Best musical 2 channel amp for the PSB stratus goldi's (1 Viewer)

[Bruce Chang]

I just brought home a pair for PSB stratus goldi's and hooked them up to my jolida 302a 50x2 tube amp. I have to admit that the PSB goldi's are not efficent. My Padigms studio 60s were louder, but I can tell that the PSB gold's have tigher bass and more laid back high then the digms. What should I do? I was thinking about using the tube amp for the highs and the sherbourn for the lows, but I heard that it's hard to match and it will not sound right. I want to go tubes, but I can't afford anything over 1000. What should I do?

 

[Bruce Chang]

btt

 

[Martice]

Hi Bruce. Although I responded via e-mail about this subject, you may get more of a response on this particular matter over at Audio Asylum or Audiogon. These sites specialize in 2-channel playback more than HT.
Good Luck

 

[Bhagi Katbamna]

I use a Cinepro 3K6III for the PSBs and they sound great. I would also suggest Proceed Amp 2(or HPA 2), Bryston 4BST, Parasound HCA 1500A or 2200A. They are hard to drive because the impedence drops to 2.7 ohms. BTW, I tried all of the above except the Parasound 2200A and Proceed HPA2 and kept the Cinepro.

 

[Dzung Pham]

You may want to consider the Sunfire Stero amp, which would allow you to plug the highs into the current output for a tubey sound, and the lows into the voltage output. The original ones sell used for right around $1000 on Audiogon. They are 300 Wpc into 8 ohms so it should be enough power.

 

[Bruce Chang]

Ok i'm a freaking idiot, my friend told me that I have the L and R reversed and the L out of phase. Well the PSB's sound a lot fuller and not as boomy as the paradigms. 50x2 is plenty power for the goldi's!

 

[Chip E]

Bruce,
Your the first person i've heard say anything less than 200 WPC is enough to drive Goldi 's! Good for you, it'll save you some jing

 

[Bruce Chang]

Chip

haha if no one believes me that 50wpc tube power is good enough for the goldi's come to my place and listen to them. Tubes for life!!

 

[Leon Shing]

bruce's room is like 18x14 roughly
and i've heard his setup. his 50x2 jolidia on the psb's get
plenty loud. You don't need a lot of power to get good
sound, unless you have a huge huge room. 200watts on is good for movies, but unecessary for music.

 

[mike_decock]

Slightly off-topic but does anyone have any opinions on biamping with tubes (treble) and solid-state (bass)? How about tube amps and speakers with active subs like the PSB Image 7PT?

-Mike...

 

[Chu Gai]

This issue was broached in an earlier thread. To do what you're thinking about is not a good idea and is likely to result in serious issues with the timbre. Look at it this way. Say you're going to run the solid state to the lows and the tube to the highs. Further, let's assume you've been able to gain match the two amps somehow so sensitivities are not an issue. Now sonically, the lows and highs need to be combined in order to get a 'seamless' frequency response. Looking at this issue in a very simplified manner, the lows don't have a distortion component from the solid state, the highs do have a distortion component, mostly even order, from the tube. It's kind of like combining two straight lines, but one of them is wavy. The audible benefits are likely to be quite unpredictable. I'd talk more on this, but it's just been a long day.

 

[Sihan Goi]

If you're into tubes, and want to get them at a serious budget. Check out Opera Audio or Antique Sound Labs. Both are manufactured in China, but don't let the name fool you. Their products are reviewed very favorably on Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity.