If a component is transparent to the recording, then there is no reason it cannot sound warm, if such is the quality of the recording.
Mercury Living Presence recordings can sound quite warm, and are ALSO extremely transparent. I've owned a good deal of expensive equipment, and while some equipment that is neutral AND transparent is "cool" (i.e, Spectral MCR cartridges, the Van den Hul Grasshopper, early Clearaudios), there are other components that are both transparent and warm (if the recording reflects it). This would include the Versa Dynamics 2.3 turntable, MIT CVT interconnects, VAC Renaissance 70/70.
Conrad Johnson's current line is warm, but due to a recessed treble in products such as the Classic and ET 3, are transparent - to a point. With a slightly dull treble, transient information, separation of instruments and utter clarity in the bass will suffer. However, if you have an interconnect that is slightly bright, but the rest of your system is "neutral," the interconnect can actually cause more separation and make the soundstage sound as though, rather than the front rows being light by 100 watt bulbs, and the back rows by 50 watt bulbs, the entire soundstage will seem as though it was lit by 100 watt bulbs, an interesting discovery I made when I bought a pair of Frey 2 interconnects, which I got at the same time as a pair of Nola Contenders, which have excellent treble resolution. Initially, the sound was forward, but phenomenally natural with an utter lack of grain. However, as the interconnect broke in, the back rows had less separation and tone color. And tonal richness will sound "warm."
A fascinating discovery.
A Goldmund Mimesis 9 amp, which I owned for 3 years in the early 90s, was the epitome of transparency, but was not, in and of itself, "warm." HOWEVER, when combined with MIT interconnects, which are very full thru from the bass thru the midrange, the sound was both transparent AND warm. (MIT and Spectral products were, at one time, designed to work with each other, and Spectral products were most definitely on the "cool" side of neutral. This means that the MIT would 'flesh out' the Spectral components if they were ahead of them in the chain.)
One most certainly can have warm - but not 'romantic,' sound, which is a better word to use than 'warm,' which means nothing. If I understand the original poster's question, it sounds like he simply did not want a 'cold' - sounding component.
Mercury Living Presence recordings can sound quite warm, and are ALSO extremely transparent. I've owned a good deal of expensive equipment, and while some equipment that is neutral AND transparent is "cool" (i.e, Spectral MCR cartridges, the Van den Hul Grasshopper, early Clearaudios), there are other components that are both transparent and warm (if the recording reflects it). This would include the Versa Dynamics 2.3 turntable, MIT CVT interconnects, VAC Renaissance 70/70.
Conrad Johnson's current line is warm, but due to a recessed treble in products such as the Classic and ET 3, are transparent - to a point. With a slightly dull treble, transient information, separation of instruments and utter clarity in the bass will suffer. However, if you have an interconnect that is slightly bright, but the rest of your system is "neutral," the interconnect can actually cause more separation and make the soundstage sound as though, rather than the front rows being light by 100 watt bulbs, and the back rows by 50 watt bulbs, the entire soundstage will seem as though it was lit by 100 watt bulbs, an interesting discovery I made when I bought a pair of Frey 2 interconnects, which I got at the same time as a pair of Nola Contenders, which have excellent treble resolution. Initially, the sound was forward, but phenomenally natural with an utter lack of grain. However, as the interconnect broke in, the back rows had less separation and tone color. And tonal richness will sound "warm."
A fascinating discovery.
A Goldmund Mimesis 9 amp, which I owned for 3 years in the early 90s, was the epitome of transparency, but was not, in and of itself, "warm." HOWEVER, when combined with MIT interconnects, which are very full thru from the bass thru the midrange, the sound was both transparent AND warm. (MIT and Spectral products were, at one time, designed to work with each other, and Spectral products were most definitely on the "cool" side of neutral. This means that the MIT would 'flesh out' the Spectral components if they were ahead of them in the chain.)
One most certainly can have warm - but not 'romantic,' sound, which is a better word to use than 'warm,' which means nothing. If I understand the original poster's question, it sounds like he simply did not want a 'cold' - sounding component.