Hi all,
I was browsing through Lynn Olson's description of his Ariel loudspeaker (interesting site) when I came upon this statement:
There are some very isolated folks who just can't get their hands on tube gear, or are afraid to make the leap to what to them is an alien technology. Unfortunately, good transistor amps are extremely rare; they measure nicely all right, but not very many are lifelike in the sense of delivering that "you-are-there" quality to music ... indeed, I would guess that many audiophiles have never heard that effect, even once, due to the degraded condition of modern electronics. Twenty years ago, transistor amps were brittle-sounding, grainy, and very two-dimensional sounding. Nowadays, transistor-amp designers have tweaked the "audiophile" breed of transistor amps to emulate the sound of mediocre tube amps ... sweet and rolled-off sounding, but with little realism or sense of depth. The grain and edge are gone, but so is much of the sense of life and sparkle in the music.
I know of exactly one transistor amplifier that avoids the trap of grain-n-grit on one hand and audiophile flatness on the other ... in short, it sounds just like a really good triode amp, but with more power! Unfortunately, it's not well known, so don't expect to see it at most dealerships. This unit is: the R.E. Designs LNPA-150. This 75-watt transistor power amplifier has the immediacy, the clarity, and the musical rightness of direct-heated triode amps ... but is a completely different technology. How is it done? Don't ask me ... transistor electronics are not my specialty. But it is possible if you move away from universe of conventional high-end audio.
http://www.nutshellhifi.com/Arieltxt2.html#xt In his review for Positive Feedback, he says there had been only three amps he found it difficult to part with after the review - the Audio Note Ongaku ($85,000), the WAVAC 833 ($35,000) and Dan's LNPA-150 ($3,295).
Makes me wish Dan Banquer was still in the fray with RE Designs.
