Preamps and phono stages are typically the best components to start with tubes as it allows the amp to deliver quality current/power to control the speakers and introduces the least amount of tube noise in the system. In a system that is well-controlled but lacking in warmth and bloom, a good tube pre can make the entire system sound magical. Sounds like this is what happened in your case, congratulations! And thanks for spreading the cheer. :)
Finally made the transition to a tube preamp!
I was always curious about the much hyped sound that one can get from quality tube amplification. People talk about 'tubey magic', 'the golden glow', etc. I was always curious, but was reluctant to go in that direction because the received wisdom is that unless you spend big bucks (like, money you could buy used car with), tube amplification will only disappoint. The rationale is that with less than top notch tube equipment, all you get is a muddled sound with weak, flabby bass and rolled off highs.
My opinion started changing once I obtained Carver M-4.0t power amp. I bought it because I wanted a lot of power to drive my Magnepan MG-1 planar speakers. Once I hooked Carver M-4.0t to my Maggies, the sound was transformed. Not only did Maggies start singing, the very character of the sound drastically changed. Carver made that amp with the intention to emulate his flagship tube power amp, and by the way that amp sounds, I'd say he came pretty darn close. Yes, I started hearing that 'magical 'tubey' sound. Very exciting!
However, that's not what really changed my way of enjoying music. Intrigued by this encouraging discovery (courtesy of the Carver amp), I started looking for an all tubes preamp. Of course, quickly realized that without paying at least three of four grand, I won't be able to afford quality tube preamp.
Then, by accident, found an ad on the craigslist selling Dynaco PAS-4. Tempted, I offered $475.00 and next thing you know, I got the preamp.
OK, so now, with Dynaco PAS-4 hooked into Carver M-4.0t, the sound is completely, radically different than anything I was able to hear before. This preamp is incredible. It seems to have it all: soft, sweet, mellow, liquid, golden glow sound coupled with muscular bass. It delivers almost frightening slam, and the soundstage is way larger than before.
Isn't it amazing that for less than $500.00 one can get such amazing sound? The only problem is, as I understand, Dynaco PAS-4 is quite a rare find. Allegedly, it was produced in the early 1990s in very limited quantities.
Bottom line, if you spot this preamp for sale, don't hesitate to snatch it. In my experience, it is quite amazing!
24 responses Add your response
Welcome to the faithful believer’s club. Transcendence shall be yours. 🤣 I've been listening to tubes for over 30 years, and have no plans to backtrack. I listen to tubes for their clarity, spatial separation, micro dynamics, and uncanny glimpse into the recording room. They simply give me a more convincing illusion of natural sounding music, and reveal huge differences between recordings. Another plus is that you can roll different tubes to tailor the sound to your liking. Enjoy! 😎
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Tube rolling is optional of course, but it’s unique to tube gear and adds an element of fun and interest. Many/most (at least some) tube gear owners find that different brands of vacuum tubes...even those of the same type and similar specs, can sound different. The results can vary a lot depending on the particular circuit that’s in play, and the results are very subjective. Your system and your room will play a factor. Your system with the Maggies should be more revealing of the differences than most. You only need to please yourself, so no worries. Since you’re new to tubes, I’d spend some time with what you’ve got, get very familiar with the sound, and do some research in the process. Tubes have gotten a bit expensive since the Russian/Ukraine invasion, but there are good deals if you look. It’s cheaper to start with the preamp and driver tubes of the amp vs the output tubes. It’s best to go in increments vs all at once so you can appreciate whatever differences there might be...it can be subtle. It’s also good to allow several hours for new tubes to burn in, so take your time with each move....it’ll give you lots of time to research and think about the next move. There are some direct substitutions of type that are possible....just be sure to read up on which ones. Changing amplifier output tubes may require a bias adjustment, so read up on how the Carver handles the biasing....some amps have a user friendly potentiometer, others are auto biased, and some even require a resistor change, so you’ll want to check into that before changing output tubes. You may need a simple voltage meter for biasing. The preamp tubes and the driver stage tubes of the amp shouldn’t need any bias adjustments, which is another good reason to start there. https://www.themasterswitch.com/how-to-tube-roll
This is not an absolute definitive tube comparison, but there are some interesting comments and charts...it’s something, and can’t hurt to look, but don’t be afraid to go your own way. https://tubedepot.com/pages/tube-comparison-tool Have fun! 😎
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Congratulations. it only gets better from where you are. Enjoy. A tubed preamp was my first step into the tubed arena about thirty years ago. Since then one component after another has become tubed. Each accompanied by an increase in musicality and overall sound quality (they were always upgrades as well as switch to tubes). It has resulted in my current very satisfying system. |
I’m all tube and don’t think I could ever go back. Good tube equipment is very reliable, most tubes are too in my experience over the last 30 years with tube gear. I have had something with a tube in it since 93 when I bought a CAL Alpha DAC and very few tubes actually red plate or arc. Had a few loose vacuum, but overall reliable and no damage to components, except for my Anthem Amp 1. A great amp but blew a cathode resistor if a tube failed. Sonic Frontiers sent me a few and it wasn’t a big repair. Worth it given how good it sounded... and just having bought a house and having a kid then I had to keep that thing running.... |
