Croft versus EL-84 based amp

[mikecole]

I wasn't sure whether to tag this onto the end of the other Croft thread, but I didn't want hi-jack someone else's thread with my question. Feel free to move it.

I live in Florida and my listening room is facing south. It gets hot in there in the summer. I have a Leben CS300XS, and even though the EL-84s are tiny, they still add a lot of heat to the room after about an hour. I was thinking that something like the Croft Series 7 / Micro 25 might be preferable since it only has a few small signal tubes - and I just can't listen without having tubes somewhere in the mix. The Leben majors on musical flow, it is a great marriage of PRaT and tonality. The tubes give it that nice sense of weight and believability. I was wondering if the Croft combo had that same sort of sound presentation.

[DSJR]

All I can tell you is that in the best sense of the word, the 25/7 doesn't sound hugely "valvey." What I mean is, the absence of an output transformer makes all the difference in the real world of speakers with iffy impedance curves and amplifier bass-damping and soggy warmth isn't in its repertoir.

What the 7/25 has in spades is a genuine insight into the performance and the feelings, if any, of the musicians making the music. They measure well too, the Series 7 being reviewed well in HFN last year. The simple circuit and point-to-point wiring must have something to do with this.

If you want cuddly warmth, look at the rose tinted vintage ARC or CJ amps for starters, but if you want summat more up to date, but with that "certain something," then the Crofts will do it for you and should last for many years too.

[technobear]

I suggest a Croft pre-amp and a Bel Canto power-amp. The Bel Canto eVo200.2 is beyond amazing and the ICE-powered units are pretty good too.