Best Pure Musical Amplifiers (power not important)

Definitely my Coincident 300b Frankenstein Mono's and on the SS side First Watt SIT-3 amp.
Both sound musical and natural.
I ordered the new First Watt SIT-5 mono's with the SIT Tokin output resistors.
Looking forward to receiving them.
 
SIT-3 (I have SIT-5’s coming)
Luxman 300b amp (now discontinued)
VAC Master 300’s
Shindo WE300b/PSET 300b amps
Kondo Japan pretty much everything
And these I bought to try…
 

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Mike said:
And these I bought to try…
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In the world of 'tubes' I've always thought CJ to be pure mid-range magic. I can still recall years ago breaking away from my Hafler pre-amp and getting a CJ PV9, it was like 'liquid lightning' against my Threshold S300 at the time.
 
Mike said:
SIT-3 (I have SIT-5’s coming)
Luxman 300b amp (now discontinued)
VAC Master 300’s
Shindo WE300b/PSET 300b amps
Kondo Japan pretty much everything
And these I bought to try…
Click to expand...
Dang the SIT 5 is probably awesome. Do you have a price range on them yet Mike?
 
Here’s a shot of my HH Scott’s, from 1959’s model 272 - 1961’s model 296 - a 299C from 1963 and a 299D from 1964, all sounding super sweet!
 

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4N6 said:
Ralph,

Thank you for all the wisdom. It seems there are others that talk a good game, yet are simply know-it-all, opinionated idiots.

BTW, I remember first hearing your amplifiers when I was a student at U of M in the late 80's and early 90's at a stereo shop on Snelling Ave. I can't remember the name of the shop, but your amps with some Spica speakers were terrific.
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Confucius says, Do not get on the internet and ague with Ralph about amplifiers. Looking like an idiot is the only result........ lol.
 
Wavac TA-805m SET monoblocks

My photo of a pair owned by a friend of mine.

Wavac_2.jpg

Key features and specs from Wavac:

"The TA-805m amplifier is a Class A tube amplifier with TANGO transformer specification is based on the well-established predecessor MD-805m. The TA-805m mono-block uses a direct heat triode 805 output tube to produce 50 watts single-ended triode output per channel.

The special adaptation of the IITC circuit using the triode wired KT-88 driver provides a great deal of authority over the audio bandwidth, using the subtle flavors of the best single-ended triode amplifiers.

The direct coupling or transformer coupling between stages eliminates the need for capacitors from the signal path. Therefore, without losing the sound quality, a wide dynamic range is secured, and the accurate sound signal from that source is reproduced.

Chassis features a 10mm aluminum top plate for aesthetics and a thick, massive foundation for attaching components to optimize sound. The design offers the luxury aesthetics similar to the EC/HE series.

Hum noise and noise are minimized by an AC mains input filter, multi-element π filter, and a well-filtered DC filament power supply."

My guess is Mike would know about these. Absolutely wonderful sounding amps...
 
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Puma Cat said:
Wavac TA-805m SET monoblocks

My photo of a pair owned by a friend of mine.

View attachment 34138

Key features and specs from Wavac:

"The TA-805m amplifier is a Class A tube amplifier with TANGO transformer specification is based on the well-established predecessor MD-805m. The TA-805m mono-block uses a direct heat triode 805 output tube to produce 50 watts single-ended triode output per channel.

The special adaptation of the IITC circuit using the triode wired KT-88 driver provides a great deal of authority over the audio bandwidth, using the subtle flavors of the best single-ended triode amplifiers.

The direct coupling or transformer coupling between stages eliminates the need for capacitors from the signal path. Therefore, without losing the sound quality, a wide dynamic range is secured, and the accurate sound signal from that source is reproduced.

Chassis features a 10mm aluminum top plate for aesthetics and a thick, massive foundation for attaching components to optimize sound. The design offers the luxury aesthetics similar to the EC/HE series.

Hum noise and noise are minimized by an AC mains input filter, multi-element π filter, and a well-filtered DC filament power supply."

My guess is Mike would know about these. Absolutely wonderful sounding amps...
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Glorious sounding. But rarer than a purple squirrel.
 
Hmmm, I will contribute to this thread.....but I am humbled by the rest of everyone's gear. I have a Musical Fidelity KW-750, dual mono with a separate Power Supply. Powerful enough to get'r done but with finesse to bring you there. It may just bring you down to what other gear you have. To this, I have a QSA (well regarded) fuse in line, as well as a SRA Takshaka PC/IC.

I very well may be shot down on this forum, but if you heard what I hear?

Tom
 
The most “musical” amplifiers I have heard are the Benchmark AHB2. They are dead silent and let me hear the music instead of tube noise.
 
nicoff said:
The most “musical” amplifiers I have heard are the Benchmark AHB2. They are dead silent and let me hear the music instead of tube noise.
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I have tried several Benchmark products and know at least four people who have owned their amplifiers. The quality of their products is top notch. They are also crystal clear sounding. My issue with every single Benchmark that I have owned or heard is that they are extremely sterile sounding, to the absolute extreme. I find many other companies are more "musical". Of the four that I know who had Benchmark amplifiers, every single one has gotten rid of them.
 
I've been recently playing around with a Dynaco ST35 which by many accounts was their best sounding amp.

I've no doubt this amp can put many SETs to shame. Doesn't hurt that it can make more power too.

To really hear what one of these little jewels is about, they have to be refurbished properly (if older) or built properly (if from one of the newer kits). Apparently I'm not the first to sort this out as you can buy a larger chassis on which to build the circuit; not a bad idea since the amp is otherwise quite compact. I've been wondering how this circuit might work if built up as monoblocks.
 
I believe that you have to match your amp to your speakers. In that regard, for my Wilson's I love the sound with my Pass Labs XA100.5. Two of the best combinations I've heard are the VTL Siegfried II paired with Rockport Arrakis, Audionet Max paired with Giya G1 Spirit. Some of my other favorite amps that I've heard are the MBL Reference 9011 and various Burmester and Boulder amps. All of the amps sound different, but with the right speakers, any of them can sound great.
 
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slowgeezr said:
I believe that you have to match your amp to your speakers. In that regard, for my Wilson's I love the sound with my Pass Labs XA100.5. Two of the best combinations I've heard are the VTL Siegfried II paired with Rockport Arrakis, Audionet Max paired with Giya G1 Spirit. Some of my other favorite amps that I've heard are the MBL Reference 9011 and various Burmester and Boulder amps. All of the amps sound different, but with the right speakers, any of them can sound great.
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Agree, you can't favor an amp without considering the system, even the room.
Nagra reference amps with matching preamp on Rockport Lyras well treated room primarily diffusion, Arrakis with VTL Siegried (same as slowgeezer), but also fantastic with CH Precision M10s and matching preamp, phono preamp well treated large room.
 
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