Quote Originally Posted by the_doc735 View Post
OK, so here's the scenario:

I have the Puresound 2A3 with vintage NOS valves all round (mullard/RCA/kEN rAD) RRP around £3000 with these valves fitted! I would say £1500 second hand price? Anyone want to buy it?

Have I reached HiFi nirvana or is there room for an upgrade?

Suggestions are: Radford & Nelson Pass.

Don't know how I could get to hear these! ~ Local demo shops are useless because they have a vested interest in selling you their own stock (i.e. new)! If you turn up with a listed of a dozen or so secondhand amps they cannot fulfill my request + they don't have my DAC AND SPEAKERS! And there demo rooms are nothing like my particular living environment!

It would be unrealistic to buy every amp I want to demo! The amps I want to demo would be 'used' (not new) and valve based. Shipping costs often rule out american imports (i.e. shipping costs more than the amp it self).

Any suggestions? Should I just stick with the Puresound on the basis that there is no effective upgrade/improvement beyond this point? AND does more expensive mean better quality in sound reproduction ?

There are amps out there costing 4, 6, 8, 10k +, but do they offer greater sonic pleasure beyond the puresound 2A3?
Hi Paul
Remembering a power amp in most cases just faithfully obeys to amplify. If it is doing anything else
then it is not a true amplifier. A amplifier is chosen to usually match well to a loudspeaker, to be reliable
and to sound good as a result of having very low distortion.

Quad put some solid work into making power amps. I would try to get to hear a 909, or a 306 before
committing vast sums of money on any other types. I use 2 x 306 amps using one channel of each
amplifier per channel. I achieve some of the best audio I have ever heard.

I would above all though concentrate on attenuation, as it is where audio gets lost if ignored, and where if correctly chosen where audio is magnificent if done correctly. In other words you could be amplifying perfectly, but not enjoying at all what you are amplifying.

Cheers / Chris