I just want to say, good luck, with the caveat: I have gotten clever, too clever for my own good a few times. Very proud of myself, until I wasn't.
A little tube magic?
I’m looking for some ideas and impressions. I’d really like to run tubes for amplification, but my system pulls double duty for music and tv. It is on probably about 8 hours a day for one or the other. This just seems like to much to me for running tubes. I’m looking for a way to be able to keep my solid state setup but add tubes in a manner I can switch them in and out. I have couple of ideas but I am aware neither is very ideal.
First I thought I could add a tube preamp or maybe even buffer in the tape loop of my McIntosh C46. I know this will add more complexity for the signal to pas through. I’m not sure if I can expect gains that will be better that what I lose by adding extra cables and components.
My second idea would be to add a tube power amp on some sort of switch, something similar the the Shiit SYS. Which is basically a passive preamp with two inputs and a potentiometer. I’ve read that can use it backwards kind of and have the output be the input and run the two inputs to two different amps and then switch between the two. I would think I’d need two sets of speaker cables to make this work, and switch them back and forth as needed. I’m not really fond of either idea and hope there may be a solution I’m unaware of. I really just want tubes for music and ss for tv if it’s possible.
A third option would be to get a tube dac for music listening, but I’m unsure if I’ll be able to get the amount of tube sound I’m after. I guess I could see it as part of the solution along with tubes in the pre or power amp as well.
Any thoughts or ideas would be much appreciated.
First I thought I could add a tube preamp or maybe even buffer in the tape loop of my McIntosh C46. I know this will add more complexity for the signal to pas through. I’m not sure if I can expect gains that will be better that what I lose by adding extra cables and components.
My second idea would be to add a tube power amp on some sort of switch, something similar the the Shiit SYS. Which is basically a passive preamp with two inputs and a potentiometer. I’ve read that can use it backwards kind of and have the output be the input and run the two inputs to two different amps and then switch between the two. I would think I’d need two sets of speaker cables to make this work, and switch them back and forth as needed. I’m not really fond of either idea and hope there may be a solution I’m unaware of. I really just want tubes for music and ss for tv if it’s possible.
A third option would be to get a tube dac for music listening, but I’m unsure if I’ll be able to get the amount of tube sound I’m after. I guess I could see it as part of the solution along with tubes in the pre or power amp as well.
Any thoughts or ideas would be much appreciated.