Who Makes both Tube Preamps and Solid State Power Amps (non class D)?

I second the Musical Design. Great sounding gear at a reasonable price. Also Kieth Herron has great gear although more expensive.

 

Interesting. Care to elaborate? Klaus is German. Not sure if you’ve ever been to Germany, but vendor-customer interactions here are on average a very different experience than in North America.

 

I thought Glenn used hybrid circuits in all his gear...

 

Not sure what happened to the guy whose feelings were hurt, but this stuff is great. I have both custom Khartago mono power amps and the unlisted Suspiro Reference phono pre. If my current tube pre dies, i’ll get the Candela. The customer service has always great for me as well.

 

does the sound at all justify the service issues?

 

LOL, but Klaus is now in North America...

 

I do not currently own any Odyssey gear, but based on what I've been reading - pretty much everybody raves about it. It's the only SS brand that I'm seriously lusting after. As usual - I simply have no need or room for it, otherwise I'd already have bought.

 

Vinnie Rossi is another company... quite expensive but it seems worth the price. A couple of integrateds are launching soon... L2i and L2i-se. Great pairing with Harbeth as well.

Here is an exert from a recent Darko article:

"The new L2i-SE integrated will be a hybrid design, inheriting the L2 Signature pre-amp’s single pair of 4-pin direct-heated ‘big power triodes’ – dual mono, Class A, zero feedback, “grounded-grid”, single-click rollable, bypassable – and feeding a dual-mono Class A/B MOSFET output stage for 100wpc into 8 Ohms"

Vinnie Rossi teases L2i & L2i-SE integrated amplifiers | Darko.Audio

 

Yes, I lived there for 2 years, never had any customer service problems.

The jist of it is I received a broken product with unacceptable build quality. I wanted to exercise his 30-day satisfaction guarantee and he became a nightmare to deal with. All I heard from him was ranting about all his "costs" and inconveniences. During one conversation, he hung up on me while I was trying to explain my dissatisfaction. After weeks of back and forth, he finally issued a refund but it was not an easy feat on my part to get it. Still, the whole experience left my bank account about $400 lighter.

Further, it seems he doesn't honor his promised delivery dates. He was over a month late on mine, and from what I've read on multiple forums, that's his typical practice.

I realize he has a quite the fan club, though I'm not sure why. During all my phone correspondence with him, he would constantly interrupt me as though his time was more valuable. Every week it was a different excuse for why my order was delayed, and I noted at least a couple inconsistencies (lies) with these excuses. Overall, his personality was quite unpleasant. Maybe his products do offer good value when they're non-defective and built correctly - I can't really comment on that, but as far as his customer service goes, it was by far the worst I've experienced in this hobby.

And I'm not the sole customer to have ever had a grievance. An Audiogon member (2psyop) had a very similar experience.

 

That's sad.

 

I'm a former Rogue owner. I wouldn't buy another. My Pharoah was hard on tubes and it didn't drive the Maggies I had well at high volumes. A big drum whack would make it go into protection.

 

That definitely sucks. Sorry to hear about your experience.

 

Highly satisfied Odyssey customer here. I have the Odyssey Tempest preamp, which is pure solid state but has a phono stage (MM & MC). My BIL has the Candela preamp which is a hybrid tube / SS design and line stage inputs only. I tested a ton of preamps and found so many that altered the sound of my amps, the Tempest does not do that and the phono stage is crisp, clean and presents my vinyl superbly. My BIL's speakers, table, cables, phono stage etc. cost a heck of a lot more than mine, but I know he's also happy with his Odyseey Candela preamp and Kismet ++ monos as well as the level of service from Klaus.

I got to know Klaus a little when I brought in an older pair of Stratos monos I bought used. I knew they needed work, as I was the third owner and they were at least 20 years old. He discussed several options and I opted for a full rebuild with Kismet specs (retaining the Stratos cases and transformers) for a reasonable price. He asked great questions about the rest of my equipment, the music I listened to, the room, etc. Basically these are bespoke amps which could serve a wide range of environments but are optimized for my listening needs. There were a couple of delays, partly due to when I dropped off the amps and his prior commitments, and he held up shipping once because of some quirky readings during the burn-in period. I appreciate the care and passion he puts into these products, and that he would not ship if there was the slightest doubt something might not be 100%. It's a small and personalized operation, and things don't always run on time. That said, his actual delivery date was within a range I'd expected based on his estimates and what I read from other reviewers. He always took my calls, was up-front about order status, and was great with questions once I received the amps and preamp. Granted he is something of a character, but one who is very well-regarded by his peers in the industry as well as most of his customers. Ask around and you'll hear that he delivers great service and some of the best value for money in audio.

 

I have a friend who has a modwright preamp which got me curious about the brand and their integrated amp below:

ModWright Instruments | KWH 225i Integrated

 

Yes, ModWright also has 3-4 Tube Preamps and at least a couple of S.S. Toroidal Based Amplifiers.

 

Modwright and Vinnie Rossi are both fantastic. If I ever shop gear in the 8K to 12K range those two will be at the top of my list. I’ve been lusting after either of their hybrid integrateds since I first saw them.

 

Quad makes both.

 

This piece looks interesting as well, I like the 'Old School' design.

 

Actually, you have a wealth of options, but I cast my vote for Van Alstine. I have tube pre into ss power, using one of his Transcendence tube preamps. It is completely silent and very transparent, with great facilities. I'm heading towards buying one of his new SET 120 ss power amps too.

 

He builds all-tube preamps and tube/MOSFET hybrid power amps.

And they're very nice...

 

thank you but it looks like i am going to go with different brands-

a rogue audio preamp and either a benchmark or parasound amp.

 

Agreed. My Croft Phono Integrated is the only piece of gear I've ever regretted selling. Shoulda kept it to use in a second system one day.

 

You've got the speakers....you should consider something special....a real game changer....for the price you may pay for those two components you probably could stretch a little more and could get a real hybrid amp that's also British and will be in a different class than the Rogue and Benchmark/Parasound. The AMR AM-777 SE.

https://amr-audio.co.uk/products/am-777-se/

 

that amp looks incredible, thanks. it looks like availability is scarce though. Have you ever heard the Benchmark AHB2? It is truly impressive.

 

I've heard it at the audio show a few years ago. Nice amp! The AMR amp can be had in the states if you're truly wanting to take a look.