the altec is a lightning quick and extremely bright , but a great ss amp in the price range for them is a non understood amp cheap, used, excellent new,,,panache by portal, but if that is too far out there and want a more recognized manufact. , then by all means by a musical fidelity, conrad johnson makes a great s.s. and so does cary, also, look at bryston, unison...
Advice Moving from Tube Integrated
Greetings,
I'm currently using a tube integrated, which I recently bought new, to power my custom loudspeakers that are based on the Altec 604 driver. Benign impedance, and high efficiency are earmarks of this driver.
I sold my Parasound Halo power amplifer, and Sonic Frontiers SFL-1 preamp to buy the tube integrated, and now I'm very sorry, to say the least. While 250/wpc was overkill for this system, there was an ease and lack of strain, which I attributed to the headroom available with the amplifier.
I believe that integrateds have made their way up the chain to where they compete with separates, so I'm looking for a solid state integrated in the 100/wpc range, and in the $1,800 - $2,000 price category.
By the way, is anyone familiar with the "ICE" amplifiers? I understand they can be quite good when matched with the right speakers.
Thanks in advance!
I'm currently using a tube integrated, which I recently bought new, to power my custom loudspeakers that are based on the Altec 604 driver. Benign impedance, and high efficiency are earmarks of this driver.
I sold my Parasound Halo power amplifer, and Sonic Frontiers SFL-1 preamp to buy the tube integrated, and now I'm very sorry, to say the least. While 250/wpc was overkill for this system, there was an ease and lack of strain, which I attributed to the headroom available with the amplifier.
I believe that integrateds have made their way up the chain to where they compete with separates, so I'm looking for a solid state integrated in the 100/wpc range, and in the $1,800 - $2,000 price category.
By the way, is anyone familiar with the "ICE" amplifiers? I understand they can be quite good when matched with the right speakers.
Thanks in advance!