2. amps-preamps
  3. 1221604868

Powerful Tube Amp for SF Strads?

I am looking for recommendations for a powerful tube amp for my Strads. A powerful tube amp which truly excels at palpability, musicality but also has very good bass control (though bass control is not as 'mission critical' to me as palpability).

My current amp (see below) sounds great to my ears!...but runs out of steam much too soon.

My system today:

Zanden 5000S DAC
CJ Act 2
CJ MV60 (EL 34 tube)
SF Strads (4ohms, 92db sensitivity though impedence does dip to 2.5ohms)
Velodyne DD-18 (run in parallel)
Transparent Ref/Ref XL cabling throughout
Purist Audio Dominus PC

In addition to recommendations, any thoughts are welcome on Wavac, Audio Note, Zanden, VTL, CJ LP275...or monoblocking MV60 (EL34)? Thanks!

Lloydelee21
lloydelee21
tuboo
93 posts
 
thanks for sharing experiences.
800 watts is a lot, i used to own Atma MA2 which eat up 800 watts each channel..
but a reasonable household vacuumcleaner will eat up 1.5kW and sounds very bad too.
very clever thinking of Mr Rasmussen to implement the various Class A bias range.
i had just the same experience with the Pass XA30 amp here. at lower volumes it sounded sweet, but the moment i really crancked it, it turned to a nasty SS.
btw Pass has a great article on 'Class A' at his website. a must read.
this http://www.tubedepot.com/whisbipo.html is a must read too and a great way of showing how class A works.

keep em spinning :-)
lloydelee21 OP
1,202 posts
 
Thanks Tuboo. I will say on full Class A, the sound does not harden at full volumes. But it will on the lower biases when class B starts to get introduced...just slightly. Of course, once you get to a certain point, it is these very slight changes which are important in the never-ending search for 'true sound". I am doing some reading on the Less Loss. Thanks for the advice!
emre
8 posts
 
Hi,
I am a little bit late to comment on this thread. I have used for 3 years SF Strad & Gryphon Antileon Signature combo. I was very pleased with overall presentation, speed,and bass handling. But last year I have switched to MBL 9008A monos, they are utterly out of the league. Its a little bit on the dark side but neverthless dynamics, soundstage depth and harmonics are much much better than gryphon.
emre
lloydelee21 OP
1,202 posts
 
Hi Emre...great system!!! It would be fun to compare the sounds of our systems which share some components and 'themes' (Strads and Class A/very high quality SS) but have important differences as well (DCS/Valhalla vs Zanden/Transparent Ref). I noted your 'upgrade plan'...what are you thinking for speakers after Strad? I am contemplated (someday...) Alexandria 2, Rockport Arrakis/Hyperion. That said, there is something about the Strads at the moment where I am in no rush at all to upgrade. I was very impressed with YG but would be very careful to listen to system synergy for that one because it is so precise a speaker. Thanks for your thoughts!!!
polk432
1,142 posts
 
If you get Cary V12 mono's get the V12R. Be prepared for very hot running amps. They are very powerful! I just traded my V12R stereo amp in on a new Cary 120S and the sound is better than the V12R and a Mac275 I sold last year. Bias is easy to set on the 120S (just a screwdriver, the meters are on the front) and it can handle loads from 2-16 ohms. It also puts out only about 1/5th the heat. You owe it to yourself to listen to one. Good luck.
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