Changing from a valve amp to SS integrated .....

[CrillboBaggins]

I went from 300b to class A, I still find most class A amps take 20 to 40 mins to warm up, including sugden having owned two.
I heard the crayon integrated, it was awesome for the money, speaker sensitive tho I found. And job 225 int,which gelled well with my Obx rw, Odd but true.
What about something by nelson pass, pass labs do some great integrated stuff.
What are speakers?

Hi Laurie,

Speakers are Totem Sttaf

[Flo]

No experience of totem, but personally I would try pass labs, xa or int, s\h as imports cost, or s\h mk1 vitus r100, not class A but smooth rich and easy to forget .

[oldius]

Is the right thing to do!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[macspur]

I used to own a Masterclass IA4 and it's a beautiful sounding amp, the closest thing to valves that you'll hear, but it does run pretty toasty
Mac

[walpurgis]

I used to own a Masterclass IA4 and it's a beautiful sounding amp, the closest thing to valves that you'll hear, but it does run pretty toasty
Mac

What does a valve amp sound like then?

The perfect solid state amplifier and the perfect valve amplifier should be indistinguishable from each other. If you hear 'character' from either, that's due to flawed design. But as nothing is perfect, you will perceive differences.

[AJSki2fly]

What does a valve amp sound like then?

The perfect solid state amplifier and the perfect valve amplifier should be indistinguishable from each other. If you hear 'character' from either, that's due to flawed design. But as nothing is perfect, you will perceive differences.

I completely agree Geoff. In between 300b tube amps a friend lent me his £2K SS Vincent amp, I had no real expectations on how it would perform, just happy to have some music whist waiting for my new amp to be built and delivered. The Vincent was actually a bit of a shock for me, very neutral, did not seem to emphasise one aspect or the audible frequency range and just produced good musical sounds. In fact when my new amp turned up and had bedded in for about 50+ hours, I did some back to beck listening and to be honest it was difficult to hear much difference between the two. If you pressed me the bass end was possibly slightly tighter with the Vincent, and the Allnic 300b had a slightly more natural sound to the mid-range, or it did sound like that to me.

Also the other difficulty is actually knowing when your system is reproducing a recording as it was and is meant to be heard, in other words what the musicians and producer wanted when it was originally produced. this IMO is a very difficult one to address, all you can do is try and select recordings that are very transparent and it is well documented how it was recorded.

A couple of recordings are Cowboy Junkies - Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session effectively recorded live in a church to 4 track tape recorder (I think) using and omni-directional mic and one for the vocalist, the band was arranged around the mic in the centre. Then there are the original Eva Cassidy recordings called Nightbird, these were recorded live in a jazz club onto a mobile recording deck. Another record I have and regularly use as a test/set up is Ravi Shankar - Portrait of Genius, apart form being superb musically it is obvious when you listen to it was recorded with no more that 2 mics in front of the band and they just laid it down live, the good thing about this album is all the instruments are natural and so how you would expect them to sound from your own terms of reference can be taken into account when considering how a system is reproducing it.

I am sure there must be some very good classical records which do the same and if you are na avid classical fan and have heard an orchestra play it live will have an appreciation of how you would like it to sound from a hifi system.


One thought that just occurred to me Luke(CrilboBaggins) if he has not already decided what SS to have might want to have a listen to a suitably priced Vincent new or used. they are seriously good amps and great VFM. https://www.vincentshop.co.uk/SolidLine The SV-234 I had on loan was superb and if I had to downsize in terms of cost of system would probably go and find one of these or a SV-238MK.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINCENT-S...-/254690981248

[walpurgis]

I came to the conclusion that for my listening solid state Class A amplifiers are generally best suited, simply because they seem to 'interfere' less with what I'm listening to. Although strangely, I don't currently possess one. It's not an absolute rule though.

I was actually quite tempted by the Sugden A21aP that just sold in the Private Exhibitions section .

[Haselsh1]

My personal best when it came to valves was a World Audio Design 300B PP with matching KLP-1 preamp. Still the best sound from an amp I have ever owned. Airy, spacious and totally believable midband. Unfortunately though, as with all of my valve amps, not really suited to my music. That is why I am now sorted with Class A tranny power.

[Haselsh1]

I came to the conclusion that for my listening solid state Class A amplifiers are generally best suited,

[Flo]

I mucked around for years trying to find my perfect 300bse amp, in the end best valve amp was class A trannies. Also stops me endlessly fannying around with different tubes.
Vitus is as they say the solid state kondo.