3-Way Crossover's and Amp selection?


I am having my Modified NEAR M50's with an Outboard Active Crossover Network being setup now and am wondering what I might use for Amps.I will be getting used amps.

First I have a Question pertaining to using Tubes.
Why are Tubes normally used to drive the Tweeter's when all the things I have read associate tubes for magnificent Midrange ,but that they Cutoff the extension of both Bass and High Frequency extreme's? It would sound to me that they would be better used to for the Midrange driver's and use SS for the Tweeter's and Bass Driver's.

The Amps I have gotten feedback to use for the NEARs which are Metal Driver's are.

White Audio\Llano
Atma-Sphere's
Aragon
Krell
Mark Lev's
Monarchy's

I have a Modified B&K ST-202 that I will use either on the tweeter's or Midrange driver's.

What amps that are economical would you think would be good matches to use in a Vertical Amp configuration.It was only recently that I decided on using a 3-Way Active for my setup.

Any thought's or experiences would be helpful.

TIA,ABEX
abex

Showing 1 response by zaikesman

I'm not gonna make any recommendations, but I will say that tube amps will not necessarily 'cut off' your HF extension, or even your LF extension in many cases. Depends entirely on the amps in question, but there are lots of great tube amps which are known for their top octaves as well as their midrange. Remember, the division of the audioband into three 'ranges' is entirely arbitrary and without basis in physics, and any great amp must really be capable of covering the complete spectrum, or very close to it, with naturalness and cohesion from top to bottom. A design, whether tube or SS, which can only do great bass or great midrange, cannot really be considered a great amplifier, and I wouldn't use tri-amping with an outboard crossover as a bandaid to try and get around this. Your speakers and system will probably only sound their best if there is some kind of sonic consistency maintained across the spectrum, and running very different amps in the range above the low bass likely won't get you there.