[sango]

Just recieved this wonderful amp and plugged it in and was stunned from hte very first moment (i'm using it with a pair of K1000). BUT it's one thing i'm a little dissapointed at, the volume. I'll prolly get plenty of volume the most of the time but when i want to do a showoff to my non-audiophile-friends? It could be that im just alittle nit picky.. it sounds awesome tho'. I'm glad i didin't buy a new source too, i still can't understand why i should buy me an source. My Mp3 player sounds better than that Arcam DiVA CD73T demo at my local hi-fi store. DAPs to da people!

 

[Michael G.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sango Just recieved this wonderful amp and plugged it in and was stunned from hte very first moment (i'm using it with a pair of K1000). BUT it's one thing i'm a little dissapointed at, the volume. I'll prolly get plenty of volume the most of the time but when i want to do a showoff to my non-audiophile-friends? It could be that im just alittle nit picky.. it sounds awesome tho'. I'm glad i didin't buy a new source too, i still can't understand why i should buy me an source. My Mp3 player sounds better than that Arcam DiVA CD73T demo at my local hi-fi store. DAPs to da people!

Don't complain about the volume level if it's adequate for your needs - the SE-9 and the K-1000 are a good match. The Norh is a very quiet running tubed integrated amp. Tube integrated amps are often quieter than tube seperates, but as a general rule tube gear gives off more audible background noise during playback than solid state gear does. If a tube amp is well matched to the K-1000's (like the Norh is), and produces just enough power to give you adequate volume, then the "signal to noise ratio" is going to be good. Since tube gear is generally more noisy than solid state gear, it could be more likely that you'd hear more background hiss and/or hum with a more powerful amp that has it's volume knob turned up only partway. The lower powered tube amp with it's volume knob cranked up all the way is probably going to be putting out a greater ratio of musical signal to background hiss and hum.