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(Bruce J. Richman) said:

The CJ amplifier *is* an awfully nice-sounding, well-built piece of gear.
Actually, I *am* using KT-90's in it - Ei KT-90 Type 3's, and they do provide a
little more power than the Svetlana 6550C's I used to use. In thinking about
the situation a bit further, it has dawned on me that my speakers, while
working well, may well be in need of new panels. The panels in my Martin
Logans are at least 8 years old, and perhaps more, since I bought them used
about 8 years ago. So I would expect that new panels would be more efficient.
That said, I might just think about biting the bullet, and moving up from the
Premier 11 to a set of Premier 12 monoblocs, which have double the power - 140
watts/channel. Or, if I get lucky, maybe I'll come across a nice set of VTL
tube monsters at a non-monstrous price .

The other option, which I'm seriously considering, is to switch to Quads, which
in all likelihood would be significantly less power hungry (yes, I know,
current-hungry ). I owned a pair of original Quads for many years, and have
very fond memories of these wonderful speakers.

It is said the ESL63 and newer versions like the 989 are much easier
to drive than the old ESL57.
I would seriously consider the purchase of a set of Quads, or even a
panel change on your MLs, before switching to another amplifier.
I doubt the subjective quality of your premier 11s can be bettered by
the 12s, at least not on the MLs.
This is just a gut feeling I have, nothing to substantiate that claim
on though.
But if "70 watts in 8 ohms" from a well-respected tube amp aren't
getting the max out of your speakers, the 140 of the 12s aren't going
to do much more in your situation.

In thinking about how I would define tube-like sound, a reasonable question
which you raise, the best I can come up with is a sense of more body to
instruments and vocalists on many recordings, and most important, a lack of
"edginess" or "hardness" in the upper frequencies which, I find, is
characteristic of some SS gear.

I've heard tube amps screeching and burning my ears off, and I've
heard Densen Beat solid state amps giving sweet and soft mid and high
response.
I think you'll have to overlook the single component matter and see
things in a more broad perspective.
Keep the CJ preamp.
Try different kinds of amplifiers, whether solid state, all tube or
hybrid.
But first, select a speaker you desire, or have your MLs fixed.

Most important thing: get to learn the character of your (repaired or
newly-bought) speaker with the components you already have.
Take your time. Move the speakers around, move the furniture.
I think you'll find that a panel change or a set of Quads will alter
your perspective, and will completely satisfy you with the performance
of your current CJ Premier 11.
I've seen so in my crystal ball (actually 300B XLS Blue glass version
by KR ) :-)

Anyway, don't change too many things at a time.
Just one by one, and take your time betwen changes.

While my memory may be a little off on this, I seem to recall that many of the
old Counterpoint hybrid power amplifiers used thse IGBT's. While it's strictly
one person's opinion, at least one prominent website that I've seen suggests
the use of hybrid Counterpoint hybrids amplifiers with electrostatics like the
Martin Logan CLS IIs. As you probably know, Counterpoint is no longer in
business, however, so service issues might be a problem. (The former owner,
however, does extensive mods to old Counterpoint amplifiers, inserting more
modern parts, etc.).

While that argument may be important to you and most other people, I
don't care whether a manufacturer is still in business or not.
I'll always find a way to get my parts, and mostly, better parts :-)

I suspect you're right. The speakers I'm using, MB Quart component sets are
definitely not your average car speakers. They are probably superior in build
quality and sound to those found in many bookshelf speakers. My car is large,
so I'm able to use 6.50" woofer/midranges with 1.25" titanium dome tweeters and
separate crossovers in relatively (for a car) large spaces. And the Nakamichi
Dragon head unit is really in a class by itself (IMHO) - a two chassis affair
in which there is one box just for the electronics, and the other for the
transport devices, which include automatic azimuth corrections on the fly when
the tape reverses. Fortunately, I have complete documentation as well as
service manuals for it, and got it from an experience Nakamichi collector and
electronics engineer who knew what he was doing.

Nak is good. I changed to CD in the car years ago, because of the
inevitable wow and flutter of cassettedecks.
This has to do with my car of choice.
The head unit is placed between the front seats, vertically.
Two reverse spinning flywheels are not going to correct for applied
G-forces in the horizontal plane ;-)

Umm......I suspect that Amsterdam offers a more diverse program :-)

Yahh, Maaahn ! Dutch Rastafarians ?

We have probably more people from Suriname (Dutch Guyana) and the
Dutch Antilles living in Amsterdam than that are actually living in
that country.
Besides some problems, we're blessed with good food, liquids, music
and other materials that shall remain unnamed :-)

Confucius say: "One reap what one sow".

Prove it!

Confucius say: "Proof of pudding is not in eating, but in purging
afterwards".

--
Sander deWaal
"SOA of a KT88? Sufficient."