The TBI Millenia MG3 is one of those rare instances where with the right equipment, tubes are not required.
I hope every one here had a safe and happy Thanksgiving.I guess we should get this tour back on track. The hold-up has been the holidays and Morgan had to leave town. An AMR fuse was sent to him and hopefully he has received it by now. If you have any questions Morgan on which fuse to replace, feel free to ask.About two weeks ago I received a pair of $25K speakers that is 4 ohm and 84db efficiency. These are the lowest distortion and grain free speakers that I have ever heard. So how does the TBI sound on them? Incredible.The speakers are so grain-free, my AC glare has completely disappeared. This was very educational for me. I never thought that owning the right speaker could ever clear up AC glare. I have tried several tube amps, but on these ultra-linear speakers the TBI is claerly more faster, transparent and detailed.So now I have a $32K system being driven by a TBI MG3 amplifier.
What reference amp do you pair with those $25k speakers that you compare the Millenia with?
The JOLIDA JD 3000A Tube Mono Block Amplifiers and a $8800 custom Set amp.
I am not here to make any excuses for the TBI, but in my 32 years experience, I never heard a solid state amp to tame the AMT Heil tweeters. In fact, I never heard any tube amps tame it.A close friend of mine back in the early 80's used those tweeters, but they were heavily modified. He was more of a solid state fan than a tube fan when I was a dealer, I took numerous solid state amps over, Acoustat, Bedini, Sumo, Bryston, Threshold, Perraux, and more, but those tweeters always burned my ears off. We finally tried Marantz 8B's, that came the closest, but I always heard the metallic sound of those metal drivers. I wound up taking in a couple of pairs of the ESS AMt-1B speakers over the years, and I never had any luck in taming those highs or the boomy bass.Speed forward to the RMAF 2011 audio show and lo and behold, the Heil rep was staying the same hotel my wife and I were. I guess I had figured this company was no longer, but I was wrong. I hunted down their room, figuring by now they had tamed the high end. I stepped into their room and was out of there in three seconds. If I had stay any longer, I would have had a splitting headache.On Heil tweeters, SS is still definitely a no-go IMO, no matter how expensive of an amp you try.
Sorry if I've missed this, but are you saying that the Millenia beats your $8800 amp or that it's one of the best amps for the price?
In comparison to photography, the TBI gives me about a 18MP photo where the tube amps is more of a 10MP photo. The tube amps are more grainy, rolled off in the high end, and a little wooly in the bass. That is the character of tube amps with transformers. Also, the TBI is definitely quicker.Now if anything is lean and bright in your system, the TBI is not going to sugarcoat it and make it warmer.
Based on my tinkering with the TBI chip and similar they are extremely sensitive to power supply caps. If at all possible I would recommend to both increasing the cap value (not too much though) and trying different types like Elna Silmic, Cerafine, Nichicon FG, etc. This goes for both the caps by the chip as well as the input voltage. Considering some of the mods being done already by some it is worth doing/having done and the caps are inexpensive compared to typical audio mods surely. This may help with any remaining glare as well as up the sound quality in general. Can't overstate how sensitive these TPA chips and similar are in this regard.
"... However, play something along the lines of Cannonball Adderly's "Something Else", and you will be floored with the performance. For the majority of music, this amp is very musical. "
I agree with Freo-1 in a way, classical can get strident, but I feel it is the recording itself. I have several cuts with orchestras that you will never hear a more natural sound in your life. Many of the older recordings are done with tube mics and I have never heard any problems with these classical recordings being played with the TBI amp. If you ever expect Telarc recordings to sound natual with any neutral amp, you are wasting your time. I spoke with a recording engineer from Telarc back in the 80's and he told me why their recordings never were that great. It was from bad digital mics and recording techniques.
So true! I hope to have one in my system soon.
