Is there a Solid State amp that can satisfy a SET guy?


Have been a SET guy for so long I have forgotten what a good SS amp even sounds like.
Just bought a pair of $33k speakers that will replace my current $16k speakers. Both are from the same designer and both are 92db and a flat 8 ohms. The new ones arrive in 4 days!
My 300B based amps well drive my current speakers even though I do use the system nightly as a 2 channel home theater. Especially considering the HT usage, I think I may enjoy a SS amp with many times the horsepower. The speaker designer suggests using a Leema Hydra II. I have written to Leema telling them of my 300B preference and they assure me that their amp does not have the destructive harmonics that make a SS amp bright. There must be other SS amps that can satisfy?
mglik

Showing 6 responses by jtgofish

The vast majority of SS will not sound like a SET because they are electrically very different.Bakoon amplifiers sound a lot like a SET.A very very good SET.And that is most probably because they operate much more like a SET electrically -no negative feedback/high output impedance/current drive.Although the unique SATRI circuit probably also contributes to that sort of sound.I sold my SET and stopped using my other tube amps when I bought a Bakoon.But like a SET they have to be used with speakers with a highish and flattish impedance to sound their best. Although in my experience they are not nearly as fussy about speakers as the typical SET.
There is a review which compares the SIT-3 with a Bakoon.They are both great and dedicated to absolute purity of sound but go about it in slightly different ways.The Bakoon is arguably more SET like in its operation .As I understand it they are both basically current drive amplifiers but Pass has deliberately added some voltage drive .SET amps are considered to be quasi current drive.Whatever that means.Just about all SS amps are voltage drive.
I have owned a Pass Labs F5 and a friend owned an Aleph 3.Very decent sounding amps if a bit boring.Nothing like a good SET in sound though .Even with a very good 300B preamp driving them.The Bakoons are in totally different league .
I have a Supratek Cabernet 300B preamp.I was using that with a pair of Bakoon 5515M 50 watt monoblock amplifiers which were unfortunately not mine and had to be returned to the owner.That was a wonderful sounding combination .
This is actually developing into really good thread.I suspect a lot of the posters here really do have good sounding systems.And I am not talking in the "hi fi" sounding sense.And that is perhaps what is great about SETs.I know that if I am going to listen to a system using a good a SET I know I am likely to hear some great music.Not just some soulless "audiophile " pap.Perhaps another way of rephrasing the original title could be-"If you like SETs what other amplifiers do you also enjoy listening to" .In my case it is the Bakoons.Indeed that is exactly how I would describe them.Which does not mean they sound exactly like a good SET.They don't but they have the musical essence of a really good SET. But I am sure there are others and it is great to hear about them.
Yes the Bakoons are wonderful.Some audiophiles might not get themĀ  because they are not adding anything but if you really love music you will.They have immaculate timing so everything just gels together musically and sounds right and that is combined with very high resolution of all kinds of subtle little details that lesser amplifiers smear together.These traits are especially obvious with well recorded piano .