new to the world of tube amps, help?

[bhd812]

well after years of having a receiver to do the dirty work of music I deceided to lean towards a older and more amazing sound. the tube amp. I am looking to get into the tube amp 2 channel world any suggestions? any cons or pros? I am looking to spend about $2400 on the amp or amps any companies worth looking at?

[topspeed]

well after years of having a receiver to do the dirty work of music I deceided to lean towards a older and more amazing sound. the tube amp. I am looking to get into the tube amp 2 channel world any suggestions? any cons or pros? I am looking to spend about $2400 on the amp or amps any companies worth looking at?

I'm a longtime fan of the classic ARC sound so the ARC VS55 would be at the top of my list. BAT makes terrific stuff and ASL gives very good bang for the buck. Cary is well regarded but pricey. Upscale Audio in California is one of if not the largest volume retailer of tube gear and they always have boat loads of used/demo equipment. The new BAT VK200 for $1999 sounds Mi-T-Tasty! You might want to check them out along with Audiogon.com

http://www.audioresearch.com/VS55.html
http://www.upscaleaudio.com/demoN.htm

Good luck

[magictooth]

well after years of having a receiver to do the dirty work of music I deceided to lean towards a older and more amazing sound. the tube amp. I am looking to get into the tube amp 2 channel world any suggestions? any cons or pros? I am looking to spend about $2400 on the amp or amps any companies worth looking at?

Give Audiomat a try. I second the other opinion that a used amp will serve you quite well. www.audiogon.com has some great deals on used equipment if you care to search the site. You may be able to get a recent vintage Audiomat Prelude or Solfege Reference for $2200-$3000.

[bhd812]

anything i should look for like features? any dos and donts about tube amps?

[E-Stat]

anything i should look for like features? any dos and donts about tube amps?

I'll add one more recommendation: VTL. I was the happy owner of an ARC VT-100 MKII until I heard the VTL amps. One very useful feature of the VTLs is individual tube biasing that is extremely easy to get to. The bias pots for the VT-100 were both difficult to access and required purchasing matched quads because of a common bias settings for four output tubes.

Consider the speakers you plan to drive. Tube amps, with their lower damping factor, don't mate well with dynamic speakers with wild impedance curves.

Good luck in your hunt as half the fun is in the searching!

rw

[bhd812]

im looking into the mirage om-9s or maybe driving some psb 6t's..or something of that price range


then again im not scared to spend $2000 on speakers, its the cables that scare me...lol

[E-Stat]

im looking into the mirage om-9s or maybe driving some psb 6t's..or something of that price range

At that budget, I would recommend auditioning some Magnepan 1.6s.

...then again im not scared to spend $2000 on speakers, its the cables that scare me...lol

Good cables are the finishing touch to an already nice system. Start with the fundamentals.

rw

[92135011]

electrostats are not very efficient...probably driving them with tubes wont give you the best result. Well, that is unless you get one of those crazy 200watt tube monoblocs or something. But, of course, we not looking at that price range any more.

[E-Stat]

electrostats are not very efficient...probably driving them with tubes wont give you the best result.

If you are referring to my post, Magnepans are planar magnetic, not electrostatic. And you are correct, I use some of those crazy 200 watt triode monoblock amps with my 'stats..

rw

[92135011]

sorry about that, I jumped the conclusion on the Magnepan without checking it out.

[Haoleb]

Theres a chinese tube amp maker by the name of "ming da" which is getting some good press. i know there are a couple of US dealers but i dont know exactly who they are! In the price range your looking at, you can get a nice amp though. Although these things are made in china, they are top quality. check em out

[RGA]

If your serious about a tube based system go and listen to an all Audio Note system to get yourself a reference point. Then look at what is in your price range.

It is CRITICAL to properly drive loudspeakers and the biggest drawback of tube amps isn't the amp but the speakers being driven. Sensitivity is nearly as important as the impedence. Audio Note designs the most expensive tube systems in the world and the entire chain is made to fit together. Quad and Linn off hand are the only other real players that do this.

This will demonstrate that you can get FULL RANGE bass top to bottom with slam and finess and outstanding resolution with 9 SE watts. Take that amp and connect it to ANY slim line design speaker (of those I've heard) and you'll get a weaner presentation of flabby or non existant bass and rolled off treble.

Tube based system can sound absolutely glorious but you have to pay attention and not start mixing and matching willy nilly.

Your budget should be flipped. Look for Audio note in your area. For $1950.00 possibly less you can get their entry level AN K SPe which can be upgrade internally at later dates to a $6k model Or their larger AN E D. Always start with speakers first.

If you really want tubes your speaker selection is narrowed greatly. It is not the sensitivity that is key here it's the impedence. You can have a speaker at 95db sensitive but if the impedence dips to 2-3 ohms and has spikes all over it's going to present difficulty. The AN's don't dip under 5ohms. You also are not likely to find a speaker their size that offers the quality or the depth to the bass or dynamics or a grain free treble response. They are not the best looking in the world...they look 70s. But then that matches tubes too.

Audio Note's tube amplifiers and cd players are also internally upgradeable.

http://www.audionote.co.uk/reviews/reviews.htm

[Bill L]

Here are some pluses:
The sound
Tube rolling, Change tube brand = change amp sound
Image like crazy

Here are some minuses:
Tube life (cost)
Heat
Frequent bias adjustments (PITA on some)
Need to warm up a half hour or more to sound really good

This from my only tube amp, a used ARC D-115 MKII. 100 W/ch, 400 W consumption at idle. It was like having a space heater in the room - no joke. Tube amps are a labor of love as far as I'm concerned. Guess it was only infatuation because it's gone and I'm happier.

[bhd812]

was it a warm real sound. i am sick of all these blah blah blah receivers i want a simple two channel with a nice warm glowing amp on the floor in the middle. i have a onkyo 989 receiver and it sound good, but its not real sound.

[Bill L]

That's a question better answered by the crowd at audioasylum.com in the tube forum. Tube amps come in "classic" warm all the way to transistor "cool" sound.

[pelly3s]

I'm personally a huge fan of any McIntosh. I love tube amps although I don't own one yet. I am working on the design and I am going to build one.