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I'm a novice and now have Zu Superlfys amplified by a Van Alstine Ultravalve, which sounds fantastic. I'm now interested in swapping out the Ultravalve for a SS amp during the hot summer months. From Zu's website: " [Superfly] is a 16 ohm loudspeaker, best matched with tube amplifiers. However mainstream receivers and digital amps also match well. Solid-state amps with high damping factors are typically not a good match with Soul Superfly."Zu did not give a value for an acceptable damping factor. Do all digital amps have low damping factors? From anyone's experience, what SS amps should I avoid? Am I being too cautious in amp selection? My budget is up to $2000, new or used would be fine. These are quite efficient speakers (101 dBSPL@1watt, 1 meter) so I really do not need a lot of watts. Anyone with recommendations?
I don't really recommend the First Watts, at least not the F1 or F1J (or F2 likely). I am curious about the F3 though... They did an OK job of driving my Superflys but were not special. I tried an Aleph clone owned by a fellow ACer and it was better then the F1/F1J and I liked it a good bit at the time, but my expectations and realizations of what these speakers can do has been raised.My favorite solid state amplification for these speakers by a significant margin has been the Redgum RGi120. Its a little known Australian integrated flying under the radar and it is fantastic. I'm borrowing Sunnydaze's for a second time right now as I debate purchasing it as my Summer alternative as my 845 SET puts off a lot of heat.You'll find a few very positive reviews but not much buzz on it. Trust me though--it is outstanding. I've witnessed it best far more expensive SS (Pass, Plinus, Monarchy, Alchemist, etc.) and I far prefer it to Atma-sphere for the Zus.213cobra (Phil) gives a number of low heat tube/ss options for driving the Superflys in my audiogon thread. If you haven't already checked it out, I suggest you do so. There is a lot of great information in it, though it has grown quite lengthy.
Out of curiosity, did you ever compare your SA-100 to the Plinius 8200 MKII? Prior to the Redgum that was the best SS integrated I'd heard/owned. Usually I'd assume the standalone would get the nod, but the Redgum has me thinking twice with respect to integrateds.