Let the battle commence

[John]

Whilst i am waiting for my new job to start I thought I have a bit of fun
I have a few amps to play with at present I am not sure what will stay or go yet but I plan to be open to the outcome
The amps
SAC Glowmaster kt88 Its a massive power amp and has been my reference for a good few years now.
Pioneer SA9100 I been using this just as a preamp with the SAC but will try it as an intergrated amp
SAE 102 preamp I had this in my system for a week now. It sounds pretty clean an gets on with playing the music.
Sansui D907 A classic piece of Japanese engineering thats has a detailled sound a touch of warmth but no flabbyness what so ever
A DIY Hifi Supply Linestage pre The listening will be one over a 2 week period, each bit of equipment will spen time with music I love and enjoy

[John]

The Sansui AU D907 in the European spec known as AU 919
This has a cult following and for good reason
Intial set up was a complete pain
Its binding posts do not take normal banana plugs. Also tried using it via the normal CD input and just sounded a bit warm and slightly harsh. Also only sounded good if really hitting out a lot of volume. Otherwise it sounded harsh.
I stayed with it Tried some attenuator I could listen to it a reasonable volumes but still not sounding right I was pretty close to giving up at this stage. I then noticed another CD input called CD direct, so tired this. Well so glad I gave it another try.
What this amp does in spades is great attack lots of detail both macro and micro. In other words it takes you deeper into the music.
Right now listening to Nada from Performing this week by Jeff Beck. This is really well recorded and allows Jeff Beck control of the guitar to come through but capatures the electronic Tablas, drums and bass. So lots of speed and detail. I would say the biggest change to my system would be more detail and even more attack.
I actually can see myself just having this as my main amp
I never thought I would consider moving back to Solid state
I still have a lot more experimenting to do but for awhile I will just enjoy the music and try and not go for intial gut feelings and give this time to resolve itself