I found this to be the case as well. Unfortunately, the Inspire wasn't a good fit with my Zu Soul Supremes, and I wasn't going to change the speakers to fit the amp - too much invested in the Zu's and they weren't going anywhere. I needed more drive to manage the bass region on the Soul Supremes, not sure what the topology differences are, but my Toolshed Amps Transcendence 12 was a better fit with the Zu's and coaxes a solid and soul-fulfilling amount of bass in my listening room. :thumbsup:

Guys, thanks for the feedback. A little background ... I have Vandersteen Treos (85 dB/W/m) so a low power SET doesn't seem to be a reasonable option. I'm really interested in the SET thing but never has an opportunity to hear one in the right system. I own a VS115 tube amp and it sounds great but it's not dynamic. It seems reserved & polite. Actually, I think it's the speakers. I just tried a MC452 SS amp (450W/channel) and the VS115 actually sounded bigger. I know I want to stay with tubes.

So it seems like two options; 1) keep the Vandy's and stay with higher power push pull tubes amps (MC275?) or 2) change speakers to allow a SET amp. The other thing is, ironically, I've looked at two speakers you mentioned. The Palladiums & the Zu Soul Superflys. Sounds like the Zu's didn't pair well which suprised me. Well, sorry to go like this but that's the background of my questions. Thanks again!
Wes

the palladium bookshelves had a difficult impedance curve to deal with, which is why I never really gave them super close thought for low-powered amps. probably misinformed

Hey Wes, Check out Omegas - omegaloudspeakers.com. The Super Alnico Monitor is a sublime match with my Inspire SEP which is current running at 5 wpc. The single driver approach won me over when I bought a notch down from his best. Won me over enough to go for his best. I can't picture going back to multi drivers with crossovers at all. The imaging is amazing. I do run subs with the monitors for lower extension; with properly powered Treos, you probably don't need to.

Thanks for the tip

Same here. My amp is nominally a 6L6 according to the original purchaser. Though unlike many, it is not indicated on the amp itself. The amp was shipped with a variety of tubes from Dennis, but the Tung-sols were the ones originally recommended and the only ones used by the original purchaser. I was the second owner and started with them. They sounded wonderful. But I have found that I like the Polk 6V6GTs. I recently acquired some old stock Tungsol 6V6s that I have yet to try.

Matching these amps with the right speakers is important. I am driving Klipsch Heresy III's. I brought my amp & pre to a friends house and hooked 'em up to his highly modified La Scalas and we were both grinning. An amazing combo with Pope 6V6's and 5U4G/274 recitifier. He as 2A3 and 45 amps and the Inspire combo was more dynamic. A friend in Panama has the same amp and pre and he is driving Tekton Lore-S speakers. 93db/W or so and up may be optimal. I imagine the Omegas are the bomb too.

The 6V6 and 6L6 are from the same 'family tree'. :thumbsup:

Audio Research
Product Type
Amplifier
Product Name
Audio Research VS115
Product Model
VS115
Technical Information
Minimum Frequency Response
20 Hz
Maximum Frequency Response
20 kHz
Total Harmonic Distortion THD
0.5%
Audio
RMS Output Power
120 W


Your amp has PLENTY of power it just may not be a good pairing with your speakers. What are you using for a preamp? There are some amp and speaker combinations that are just not optimal. That does not mean they are not excellent when paired with something else.

Rectifier Question, which will drive the output tubes harder and why?

Tube -------- Fvolt - Famp - Vdrop - MaxPmA - MaxPv
5AR4/GZ34 -- 5.0 --- 1.9 --- 17 ---- 250 ----- 450
5Z4 --------- 5.0 --- 2.0 --- 20 ---- 125 ----- 350

Is it the voltage drop (Vdrop) or the plate voltage/output current (MaxPV/MaxPmA) to be concerned with?