I bi-amp my Von Schweikerts (VR 4's modded to VR 5/7 status that were available back in roughly 2000-2005) running tube monoblocks on top with a solid state stereo amp on bottom. I have formerly run solely tube monoblocks with both active tube and solid state preamps. I have also run solely solid state amps with both types of active pre's. In addition, I have used many passives pre's or volume attenuators with both types of amps. I?m sure many, if not all of you, are familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of each type of configuration. I?m excited about my current setup because to my ears, it has achieved that elusive panacea of "best of all worlds". The bass is tuned, tight, and has the slam of solid state. I attenuate the bass to match the mid/highs using EVS Ultimate Attenuators. The midrange and highs have the magic of tubes and are not the slightest bit syrupy. And the whole presentation, emanating from virtual dead silence, is seamless and has the razor sharp imaging, transparency, and clarity of using a passive pre or volume attenuator. Yes, I am very pleased! As to the other details of my system, my sources are digital and consist of both solid state and tubed output cd players. The tube amps I use to drive the mid/highs are SAS Audio Labs 25watt triode push pull amplifiers. On bottom I use a Musical Design D 150i solid state amp. My preamp is the SAS Audio Labs 10A. My ic's are from Stealth Audio and consist of Indra from source to preamp, PGS 3D from preamp to tube amps, and M-21 to solid state amp. Speaker cables are also from Stealth and consist of Hybrid MLT from tube amps to mid/high, and UR from solid state amp to bass modules. Power cords consist of Stealth Cloud 99 front on both cd player and 10A preamp. Jenna Labs Basic One cords (which come with SAS amps) are on those amps. A BMI cord is on the solid state amp. The amps and preamp are plugged into an Electronic Specialists ISO-17 Filter-Isolator and the cd player is plugged into an Electronic Specialists Isolation Transformer.
