configuration for each channel delivers high power down to very low impedance loads
- Instrumentation amplifier principle used in input stage
- MCS+ circuit and current feedback topology in amplification stage
- Bridged connection mode allows upgrading to monophonic amplifier
- Strong power supply with massive high-efficiency toroidal transformer and large filtering capacitors
- 4-stage gain control