Hey Noa,
Thanks! I too have found that they are very transparent to any upstream changes, they are obviously neutrally voiced, with very low distortion drivers.
I did quite a bit of the testing with a modded 6L6 P-P amp, either way, it is only about 20W per channel. I also used a 'gainclone' amplifier for testing as well, which is even lower powered. I think that a really nice balance can be had when using the tubes for the midrange and highs, and the built in amp for the bottom end. The tubes give a really nice liquidy warmth to the midrange and the highs sound great with tubes, very natural and extended. At the same time, you can retain the transparent, deep bass had with good solid state amps. The bottom line here is that they Ronin can sound really excellent with many types and power levels of amplifiers. The Ronin A can take it a step farther with all types of amplifiers as well, the step is just a bit bigger with the lower powered tube amps.
With the Niagara, they were truly excellent, the one characteristic of the Niagara and every Hypex UcD amplifier that I have listened to, they show very little compression, distortion or coloration leading up to their max power output. It is typically very hard to reach this ceiling under normal listening conditions, but adding the woofer amplifier pushes the ceiling a bit higher, the key gains here are in terms of adjustability.
As a side note... I am pretty sure you are not stressing the parallel push-pull 6550's all that much, thats really a lot of power, you experience here would be having the tightness and depth of the Niagara.
Using that Consonance Calaf amplifier pictured, which I had taken on trade out of curiosity, the woofer amplifier made a much greater improvement. That amp, like many moderately good Class A/B amplifiers out there shows signs of strain as dynamics and volume levels increase. It, like the tube amp and gainclone breathed a sigh of relief when relieved of full range duties.
Either way, a good tube amp or the Niagara plus the woofer plate amplifier make a great, very flexible combo.
I am really glad that you are enjoying your purchase so much. I think that the active version really takes the Ronin design a long way in in terms of making an outstandingly clean, simple design, flexible design. The simple ability to tweak bass levels from disc to disc can't even go understated. First put on Paul Simon's "Graceland", which can be a good reference of balance and tonality. Then throw on Bruce Hornsby's "Spirit Trail" and you can turn it down a few dB to balance that album back out, and make it even more enjoyable (IMO) than it is on a non-adjustable system.
While there are things to be said for leaving things the way they were intended, we all have certain albums that we just don't like something about the bass. The Ronin A is not a cure-all, but it can help.
Thanks for the Compliments, glad you are enjoying the music.
Have a great weekend Noa, feel free to contact me about upgrading if you are interested.
-Paul
