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Paul S wrote:

Given speakers that can be driven dynamically by single stage amplification, there remain a host of issues, and among those issues is color.  Most compression drivers are color-challenged to begin with…

I would agree. Perhaps lest “soft” materials involved means less opportunities to do “colors”. With the single stage amplification perhaps the same but it very educational to hear MF driver with a single-stage of amplification, particularly with very fast core. It strikes me as very “honest” sound; it has a sense of purity and cleanness that is very addictive if you get use to it. What important is to understand that usually the phrase “clean” sound audio people use only in context of “lean” sound. The Milq’s single-stage doe not sound lean at all, rather just  “full” but “clean”.

nl wrote:

The 6C33 has some adherents, including Lamm and also the well-regarded Almarro amps. However, even Lamm is now using the GM70 for his $140,000 statement amplifier.

It is not accurate. The GM70 is not regular DHT tubes but in a way unique tube in all DH family. This tube has nothing from what commonly considered as typical “DHT sound”, if it has any…

nl wrote:

DHTs have a special character. I wouldn't call them "neutral." But, if I wanted "neutral" I would use a gainclone-type amp. DHTs can be among the lowest-distortion amplification devices ever made. However, most DHT users like the funny addition they make to the sound, and tend to emphasize this aspect.

Yes, they do and also mostly all of them drive their few watts DHT with 90dB full-range load that dive down to a could ohms… 

nl wrote:

Once again, a simple gainclone amplifier, which can be built for $200 or so, will crush a DHT amp in terms of dynamics, bandwidth and headroom. It will crush the Milq amp too, despite Romy's possible protestations otherwise. It will crush any amp that uses an output transformer, as regards those qualities. However, it just doesn't have that DHT (or Milq) tone.

I never trued any gainclone amps in my own playback and therefore I have not reasons to protest. The last gainclone that I heard was last year were 4-way system was driven by 4 or 5 47Lab amps, that are gainclone I belive.

nl wrote:

I have used Russian high-gm tubes like 6C45 in amps before, including single-stage designs very much like Romy's single-stage Milq. These have many attractions. However, in my experience it just didn't have the tone. Jim de Kort of VT52.com came to the same conclusion, regarding his WE437 spud using amorphous output transformers, on his 107db horn speakers. He went back to his 26-10-45 combo, three stages instead of one.  In my experience, a very simple 6sn7-6sn7-45 amp destroyed the 6C45 spud, even with the disadvantages of three stages instead of one.

Interesting… Still, I do not think that the idea to go three active stages to get “some colors” is something that sounds logical to me. I like to use as less stages as possible. It shell be “other ways”. In fact I do have some interesting ideas and not those that that I have expressed in my post above.

nl wrote:

I don't have time to try every possible combination. The high-gm tubes tend to have a certain glassiness which doesn't appeal to me. I even bought some 6E5Ps to give it another try. It would surprise me if the outcome was much different than my experiences with the 6C45 however.

The 6E5P is a perfect two-stage driver (low current and high voltage), it is not out tube. You remember when I was trying to have 6E5P to drive headphones – it was not good. I thought and still think that it is possible to use 6E5P of the 6C45 in the DSET configuration, letting it to drive just HF channel. If it has glassiness then load it harder and it might go away.

drdna wrote:

I think you must be careful to be seduced by the idea of adjustable color, to avoid going down the road that Bob Carver did with the adjustable Sunfire amp or Mark Levinson did with Cello Pallette preamp. It should be more like a knob to fine tune the station rather than a "loudness" button.

Yes, the Carver’s fame did come to my mind and I certainly do not go into the same camp - I hate whatever he did.

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