Tube or SS age old question for my Summits.

[Cherian]

I have a bit of a dilemma. I have gone from Bi-maped Monoliths to Summit speakers. Because the Summit speakers have internally powered subs I no longer need 2 amps. I have a lot of money tied up in a Conrad Johnson Premier 50 amp and a Conrad Johnson Premier 140 tube amp. The Premier 350 has a ton of power but the 140 has the golden CJ tube sound. I also use a CJ ACT 2 mark II so it is all very harmonious. I do hate to give one up but just don’t want to have $3 to $5k sitting around collecting dust.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Cherian

 

[twich54]

Cherian, be thankful to have such a dilemma !

let your ears decide, that 140 may just push all the right buttons !

 

[hillbilly]

I'm curious to know what you think when you try the amps out. I am running my Summit Xs with a Rogue Audio Atlas Magnum II. I like the pairing, but am wondering what a SS amp would sound like.
Please let us know!

 

[zigman]

I'm curious to know what you think when you try the amps out. I am running my Summit Xs with a Rogue Audio Atlas Magnum II. I like the pairing, but am wondering what a SS amp would sound like.
Please let us know!

Have you considered tube preamp + ss amp? Many people really like that combo, you get the power of the ss with the sound characteristics of tube.

 

[zigman]

I have a bit of a dilemma. I have gone from Bi-maped Monoliths to Summit speakers. Because the Summit speakers have internally powered subs I no longer need 2 amps. I have a lot of money tied up in a Conrad Johnson Premier 50 amp and a Conrad Johnson Premier 140 tube amp. The Premier 350 has a ton of power but the 140 has the golden CJ tube sound. I also use a CJ ACT 2 mark II so it is all very harmonious. I do hate to give one up but just don’t want to have $3 to $5k sitting around collecting dust.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Cherian

Sorry should have combined my prior post. I was trying to figure this out myself since I upgraded to a pair of Impression 11As. From my experience a powerful ss amp work really well with electrostats. Definitely depends on the amp but I feel the individual instruments/vocals are given more presence and separation with ss. I opted for the Mac mc452, since I felt it gave the power of the ss and a bit of the warmth of tube. Plan is to match with a tube preamp down the road.

 

[Cherian]

Going to do some A B testing soon. Not sure I want to do this test. I love both amps so much. I have a feeling the CJ 350 is going to win out. The 350 is a special ss amp. If this happens I will be very sad. I guess Im in love with the look and the romance of tubes.

I will report back on my findings.

 

[JonFo]

I would go for the 350 on pure performance basis. But I understand the allure of tubes, but they do come with serious time and cost penalties over the long-haul.

Looking forward to your A / B comparisons.

 

[hillbilly]

Have you considered tube preamp + ss amp? Many people really like that combo, you get the power of the ss with the sound characteristics of tube.

Thanks, I thought of that a few years ago, but currently (I need to update my profile) I have my Summit Xs in a home theater/stereo setup with a marantz pre-pro for my pre-amp. The KT 120s in the Rogue
sound great, but aren't cheap. I was wondering if a solid state would make the speakers sing as well.

 

[zigman]

Thanks, I thought of that a few years ago, but currently (I need to update my profile) I have my Summit Xs in a home theater/stereo setup with a marantz pre-pro for my pre-amp. The KT 120s in the Rogue
sound great, but aren't cheap. I was wondering if a solid state would make the speakers sing as well.

I have a similar setup where I have a Denon x6400h (Marantz better with musicality, but got an insane deal) as a pre/pro driving the mc452, but really want to get preamp to put in the middle with home theater passthrough for far better music performance.

Do the Rogue's maintain the same WPC in 4 vs. 8 ohm? I would imagine the Summit X's are somewhat similar to the 11a's given the same panel size. I had a pair of Source speakers and then borrowed a pair of Theos's from a friend to demo and they were both way easier to drive than the 11a's. But then again I don't have much experience with Rogue, and I have heard they have good synergy with MLs, especially the monoblocks.

The advice I have been given in the past is that in a dual purpose 2ch and home theater setup ss makes life easier and at times sound better for certain things - ss delivers more "oomph" and speed (depending on amp), simpler and cheaper for maintenance (tubes), no need to wait for tubes to warm up, etc.

 

[sleepysurf]

Cherian, nice to hear from you!

I'm quite happy with my C-J CT5 (hybrid SS/tube) preamp paired with a C-J Premier 350 SS amp, driving my Expression 13A's (which replaced my Summits). Living in FL, I couldn't tolerate having any more tubes!

Looking forward to your comparison!

 

[hillbilly]

I have a similar setup where I have a Denon x6400h (Marantz better with musicality, but got an insane deal) as a pre/pro driving the mc452, but really want to get preamp to put in the middle with home theater passthrough for far better music performance.

Do the Rogue's maintain the same WPC in 4 vs. 8 ohm? I would imagine the Summit X's are somewhat similar to the 11a's given the same panel size. I had a pair of Source speakers and then borrowed a pair of Theos's from a friend to demo and they were both way easier to drive than the 11a's. But then again I don't have much experience with Rogue, and I have heard they have good synergy with MLs, especially the monoblocks.

The advice I have been given in the past is that in a dual purpose 2ch and home theater setup ss makes life easier and at times sound better for certain things - ss delivers more "oomph" and speed (depending on amp), simpler and cheaper for maintenance (tubes), no need to wait for tubes to warm up, etc.

The Rogue Atlas is listed at 100 WPC-they don't specify 4 or 8 ohms with the KT 120s. I'm assuming the power is the same in both?
Curious to hear what a comparison reveals!

 

[timm]

Going to do some A B testing soon. Not sure I want to do this test. I love both amps so much. I have a feeling the CJ 350 is going to win out. The 350 is a special ss amp. If this happens I will be very sad. I guess Im in love with the look and the romance of tubes.

I will report back on my findings.

Well. Your ears will make you happy with your decision. If the ss wins the day - I would highly consider the tube amp for the start of a second system. There is no shame in feeling all good about that glow.

 

[guthrie_m]

Check out PS Audio BHK series of preamp and amps. I think you'd like what you hear.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Cherian]

The results are in SS VS Tubes. I have done about 20 hours of listening with music I’m very familiar with and even got my wife and daughter involved. The results are as follows: Hands down the winner is the CJ Premier 350SE. It was not even that close. The SS amp just did a better job with all kinds of music Jazz, rock, classical or electronic. The SS amp has better low, mid and highs. I even installed brand new Tung-Sol KT120s into the CJ Primer 140 and burned it in for 60 hours (nice High electric bill I think). No matter what I played and who I played it for the winner is the SS premier 350. I guess the output transformer so limit the current to the panels. The SS also strips out some of the low end as well.

On an off topic note the Summits do benefit from adding a sub. (2) subs made it even better ;-)

 

[twich54]

Good deal Cherian, now go ahead and start a second kit with the 140 as Tim suggested !

 

[JonFo]

Thanks for the update Cherian, nice to hear the 350 performs as one would expect.

On an off topic note the Summits do benefit from adding a sub. (2) subs made it even better ;-)

Absolutely, the more subs, the better. But they do need to be placed and configured right. I'm up to 4 subs right now, and toying with whether to add yet another 18" sealed sub to the room. More for evening out a room mode than anything else, the whole house shakes with just the Infinite Baffle

 

[amey01]

I guess the output transformer so limit the current to the panels.

An oft-forgotten reality. Eminently appropriate to consider when talking about ES panels.