Anyways, I recently bought my first SS amp..a yamaha ca-1010. This was the top of the line yamaha (or maybe one step doen) in the late 1970's. It has a pure class Aoperation of 18W and AB of around 90 Watts. It sold for around $700 in 1978.

I got it 4 days ago, connected it, and played some of my usual tracks. AS my earlier post shows, I found A) the imaging to be very significantly worse, and b) the sound to be thin. THe more experienced among you can probably guess what was going on, already!

My aim was to see if SS is indeed as bad as it's made out to be. My initial impression was it was pretty bad. I then rationalised that it couldn;t really be THAT bad, it sounded so bad on my setup becuase of the thinness of my speakers that SETs somehow compensate for with their richer more even order distorted sound. TH edifference eas pretty dramatic.
Well...last evening, I listened to the SS amp again, and agin, the imaging was non-existent. Tracks that imaged well on the SETs seemed to emerge from two different speakers. MY speakers usually disappear quite well (esp the home brews). With the Yamaha amp, they were definitely there, in fact sound was coming disctinctly from each speaker, and the sound was thin. LAst evening, it occured to me: it can't be THIS bad. Check the phase!
Sure enough, the speakerswere wired out of phase in the Yamaha!!!!!
My only excuse is a busy week!
Anyway, after correcting that,the imaging was great, and the sound of course became much fuller. At least now I can do a reasonabke A/B comparo with a SEt amp in detail.
My revised imitial impressions of the YAmaha now are are: very good imaging, nice neutral sound, still not as rich as a SET, but in some caes, sounding better..the difference in neutrality versus richenss is now much more subtle....the Yamahas have better detail, better bass control.
A more detailed, level matched comparo review will follow soon.
Overall, i am very happy now with the small amount I paid for the yamaha...it really is a great amp, not to mention great for working out when you move it (35 + pounds).
Just thought this may offer some entertaining education for the rest of us!
-akhilesh