100W+ solid-state amps known for beautiful mids

Having owned and auditioned lots of amazing SS amps over the last 50 years, while some are very good. If you want great midrange just get a tube amp. I stayed away for decades until finally Audio Researched produced the auto biasing and microprocessor controlled tube amp that had good tube life… Reference 160S. My question to myself has been, why didn’t I do this decades ago! My system is now all tubes, and it is more involving and satisfying than I ever imagined possible.

@gryphongryph I am using VTA SP14 which is the predecessor that Don Sach's is based on. My speakers are ATC SCM19. The founder of ATC, Billy Woodman recommends 100W+ with high damping factor on his speakers, so I'd like to adhere to his recommendations. For the reason, I think it's headroom, since transients require a lot of current.

@ghdprentice I believe that my speakers are incompatible with the vast majority of tube amps. I'm taking advice on amplifiers based on the ATC founder Billy Woodman, in that ATC speakers are best with 100w+ class a or ab solid state amplifiers with high damping factor. I think the problem is that most tube amps have extremely low damping factor, which apparently doesn't mate well with ATC speakers, though I have yet to try myself. So for now, I'd like to stick with a solid state power amp with a tube pre-amplifier to get at least some of the tube magic in! If that doesn't pan out, maybe I'll try one of those monster 100W+ tube amplifiers like the Rogue 100, and if that doesn't work, then I might move on from ATC and try something more tube friendly like ProAc bookshelves.

New Classe Delta, 12W in class A for stereo amp (30W for monoblocks I believe) sweetness, more dynamic, details and bass solidity than the tube-based ARC Reference setup it replaces without sacrificing on mid-range. There's a very thin line between the best tube offerings and the best SS ones at this price point. 

I suppose one could consider the speakers and cable as a part of a "sub-system" that would include the amp. Depending on that system, the excellent mid range performance you are seeking might take some experimentation. McCormack/SMc can help guide you. I would suggest the DNA series which can be tailored and upgraded as your needs change. McCormack have refined a fundamentally and technically sound design over a long period of time. I have not heard every SS amp, but I do not recall
any over the past 30 years that sounded "better."
You could go with a tube amp, but that can be costly over a period of time with necessary tube replacement. Good luck, happy listening!

@hedonism  What you are looking for is an amp with the right distortion signature. The warmth of the Pass is caused by a 2nd harmonic for example- similar to a lot of tube amps. If you talk to Nelson you'll find he's very aware of how the distortion signature affects the sound of an amp.

If you want solid state you're up against a real problem. Here's the engineering difficulty:
When you apply feedback to an amplifier circuit it will make distortion of its own while suppressing distortion in the amp. The added distortion is audible as harshness as brightness since its all higher ordered harmonics which the ear interprets in that way since it converts all forms of distortion into a tonality of some sort.


Now tube amps actually have more higher ordered harmonic distortion, but it is masked because tube amps also make a significant 2nd and 3rd harmonic which masks the presence of the higher orders. Getting a solid state amp to do this is a bit of a trick with traditional amplifier design.

However it turns out that class D offers a means around this- it turns out that if you used the right encoding scheme, that and the dead time used in the class D amp tend to result in lower ordered harmonics. A lot depends on the design! But if its done right, the result will be an amp with a distortion signature that masks the higher ordered harmonics, allowing for a very smooth midrange and highs with overall lower distortion than you can get out of a tube amp. IMO IME you're better off looking for such an amp- one example is the AGD Audion, which does make over 100 watts into 8 ohms so it should be enough power.