I spoke with the fellow running the MoFi Electronics room at Toronto audiofest. I mentioned my dilemma, along with the advice that I change to a tube amplifier. Apparently he used to be involved with the distribution and sale of both Klipsch and Cornwall, so was intimately familiar with the sonic issue I was describing. He said that a tube power amp could do it, but having assembled hundreds of systems over the years, he felt that I would get better results overall with a tube preamp, keeping my solid state power amps as-is. It would get me the best of both worlds: the soundstage and sonic richness of tubes from the preamp, and the speed and control from the power amp. He also insisted that the damping factor wasn't necessarily the key aspect making them sound good, although it was part of the overall equation.
I asked him what pre amp he might suggest, and of course he needed to know my budget. I threw out the number CAD$5000 (about £3000), and he said I might find something on the used market that would fit that bill, but that the retail would be far in excess of that. I was surprised that he never encouraged me to buy something that he was selling.
So now my path isn't so clear. I'm still trying to arrange a power amp test, but now have to consider pre amps too.
Later I encountered another vendor at the show:
ANK Audio Kits. They sell a variety of kits that you can assemble, which is right up my alley. Their
L5 pre-amp certainly looks tidy and well-spec'ed. I've done some research, and it's not clear to me whether they are or were affiliated with Audio Note, but they certainly use many of their parts. I've also seen reports that their stuff comes from China. Curiously, one of the people deriding them was insisting that their offers were far below Audio Note, but that it was still as good or better than McIntosh.
There's a
person here in town who's selling a bunch of McIntosh gear (both pre and power amps), basically in my budget. However, I've started reading that McIntosh has a particular sound that might not be my cup of tea. It's also one of those companies that loved for their visual style, but isn't always lauded for their sonics. (Visually, it's not really my thing--I prefer as little bling as possible.) Regardless, I'm may ask this fellow to come by with some of his gear, and we'll see whether any of this McIntosh gear floats my boat.
There's another chap a short drive away who has a
BAT VK-33 pre-amp. This may be a better match for me (although I'm disappointed it's not black
). The feature set and connection options seem like a good match for me, though.
One thing that bugs me is that tube gear is typically tall. You need a rack with very lofty shelves, or you plunk things individually throughout your room. I want it to squirrel it away in the corner, preferably reusing my 5-tier Mana rack. All of its shelves are the standard Naim height (because I acquired it back when I had a bunch of that). I know that Mana is often derided for its industrial aesthetic, but that's never bothered me. It's going into the corner, obscured by a bookshelf, not a visual centerpiece in the room.
That's the problem with separates--you really do need lots of space to house all of that gear.
