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Impressed with Tubes

For the first time, I auditioned a pair of Paradigm Reference Studio 100s run through a Rogue Perseus tube preamp & a Rotel RB1080 S/S power amp. Prior to that, I have never auditioned a tube preamp. Wow! What a difference! A richer, more integrated sound with the Rogue Perseus compared to S/S alternatives. Now that I am hooked on tubes, a few quick questions:

(1) Would there be a significant difference if I went with a tube power amp as well?

(2) Compared to the Rogue Perseus, has anyone had any experience with the Rogue Metis preamp?

(3) Other recommendations for tube preamps?

I am having a ball doing research for a new 2-channel system. And listening to a tubed component for the first time was a real treat!

Thank you for any help!

Kit
kitjv

Showing 2 responses by phaelon

phaelon
1,053 posts
 
"Keep in mind that if you are investing in tube power, your investment dollar will be better served by a speaker that is 8 ohms or more (particularly in the woofer region) than a speaker that is 4 ohms."

Hi Atmasphere,
I've always understood this to be true of OTLs but how significant is the high impedance issue with push-pull or SET amps. This has always been a little confusing to me because it seems that while almost all speakers are classified as either 4 or 8 ohm, impedance charts can show quite a bit of fluctuation. I would like to try an OTL with my 8 ohm Mini Utopias but I believe they dip to 4 ohm and I don't know where.

Regards
phaelon
1,053 posts
 
OK, you guys are making me feel pretty inferior here. Are you telling me that I should be able to listen to a specific speaker/amp combo and then determine that somewhere around say 180hz there is an impedance mismatch of 2ohms. Please don't tell me you're telling me that,LOL.

Regards,
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