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Here is my set up, it’s now all SS, from the beginning I used 2A3-40 monoblocks and a ECC82/E88CC preamp from JJ they where beautiful but I got tired of the anxiety of always wondering how that brand of NOS would sound and how much is left of this pair and so on. Corona was the nail in the box because there was a very long delivery time on a new pair of 2A3-40 and both my pairs had some issues. I bought a spare amp, a Pass Return of zen, to my surprise it sounded really good. I decided to listen to Nelson’s First Watt SIT-3 and F7.
I fell in some strange love with the F7, the plan was to keep the JJ pre/mono blocks, the Return of zen and the F7. But the more I listened the more I preferred the F7 and came to the conclusion that the JJ trio was to beautiful to breakup and sold it as a combo to another happy owner. There I was with no preamp. I built a couple of versions of Nelson’s B1. But when it came down to chose a volume attenuator I had good experiences with Khozmos stepped units. To make a long story short I ended up buying the Hattor mini with a active buffer instead. More about that later.
I also needed a new RIAA and tried the reasonable priced Chord Huei, I’ve tried and had more than four times as expensive RIAAs in my rig but this one just did everything right, with no fuzz, no hum, no problem just good nice sound.
Later I tried its sibling the Chord Qutest and decided that they matched each other quite nice.
So a friend of mine also use the same speakers as me, Uno Fino Edition but he has a Airtight combo with 300b tubes. Our rigs sound really nice but different,
Mine is more clean sounding, with more blackness, his is more live and feels more intimate. His sound like a small jazz club mine is like a huge concert hall for classical music. So u can use a SS rig for your Avantgarde if you choose the right gear. Not too much power, not to bright or hot.