Solid state amp that tube fan can be happy with?


For a few reasons I'd like to replace my EL34 mono blocks with a stereo SS amp producing 100-250 watts at 8 ohms.  Also with at least 40K input impedance since I'll keep my tube line stage.

No local dealers to audition candidates.

Thanks

pryso

Showing 2 responses by atmasphere

And my line stage has RCA outputs so prefer not to need adaptors for balanced amp inputs.

I'll repeat, I have reasons for a stereo amp so no mono blocs considered.  Also I don't expect SS to sound just like tubes, but I'd like a bit of sonic warmth and fullness.

I expected some suggestions for Class D but I've never heard one and no local auditions available.  So that would definitely need to be new with return option.

@pryso FWIW Dept: Class D amps don't run warm so you can stack them if you like so the mono or stereo thing isn't so important. Also FWIW our class D has both balanced and single-ended inputs and we allow for a return. The amps seem to take a while to break in; about 450 hours so we allow for a long audition time with them than we do with our tube stuff.

@pryso There are class D amps now that are smooth and detailed through the mids and highs like an excellent tube amplifier- so much that its hard to go back to tubes.