I recently took the leap from SS to tube amplification. With a tight budget & advice from AC-ers on Salk Circle, I chose a used Rogue Tempest mk 2 integrated amp with Gold Lion k88 power tubes. Thanks again for all those notes.
some early impressions moving from my Anthem 225 integrated to the ROgue. Am pretty impressed by the Rogue unit. Weighs a damn ton though.
1. Sound now has more body, texture. Music sounds more LIVE and less Hi-fi-ish.
2. Vocal fuller
3. great dynamics. More punch (surprised me) .. Bigger soundstage
4. on it's own, Rogue's bass output not as tight as my SS. However with addition of rythmik sub, bass sounds bigger and possibly better than it did with SS amp and same sub! Go figure. Song Towers sound 'bigger'.
5. Rogue Tempest 2 has a passive preamp. So the output volume is sufficient but not mega loud. (the Tempest 3 has both passive, active options).
6. Triode vs Ultralinear. UL seems to get slightly more output volume- about 1db only. Both sound good to my ears.
I set the Rogue to 4 ohm tap. Haven't tried 8 ohms tap. How might that affect it?
best
TOm
