Can someone suggest a lush tube integrated under $3000 used


My main system it’s solid state preamp and amp. I’ll through in a tube preamp on occasions. Somedays I just miss the lush involving syrupy tube sound with small jazz and blues recordings. I know highs may be rolled off,  not a lot of slam but can be so involving you lose track of time. This amp will be matched with some Joseph Audio first gen Pulsar, LSA 2 statement tower with ribbon tweeter and some Tiny Dancers. 

I’ve heard good things of the Cary, Ayon, maybe an old Conrad Johnson cav 50, I just don’t have much experience with integrated amps. My speakers aren’t the most efficient. 


paulcreed

Showing 1 response by upscaleaudio

Looks like he bought an amp. That's great.  I do want to mention if you have vintage tubes you want to use, you may not have matched pairs for BIAS not transconductance.  You can't match them on most old testers. If that's the case, make sure the amp has a bias adjustment for each tube.  The Cary SLI-80 Sig has a bias adjustment for each pair, so you need matched pairs. 

A cathode-bias amp can reduce tube life since they run in class a.  See if you can find out how much plate voltage and how they bias the amp. It's hard to find out but ask around if you have tubes you treasure.