What SS do you think comes closest to tubes?

[wsissons]

I use to think many years ago Sansui. But found a eico hf-81 changed my opinion on the so called tube sound of sansui...

 

[Superampman]

Actually, an amp that may fool you is the Acoustat TNT120. Very similar in sq to the TNT200 but more mid-rangey.

 

[Jeffery]

So basically Krell, Classe, Accuphase, Bryston, Rega, Sansui, Pass, chipamps, Sony, First Watt, Marantz, Nakamichi, B&K, McIntosh, Adcom, Carver (with bonus points for dragging up the Carver Challenge!), Yamaha, Bedini, Plinius, and a few others.

That narrows it down a bit.

 

[Frank Sol]

So basically Krell, Classe, Accuphase, Bryston, Rega, Sansui, Pass, chipamps, Sony, First Watt, Marantz, Nakamichi, B&K, McIntosh, Adcom, Carver (with bonus points for dragging up the Carver Challenge!), Yamaha, Bedini, Plinius, and a few others.

That narrows it down a bit.

Goes to show ya... This hobby is HIGHLY subjective and personalized

 

[mstrane21]

My Sherwood 7100 has a very tube-like sound. Maybe it's out of spec and that's the reason for the way it sounds, but either way. Awesome little unit.

 

[Frank Sol]

My Sherwood 7100 has a very tube-like sound. Maybe it's out of spec and that's the reason for the way it sounds, but either way. Awesome little unit.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

So basically Krell, Classe, Accuphase, Bryston, Rega, Sansui, Pass, chipamps, Sony, First Watt, Marantz, Nakamichi, B&K, McIntosh, Adcom, Carver (with bonus points for dragging up the Carver Challenge!), Yamaha, Bedini, Plinius, and a few others.

That narrows it down a bit.

I hate to be disagreeing with anyone, but Adcom is not what I would refer to as "tubey-sounding" or "tube-like". Not the sort of thing I would want to power my Wharfedales with, or any tube-era speakers for that matter.

I don't know. When I think of tubey/tube-like, I think of something with some warmth to it, not to mention that "breath of life" that tube gear by Fisher, Scott, Leak, Dynaco, and others are known for having. I wouldn't even put Yamaha in this category.

 

[Pio1980]

I'd think Adcom would work well with early gen AR. I'll have to try that sometime with AR-4x.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[Frank Sol]

I hate to be disagreeing with anyone, but Adcom is not what I would refer to as "tubey-sounding" or "tube-like".

I too hate to be disagreeing with anyone...

Very early in this thread the Adcom that I agreed with as sounding tubey is the GFA-535. Have you listened to a 535?

 

[Jeffery]

I hate to be disagreeing with anyone, but Adcom is not what I would refer to as "tubey-sounding" or "tube-like".

I just went through the thread and posted a few of the brands that had been mentioned, I've offered no examples of my own.

I just thought it was interesting that such a wide variety of gear could be described as "sounding like tubes", since I doubt there's much of a consensus as to what "tubes" sound like. See: "tube rolling".

It's almost like guys just picked the name of an amp they were fond of and entered it into the fray.

 

[fiddlefye]

I just went through the thread and posted a few of the brands that had been mentioned, I've offered no examples of my own.

I just thought it was interesting that such a wide variety of gear could be described as "sounding like tubes", since I doubt there's much of a consensus as to what "tubes" sound like. See: "tube rolling".

It's almost like guys just picked the name of an amp they were fond of and entered it into the fray.

Perhaps in some cases. Some of the amps mentioned that I have heard do have some similarity in sound to a good tube amp, though. In the case of my suggestion (Mac MC-250) I picked mine up specifically to sub in for my tube power amp in the hot weather after trying a fairly wide range for the job. While not identical it sure does come close, probably because it was originally voiced to sound like the Mac tube gear of the time and uses a transformer output like most tube amps do.

 

[Tony C.]

It's almost like guys just picked the name of an amp they were fond of and entered it into the fray.

Ah, good, then I won't be the first. Jeff Rowland (first-gen) Concentra. Don't know about "tube-like", and it does run warm, but damn it sounds good.

 

[outlander]

I’ve seen lots of SS manufactures claim their product has tube like sound but I’ve never seen a tube amp manufacture claim to have SS like sound. Think about it.