quicksilver v4 monoblocks

I agree on the older QS, and somewhat more tubey then the V4s. I no longer own QS, but I'm a big fan of both the product and the straightforward approach to design and promotion taken by Mike Sanders. That being said, Ralph Karsten's amps are well worth considering, if your speakers are OTL friendly.

wonderful, natural sounding amplifiers. i was at first worried that they would not be able o drive my sonus faber guarneri memento's, but no problem there. preamplification is a vtl 5.5. i am very happy with this combination. it is so much better than my other amplifier, a musical fidelity kw500 integrated. i have experimented with cables. the quicksilver silver loudspeaker cable gives you the smoothest, most natural results. short runs of kimber 4tc also is quite good, but the sound is more forward and not as silky smooth.

I have been using the V4's for several years (fitted with KT-90's), paired with an Audio Research Ref 1 preamp and running Magnepan 3.6's, which demand significant, quality power. This is one of the few components I rarely think of upgrading. They are powerful, with excellent base and mid range, with a huge sound stage. I highly recommend them.

I am running vandersteen 5a's with them before that 2ce they are the one part of my system that has stayed the same. They are reliable work well and sound great. I have herd some different amps maybe even better but as stated again at 3 x the cost and then they have more tubes and are less reliable. I did traid in my single ended V4's and bought 3 balanced ones for my frount 3 channels, what does that tell you when my upgrade is the same thing. I highly recomend them. If you can do balanced go that way. Just keep a couple extra tubs on hand.

I don't know if it is still the case, but I'm pretty sure Richard Vandersteen used the Quicksilvers for his home system, if true, it tells you what a guy with a pretty good ear thinks of QS - hard to beat for the money when you need 100 or more tube watts. Music Reference RM200 would be the other amp I would consider in the same basic price category.