[jessenov]

Currently owning a large SS amp (PBN/Sierra Everest), I'm wondering what I would gain and give up, trying tubes.

The amps I have in mind are AES Sixpacs or Cary V12R, both nominally 50 Wpc - however, anywhere close to that figure assumes pretty high distortion, especially in bass. Dedicated listening room is on a smaller side - 16 x 11, with some treatments.

Opinions are welcome.

[JLM]

50 wpc is not quite low wattage, so this thread could get moved...

But you'll need to specify what speakers would be used, how big is the room, and what your listening habits (how loud, type of music, long vs. short listening sessions) are like.

[opnly bafld]

But you'll need to specify what speakers would be used, how big is the room, and what your listening habits (how loud, type of music, long vs. short listening sessions) are like.

He mentions 2 of the 3 in his thread title and post.

http://www.pbnaudio.com/speakers/montana-speakers/eps-2-loudspeakers

16 x 11

[mick wolfe]

Currently owning a large SS amp (PBN/Sierra Everest), I'm wondering what I would gain and give up, trying tubes.

The amps I have in mind are AES Sixpacs or Cary V12R, both nominally 50 Wpc - however, anywhere close to that figure assumes pretty high distortion, especially in bass. Dedicated listening room is on a smaller side - 16 x 11, with some treatments.

Opinions are welcome.

Your room is a manageable size for one thing. Probably more critical in this equation is the speaker's impedance curve. Fairly stable with no dips below 4 ohms is a rough reference point. This is where 2-ways usually come in pretty handy. For 50 tube watts, I'd say 87- 88 db in efficiency ( and above) coupled with a friendly impedance curve.

[jessenov]

Yeah... I thought about that. Dips below 4 Ohm are going to be a problem. There's Stereophile review of the older EPS model, and impedance curve stays between 2 and 4 Ohms for most of the bass and midrange.

Looks like powerful push-pull tube amp is the only option here, If I decide to give tubes a try.

[opnly bafld]

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[mick wolfe]

Yeah... I thought about that. Dips below 4 Ohm are going to be a problem. There's Stereophile review of the older EPS model, and impedance curve stays between 2 and 4 Ohms for most of the bass and midrange.

Looks like powerful push-pull tube amp is the only option here, If I decide to give tubes a try.

Yes, it seems like it's best to pair these speakers with high current/ high power solid state. To find the magic of tubes, especially low power SET's, it won't be found with your current speaker. Not saying you couldn't find a high power tube amp that would work, but it wouldn't be cheap. You could put together a second tube based system with efficient 2-ways for far less than the cost of a big VTL or Audio Research amp.

[nickd]

If you don't listen at really loud levels the Cary or AES amps you mention will sound great. Your current amp (Everest) is a beast with the current output of a welder. If you are a "rocker" , you will miss the dynamics. if you crave seductive mids and a bit more depth in the soundstage, find a nice used pair of Cary 805's. Adding a quality powered sub to the EPSII's might also help. It will allow you to add some slam in the bass. It may also warm up the overall presentation a bit.

for the record, I have owned the EPSII's in the past as well as the Denali amps (smaller sibling to the Everest) I use the latest EB1 SA as my current reference SS Amp.

[jessenov]

If you don't listen at really loud levels the Cary or AES amps you mention will sound great. Your current amp (Everest) is a beast with the current output of a welder. If you are a "rocker" , you will miss the dynamics. if you crave seductive mids and a bit more depth in the soundstage, find a nice used pair of Cary 805's. Adding a quality powered sub to the EPSII's might also help. It will allow you to add some slam in the bass. It may also warm up the overall presentation a bit.

for the record, I have owned the EPSII's in the past as well as the Denali amps (smaller sibling to the Everest) I use the latest EB1 SA as my current reference SS Amp.

Thank you for the input. As you probably guessed, I DO listen at loud levels - but I'm not a "rocker", I'm a "metallist"

I wouldn't use the word "dynamics", since dynamic range is pretty much non-existent with the music I listen to (6 dB, anyone?) - I prefer the word "drive", and that's something I wouldn't want to miss. I'm concerned about the fact that pretty much all moderately-powered tube amp reviews warn about them being most comfortable into higher impedances - which is definitely NOT the case with EPS-2.

EPS-2 are not bass monsters, but the room is not huge, and I don't really have complaints in that department - but, obviously, that would be one of the sacrifices if going with moderately-powerd tube amp.

[opnly bafld]

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