I am TORN between Tube power amp and SS power amp.


I planned on running my Hagerman Clarinet with either my Hafler DH-500 (looking at "Ultimate" Audiophile Upgrade sold on Ebay at $975.00 - complete upgrade from power caps, driver boards to Exicon MOSFETs, which has "rave reviews") or building DIY VTA ST-120 which will cost a bit more. Does anyone had an experience on both of these amps? I know comparing tube and SS is like comparing apples and oranges, but hoping your feedback may help me decide. Cheers!
rodulfo23

Showing 2 responses by kalali

rodulfo, the SET amp you mentioned raises three red flags; input impedance of 50K ohms, 9.2 wpc power, and the weight of ~25lbs. Normally the weight of a SET 300B is a good indication of the quality of the transformers which are the most critical (and expensive) component of the unit. And the 9.2 wpc will be just enough to tickle the woofers on the L100. 
If the 91dB mentioned above is the sensitivity, then all that speaker needs is 1 watt to produce 91dB sound level at 1 meter. So there's no surprise that a 12 wpc amp can and will sound loud (clear is a subjective term) enough in a moderately small room. Other factors, which one could argue that are more important, are the speaker's efficiency as well as the way its impedance behaves across its frequency spectrum. Throw a piece of content with wide dynamic range and lots of transients, something like a large orchestral western classical music content, and the weaknesses become glaringly clear. Vocals, single instrumentals, and small bands like jazz trios, etc., not so much.