A friend of mine once wrote an article called 'Color Me Perfect', the jist of which is no audio product is perfect and you pick the one that fits your system and your tastes best. Neither tube or solid state circuitry is perfect and they each have their own pluses and minuses which overlap but are not exactly the same. You are fortunate to have gained more insight into your perfect colorations and the result is a system that pleases you more. |
Now if you can challenge oneself to keep it as-is, and leave it, you’ll be doing well. For others, curiosity sets in about different tubes, then different preamps using different tubes, then curiosity sets in about exploring various tube amps, and tube DACs, so on and so forth. Like others here - I enjoy an all-tube system, yet where you are now is a nice place to be if you can stay there and enjoy it for what it is. Enjoy! |
oh man, theres some good tube stuff out there, old and new, and a good bit of it is afforadable. heck the audio by van alstine budget tube preamp (transcendence 10RB) is 1100 and supposedly just fantastic. i have the no-frills version of the top model. also, the used market is full of excellent line stages for well under $2k. im in the tube preamp-solid state amp club also! got a fantstic tube dac as well, the musical paradise MP-D2. my god, it sounds damn good. |
Welcome aboard. I’m not certain I agree with @blisshifi - at least that hasn’t been my experience. I find the amplifiers are more forgiving and the lower voltages in the phono and pre stages are more prone to tube noise. This is why tubes that test out with the lowest microphonics are considered necessary in those components. |
@zazouswing I agree with you as well… I guess it depends on the design. Not all all preamps are phono stages are microphonic, even one bit, but many of them are. And yes, proper tube matching and quality needs to be enforced due to the low level of the signal or else it will introduce noise and imbalance between channels. But properly done, it should be less noisy than having a high wattage tube amplifier (say 200wpc or more) to push harder to drive speakers like the OP’s Maggies. Yes Maggies can be driven fairly well with less than 200wpc, but a quality current amp with lots of headroom makes them shine due to their low impedance. |
I agree with others to leave the stock tube compliment in it and get familiar with it and once you get your system dialed in , speaker distance tweeted try some good quality tubes from a respected vendor. 6922 range from unobtainium holy grail to crap and everything in between. If you make only one change at a time you get a better feel for what works and what doesn’t |
I started with a tube linestage, Sonic Frontiers SFL-1... I was hooked. The sound was so much more than my SS preamp had offered. I moved to a Manley, Shrimp that I just recently sold. I loved that piece and thought it was a super match with my Quad 909 & Cary Rocket 88r. I may in fact regret selling but it’s got a great new owner. I moved to an Aesthetix, Calypso and although I "think" I like the remote and it’s features, I was more than happy with the simplicity of the Shrimp. The Calypso is a FINE lineatage for certain. I’m now however considering swapping it out for a Herron, VTSP-3A. I think I’m just wanting to keep climbing the preamp/lineatage ladder and wondering if the Herron will be an improvement. I know they are BOTH exceptional pieces and I might be let down, but everything I’ve read about the Herron tells me I’d like to give it a twirl. Anyway, tube pre, tube amps and a Line Magnetic tube DAC and I’m now leaning hard into all things tube & there’s no going back for me. Oh, and not so much a "tube roller" but have replaced most of the stock tubes with Gold Lion, Mullard, Telefunken & Siemens. I’ve not had one regret yet. |
Great thoughts. In my opinion tube pre amps take things to the next level, they are “instruments” rather than just components. They can make a ss amp perform at a whole different level. My McIntosh c2300 did this in my system, and when I added vintage amprex medical tubes (extremely low distortion) it was transformative. Great hobby isn’t it? |
Thank you all for such fantastic advices! Wow, what a great bunch of friendly people who all share love for good sound. Question: I am currently using re-tipped Denon DL-103 cartridge (micro ridge stylus on boron cantilever) into Lehmann Audio Decade phono into Dynaco PAS-4. I know that Dynaco PAS-4 also has all tube phono preamp built in. I'm not sure that my Denon DL-103, which is rated at around 0.3 millivolts output (LOMC) would supply high enough signal for the Dynaco PAS-4 phono stage. I also have in my collection Empire EDR9 moving iron cartridge. Wondering if that cart would give sufficiently high output signal into the PAS-4 phono stage? Also, I still haven't tried Empire EDR9 in my system (although I have it mounted and set up on another Jelco head shell), so I'm wondering if that cart could compete with re-tipped Denon DL-103 (I'm a big fan of LOMC cartridges). To preemptively answer the logical question "why don't you just try it?", in my defence I must say that in the current configuration in my listening room, I'd have to make a lot of very time consuming changes to enable my turntable tonearm interconnects to reach all the way to the Dynaco PAS-4 preamp. So, I'd rather just ask if that would be worth the trouble, before I invest half a day in rearranging my audio shelf (don't ask why is it so convoluted). Thanks in advance for any info/opinion on this. |
@yogiboy thanks for sharing that cool article. |
It’s always subjective and there are many variables, but given the quality of your system chain, I’d think that the retipped Denon with the ML profile and boron cantilever would be worth having in your system. I’m not certain, but I’d guess the PAS 4 won’t do particularly well with that small of a signal. If it’s working well with the Lehmann, I’d leave it....even better if its the easier path. |