got home late last night, this morning listening to the ML3's since they were the last amps I had going Saturday night last I listened. too tired to think about changing amps right now. just enjoying some tunes.
I've not read all the posts made in the last 4-5 days, but i'd like to make clear that my motivations in my amplifier odyssey here are not to replace what the darTZeel's do. rather it's to have the best possible 'other view' from my tube amp favorite. and to optimize the intimate side of that SET tube amp viewpoint. the big VAC's just dropped into the situation uninvited and unneeded. yet they do confuse the issue.
the ML3's answer the question I was asking......however you cut it. they scratch the itch fully. the only question is whether owning 2 sets of amps that do different things is worth the whole envelope of effort and investment. but that is what I wanted to know. how good is the bass from the ML3's? it's great and the perfect 'tube' bass up to the point where they can't keep up with the musical demands. but perfect tube bass, while fully doing it for jazdoc, does not fully do it for me. it's like the Garrard 301 and what it did for the music in my system. it was fun and involving. but it also was in the way of some of the aspects of the music. you trade enhancement for transparency. is that the universal popular viewpoint? no.....but it's mine.
the Berning 211/845 was a fantastic amp which similarly ran out of steam on bigger music. but it did not do the holographic tonality magic tricks of the ML3's in my system as well. it was more linear and more similar to the darTZeel. it did have it's own magic and it is maybe my third favorite tube amp (i'm familiar with). but it was not enough down the tube road to offer a real ying to the yang of the darts. it did not appear to me worth adding as an alternative. but.....if I had a set of 105db horns, and it was going to be my only amp, then it would be a strong contender to the ML3's.
i'm going to just ignore those who claim some sort of issue with my room size or speakers as being friendly to the ML3's. period. the issue is what the darts do, not any system issue. I could live with the ML3's on all the music if I did not have the reference of what the darts do. but I do have that reference. and that is the baseline for me of my system. there is not game plan going forward. i'm just going to enjoy my further discovery process and see where it takes me. in 6 months likely the dust will settle and i'll know more. i'll be living and enjoying each day with these great amp choices......until I don't.