Personal amp evolution

Hold on to your hats- lots of experience and insight to share. Have had many amps that I have owned, bought and sold.

Bias- I have owned and listened to many amps over the last 29 years. Do not listen to the mags, the reviews, the advertisements- you just have to go and listen. Very well designed tube amplifiers (and there are only a few manuafacturers out there that do it right) just convey a more enjoyable listening experience. Solid state amps can provide clean sound with great bass and dynamics. What they cannot provide is a solid, full sounding mid-range that has real texture and depth to it. They sound electronic!

Now for the amps I have owned.

I will asterik the ones that are definite keepers!

Kenwood KA-701 Integrated
Hafler 200
Apt One
Denon PMA 500 and PMA 700
Quicksilver KT88 - three sets of amps
NAD 2600
Quicksilver M-60
Berning EA-230 * great for mini-monitors
Berning EA-2101
Bryston 3B NRB
Bryston 4B NRB
YBA 3 DT - Two diff amps- one Alpha and one Delta
Berning EA-2100 Two amps *
YBA Integre - Two Different Alpha versions *
Linn Klout
Bel Canto Orfeo SE2 845 SET Mono Amps *
Music Reference RM-9 MK1 Two Amps *

Keepers:
The Berning EA-230 is great for mini monitors- natural timbre, soundstage and sense of air around instruments. It cannot provide adequate bass for full size speakers though.

The Berning EA-2100 - same as EA-230 but with more power, like the Ea-230- hybrid design by a designer who knows his stuff.

YBA Integre- Alpha, Delta, Sigma- they all sound the same- best buy for sweet grainless solid state- but do not have the texture and body of tubes.

Bel Canto Orfeos - 30 watts of SET power- think of a 300B amp with gusto- not good with speakers with over done crossovers- with others- pure sound delight.

Music Reference RM-9 - a ballsy, natural sounding tube amp that gets voices right and whose dynamics give you the feeling of live music.

If I had to keep only one of these amps- regardless of power and based on sound and build quality, reliability, flexibilty - I would pick the Music Reference RM-9. It can drive anything, easy to care for and built to last. Above all- it makes you forget about all this silly amp hype and you just get into the music.

Hope my two cents help someone else out there.

1975: Sansui 771 reciever (a fantastic piece)
1980: Sansui integrated (not nearly as good as the 771)
1992: Carver TFM 45 (oh my goodness, I thought this was the holy grail)
2002: Carver Silver 9t monoblocks (holy grail #2)
2003: Sunfire Signature (very good, but I preferred the Carver monoblocs
2004: Carver Silver 9t monoblocks again (bought 2 pairs of them to biamp....holy grail #3)
2006: Pass Labs X-600 (I bought 2 pairs to use in a biamp config.)

Until the Pass Labs amps, I had been in mid-fi and didn't know it. The Pass Labs amps made me see the light.

Started with Akai, then Cosmic and then Pulz (both Indian make), then Parasound 2205, and now Gamut M200 x 2.. planning for Karan Acoustics

Started with Jadis, now ends with Cayin.
Had to move on to the best, if you know what I mean.

How you like then apples, Trejla.
hehe....
Respectfully
paul

Back to tubes again, should have never left! Will this ever stop??

Akai Receiver
Nakamichi Stasis Receiver
Van Alstine Omega III 440HC
Electrocompaniet ECI-4 SE Integrated Amp
Spectron Musician II
Parasound Halo JC-1
ASL Hurricane 200DT
Berning ZH270
Joule Electra VZN-100
Plinius SA-102
Ayre V-5X
BAT VK-600 w/BP
McCormack DNA-500
Conrad Johnson Premiere 350SA
BAT VK-500 w/BP (currently own, favorite SS amp)
Dodd 120 tube monoblocks (ahhhhh toobz! EL34-based, borrowed these from a friend for 3 weeks, loved 'em, ordered 'em, now have to wait a couple months for my very own pair. Sweet!)