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Old 01-13-2022, 06:36 PM
Matteo Matteo is offline
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Freddie, Tom and Bart thank you !

A lot of food for thoughts!

As quickly mentioned above, I had a 275 VI in my system. Reading the review posted by Tom (thanks again for the link, great piece!), I recall now having read it some years ago, but probably under a different light and without the experience I had with my 275s. It's much more insightful now than then.

Few years after the first amp I added a second, pre-owned; its tubes were basically gone so I took the opportunity to start rolling the tubes on both. I recognize myself in every single word of the 275's part of the review. I really enjoyed the mid-range and the amp's warmth, the liquid vocals, but only if I think back to what I got with my final setup, with TFK 801S, Teslas ECC83 and E.A.T KT88 Diamond. Less with stock tubes, definitely more muddy. Also changing cables (Nordost H2 for both signal and speakers) brought the system in the direction I wanted, with more air, clarity and detail.

I would say in the direction the 2301 are described in the review. But reading it now, again, that section seems to say that even though the amp is better under many aspects, it's giving up some of the magic the 275 is producing with its smoothness. Maybe I am oversimplifying here. Tubes are not straightforward and maintenance / failure free like SS, so if opting for 2301s means being much much closer to SS amps than to a tubes one, considering all the "issues", it might not be the way to go for me. On top they are really huge!

It makes me think that probably the re-tubed 275 monos were overall a good compromise. At a certain point I also though about keeping one 275 and add a SS amp (e.g. an MC462) to alternate, it might have been not a bad idea then. But now they are gone and starting from scratch is an opportunity I would take to try something different. In the worst case they could come back... maybe the VII iteration? The priority is in any case to try to " solve" the problem with one or two amps only.

Well, the 1502 kicks in now with its 200+ (measured) tube watts, I assume with a pure tube design, no hybrid. I have seen as well "stellar" reviews, a couple to be sincere of which one on youtube from AE. I am wondering how a re-tubed 1502 with TFKs, Teslas and E.A.Ts could sound... . I really like its retro look, barbecue grill aside. It kicks in for two aspects: the first is the warmth which might well be in between the two amps (with overall improved performance including signal-to-noise compared to the 275s), the second being the power... while I fear 2301s could be an overkill for my speakers, and the 275 monos just right for the Guarneris Evo, the charm of the mono-blocks driven directly by the variable output of my DAC/player is tempting, otherwise I would not be here with my doubts...

Indeed, hearing the reasoning and impressions from someone who downsized from 2301 to something else would allow to add another piece to the puzzle!

Last edited by Matteo; 01-13-2022 at 07:13 PM.
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