Solid State or Tubes with your NX-series speakers?

KTS · « **Reply #300 on:** 14 Jun 2025, 03:47 pm »

Nice build, the Honey Badger is on my short list, also the Alpha Nirvana and the Wolverine.

mkrawcz · « **Reply #301 on:** 14 Jun 2025, 03:57 pm »

I definitely need to build
The Wolverine some day. That one will be a challenge. It has a lot of parts and it will be pricey.

Glady86 · « **Reply #302 on:** 14 Jun 2025, 04:22 pm »

I’m still digging my ELEKIT 8900, it’s all stock except for Audyn copper coupling caps. Rocking with Genalex Gold Lion 300b today. I’m amazed at the dynamics from just 9 watts. Though the speakers are high passed at around 80hz so the subs are doing a lot of the bottom end.

mkrawcz · « **Reply #303 on:** 14 Jun 2025, 04:29 pm »

Quote from: Glady86 on 14 Jun 2025, 04:22 pm

I’m still digging my ELEKIT 8900, it’s all stock except for Audyn copper coupling caps. Rocking with Genalex Gold Lion 300b today. I’m amazed at the dynamics from just 9 watts. Though the speakers are high passed at around 80hz so the subs are doing a lot of the bottom end.

Try the PSVane Horizon 300b tubes.

Glady86 · « **Reply #304 on:** 14 Jun 2025, 04:52 pm »

Quote from: mkrawcz on 14 Jun 2025, 04:29 pm

Try the PSVane Horizon 300b tubes.

I have Horizon in 2a3 and 300b, not sure if they are better or just a little different.

Glady86 · « **Reply #305 on:** 14 Jun 2025, 05:19 pm »

I popped in the Horizon 300b, though l’m not comparing same music just listening to random songs. It seems they are cleaner in the highs, all three pairs I have give excellent sound staging, though I think the Horizon may a bit more impressive in that regard. Possibly more neutral or transparent. They aren’t expensive so that makes them a great option.

mkrawcz · « **Reply #306 on:** 20 Jul 2025, 12:42 pm »

I was fortunate to get the chance to purchase a 25th Anniversary Sony VFET amplifier from Diyaudio. I had no idea what to expect from this amp. It’s incredibly rare and there will be no more so I ordered one while I had the chance as it is the last run and they’re now gone forever. The moment I fired it up and music started playing I knew this amp was magical. The midrange is the best out of any amp I’ve heard SS or tube. It produces vocals more natural and realistic than any other amp I ever had. It’s a shame that there are no more Sony VFETs because this thing is the best 10watts I own.

mkrawcz · « **Reply #307 on:** 20 Jul 2025, 12:44 pm »

Tyson · « **Reply #308 on:** 20 Jul 2025, 07:16 pm »

Sexy!

Jaytor · « **Reply #309 on:** 20 Jul 2025, 11:46 pm »

Quote from: mkrawcz on 20 Jul 2025, 12:42 pm

I was fortunate to get the chance to purchase a 25th Anniversary Sony VFET amplifier from Diyaudio. I had no idea what to expect from this amp. It’s incredibly rare and there will be no more so I ordered one while I had the chance as it is the last run and they’re now gone forever. The moment I fired it up and music started playing I knew this amp was magical. The midrange is the best out of any amp I’ve heard SS or tube. It produces vocals more natural and realistic than any other amp I ever had. It’s a shame that there are no more Sony VFETs because this thing is the best 10watts I own.

Congrats! I bet it sounds great.

I was very tempted by this offer. I even had one in my cart and was starting to check out when I changed my mind. I have too many amps and other projects, and generally prefer monoblocks to keep the speaker cables short and leave clear space between my speakers. But it sure was tempting.

mkrawcz · « **Reply #310 on:** 20 Jul 2025, 11:59 pm »

Quote from: Jaytor on 20 Jul 2025, 11:46 pm

Congrats! I bet it sounds great.

I was very tempted by this offer. I even had one in my cart and was starting to check out when I changed my mind. I have too many amps and other projects, and generally prefer monoblocks to keep the speaker cables short and leave clear space between my speakers. But it sure was tempting.

It has me seriously considering a pair of SIT-5 monos. I think they could turn out to be a perfect amplifier.

jmimac351 · « **Reply #311 on:** 21 Jul 2025, 12:38 am »

jmimac351 · « **Reply #312 on:** 21 Jul 2025, 12:48 am »

jmimac351 · « **Reply #313 on:** 21 Jul 2025, 01:11 am »

mkrawcz · « **Reply #314 on:** 21 Jul 2025, 09:35 am »

jmimac351, thanks for the insight on the SIT-3 and SIT-5. It’s definitely a game of speaker matching with the First Watt amps. They are all unique, if you get it wrong it’s a bit disappointing, but get it right and it’s amazing. The ones that really are more universal to speakers are the F5/F5M, J2, and AlephJ. F5/F5M being the safest bet for most speakers considering power and neutrality. I will probably take a break from further Pass offerings for a while. I have an upcoming Wolverine amp project which should be interesting. It’s more of a high powered (200+watt)neutral amp with distortion numbers lower than even the lowest distortion production amps, but it’s going to be built with all the best parts. So we’ll see what comes out of it. Probably tackle that one in the fall.

Tyson · « **Reply #315 on:** 21 Jul 2025, 03:25 pm »

I can say my First Watt Aleph is a great match for the NX Oticas and the BA3 is great with the Line Forces.

I’m actually excited for you to get those line arrays.

mkrawcz · « **Reply #316 on:** 21 Jul 2025, 04:24 pm »

Quote from: Tyson on 21 Jul 2025, 03:25 pm

I can say my First Watt Aleph is a great match for the NX Oticas and the BA3 is great with the Line Forces.

I’m actually excited for you to get those line arrays.

Yes, the AlephJ definitely matches well with the NX-Oticas. I haven’t tried the VFet in them yet. For now, the NX-Otica king for me is the M2X over the AlephJ. But that’s just down to preference. Both are outstanding.

Tyson · « **Reply #317 on:** 21 Jul 2025, 06:13 pm »

I re-wired my Aleph J Zen with all pure silver hookup wire and changed the RCA plus binding posts to all be silver. Really let me tune it to be more dynamic and transparent in my HT setup which is where my NX-Oticas live.

KTS · « **Reply #318 on:** 22 Jul 2025, 02:29 am »

Tyson,
Did you take out the stock caps and put in Vcaps? They really bring out the detail and other added benefits. Although it takes a bit of time for them to not lean in so hard.

Tyson · « **Reply #319 on:** 22 Jul 2025, 03:12 am »

Oh, no I did not. What value are those caps?