Thank you Bobby, No problem with 30 Class A watts of the 21SE?
Monk, that is the second time I have heard someone recommend the Blue Circle line, I will explore that too. For someone coming from a Joule, that says a lot, the Joule has sounded fantastic every time I have heard at one of the shows. |
I was looking to upgrade my Joule 100w otl's, sonics wise - I listened to a LOT of stuff, and found the 200 series of amps from Blue Circle to best the Joule here (HUGE stage)... It is SS and way less heat. And as trouble/worry free as it gets... I can now leave my system on 24/7 on the weekends when I have time to listen. Not saying the Joule is bad, cause it is most certainly not! I just fell for the BC sounds is all. I wasn't looking to cut down the heat, or use something easier than the Joule... but that is a side benefit to the upgrade in sonics here! |
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paul, we have a number of people using the sugden with different versions of the tsm.
they all speak very highly of it.
b |
Perhaps changing the Merlins will yield the desired outcome. |
The Stellovox looks very interesting and I had never heard of it before. Might be problematic with tube and or passive linestages with its very low input impedance. The Sugden is one of that amps (as an integrated) that I have been very interested in, but not sure anyone has actually used them with Merlins, nevertheless they seem to be well thought of. LFD MKIII or IV also on my short list for consideration. |
I have owned the Merlin VSM's in a couple iterations and I have owned the two amps I am going to suggest...but I have not owned them together (amps and speakers) so my suggestions are based on educated guess as opposed to real experience.
The Bel 1001 MkV would likely be a good choice as Bobbie suggests...very good amp.
The Stellovox PW-1's would as well IMO....perhaps even better than the Bel.
I have used the Stellovox with many speakers that were only supposed to work well with tube amps and the Stellavox has been excellent in each case.
This of course does not assure that they will sound good with the Merlin, but if I were a betting man....
I have heard that the Golmund SRM 125 mono's are at least as good as the Stellovox but I have not heard them or owned them and they are rare and more expensive than the Stellovox. |
Check out the Sugden A21a or anything in the Sugden line. |
I don't think anything will sound better than the Atma-sphere with the Merlins (maybe Joule VZNs), so getting more out of them is not the goal. I would like to have a no fuss SS amp that I can use in the summer, without feeling like I've taken a big step down from the Atma-sphere. Prior to that I thought the CAT JL2 were fanatastic, but they generated even more heat than the M60s. Unfortuanatley I suspect that I will need Class A SS to be satisfied and that gives off a lot of heat as well. Looking back, I should have kept the Aleph Js. The amp Bobby P recommeded was the BEL 1001, but not easy to come by, and anyting but the MKV is getting a bit old on the capacitors. |
I just saw that you can get a pair of the TADs for $500 -- How is that possible? They do look interesting. |
The SS amps I've used include the Odyssey Stratos monos, Krell KSA 50s and TAD Hibachis. All worked very well, but I preferred the TADs over the Krell over the Odysseys. The TADs were also the least expensive choice.
That said, I too, prefer a good tube amp (I've tried Prima Luna 7s, ARC VT 130SE, Cary 300B and 805 mono SET amps, among others) with these speakers. The Hibachis are very satisfying, nonetheless.
Marty |
Paul
You are doing a lot of amp switching considering how you love the Merlins. Are you trying to get more out of them?
Jim |
That has been my experience too. I was hoping to see if someone who has used them with tubes (someting like the Joule, Atma, Berning, CAT or Fila) and found SS that they found to be just as good with their Merlins - might not be possible. |
I have had my Merlin vsm's since the 90's and from my own experience I can say that the best sound has always been with tube amps, especially my Atma-spheres. I took my Merlin's out of storage about a month ago when the weather got cool in Florida and I could live with the 1000 watts of heat that my amps put into the room,in another month I will go back to my Magnapan's with my sold state which runs 90% cooler. |
I was always pleased with the Plinius SA100 MkIII on my TSM-MX's. This was with a Reference Line passive and later with the Joule LA100 MkIII preamp.
I now have the Filarmonia integrated amp, but miss having my amp powered on 24/7 where I could sit for a quick listen anytime.
I know you're familiar with all of the "usual SS reco's" |
