i am looking to replace my Krell with tube amps,

Thanks for all your feedback,
Do any one have Ayon Orthos ii? Is much cheaper than Tenor for a demo set. Ayon Orthos ii is 250watts price about $18000 vs Tenor 175s probably around $33,000 demo. i am leaning towards Ayon. Will try one in Seattle store.

There are a pair of VTL sigfrieds for sale in Seattle on this site. Those would have plenty of power and sound fantastic. I have heard them powering a pair of Wilson Alexandia at a dealer some time ago and was very impressed. I'm not a fan of Wilsons but that combo was sweet.

I have no assosiation with the seller but suspect that it is the Dealer that I heard them at.

The VTL Sigfrieds are sweet if you have the dough. I'd have to second that option. Manley also puts out some pretty powerful tube amps that should be a bit cheaper.

Hi Mrmitch

I see you have experience with Joule Electra,
there is a sale in audiogon VZN220, what do think of this mono block amps.
Do anyone have this Joule amps, i read in audiogon some same is problematic,

i know tube amps burn out tube fast.
i have now Aesthetix Callisto Eclipse and is very good combination with Krell FPB600.
But the asking price of VNZ220 looks attractive but is almost 9 years old.
Any comment anyone?
Chris

The two best amps I have heard are a valve and a high powered digital. Valve amps shine on vocals; Dianna Krall, Sinatra, Adele all sound divine. I was with a guy who had never really heard a valve amp before and we played some of that stuff on the digital amp - very good - but we put my valve amp on - his eyes went wide - he couldn't believe how much better the vocals were - so real live and present. But just to make the point it is source dependent we put on some Dire Straights - Private Investigations. The voice is at low volume in that track so you really have to wind it up to hear it over the music which tests the dynamics and power of your amp. Nice on the valve amp - no question - but when we put the high power digital on - no contest - the dynamics of the background and overall ease of the entire performance was way better.

Bottom line here - what do you listen to - rock, heavy metal , classical or a wide variety of music - get high power SS. Listen mostly to Jazz and vocals (as I do) - the valve vamp is the go. I also listen to a lot of 2ch HT so the valve amp is out for me - darn - but it is divine.

Oh and I want to add both those amps in the comparison are ultra high end - both those amps easily blow away MAC 501's for example which aren't easy.

Thanks
Bill