Originally Posted by
Ducatista47
You are probably correct, but as a woofer the 2245H is unusual. It has a light cone for its size and doesn't develop as much inertia as some other eighteens. So it needs less braking/damping. The 502B amp is a pretty solid push pull unit and controls it pretty well.
It could be my room, but after months of exposure to both a giant UREI and the 502, I found the 502 much more musical/less clinical and dry. It sounded more like live music, at least the acoustic music I crave. I was higher than a kite on the SS sound until I switched back on a lark. I was floored how much more pleasing the tube driven rendition was to me. String bass was like night and day. The big SS amp sounded like the bass was coming out of a shoe box by comparison. Just choked off. YMMV! It is possible a better SS amp might help, but I could tell that the problem was not amplifier quality, but rather damping. The notes died too fast to sound natural.
I guess it is all what you are used to hearing, but the tubes sound a lot more like live music and I can't think of anything else that matters after that.
Clark