Although it does not have a $6000 look,or price ($2995) I would include the Plinius 8200 MkII in the group. |
David Berning Siegfried 300B SE ZOTL. None finer. The only "OTL" single ended design ever made. But be careful. It will reveal ALL, and if there is anything lacking, you will hear about it. |
Mark Levinson 383. Need I say more?? |
The 383 is far from being a tube integrated so it is ruled out here, not to mention I find it kind of dull.
I would opt the Unison Research Simply 845 (845 tube) which sounds might fine, as does the Cary 300SEI (300B). The inexpensive Antique Sound Lab AQ1010 (300Bs in parallel) is surprisingly good too. Arthur |
Don't know what all the Pathos Twin Towers are based on, but it would be a tube integrated to consider.
As for the 383, yes, wrongly included, as the Plinius also; dull, hardly, maybe in a certain setup, anything can be dull...then again, we all like different flavors. |
PASS will kick ass, assuming you want no editing. |
What is the deal with all these recommendations for solid state amps, when the guy clearly asks for a single ended tube amp with volume controls? And even specifies 2A3 or 300B. |
Wyetech if they have any under $7000-8,000 and you like a neutral sound. |
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I second the motion on the Cary 300B SEI but would add that if you can find a used LX20 version and don't mind replacing tubes a little more frequently, you'll get twice the power and quality. Also a few minor upgrades, eg replace the volume pot with a stepped attenuator, replace rectifiers with hexfreds, replace bypass and coupling caps with DynamiCaps, bypass the balance pot, and you got a different beast altogether capable blowing away the big boys at any price. |
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The AirTight ATM-300 (300B based) stereo amp is superb and will privide more drive than the Cary. It has dual attenuators so you can run your CD directly through it, maybe add a Creek OBH-12 passive remote volume control. I've run this system and everything works wonderfully. The amp retails for $6,300.00 - good luck finding a used one, though. Anybody got one they'd like to sell? |
I would look at the Jeff Rowland Concentra II integrated amplifier. Depending on the application, I might also look at the McIntosh MA6900 integrated amp. Good luck.. |
Pboutin,
I have another suggestion for you:-
deHavilland Aries 845 monoblock. Here's the link:
http://www.dehavillandhifi.com/aries845.htm
It's not a 300B or 2A3 design but I've heard the Cary 805C Anniv edition mono blocks (that use 845 tubes) & they sound better than their 300B SET, of course, to my ears. The intimacy is slightly reduced vs. their 300B design but the authority in bass, transparency & air around voices & instruments is much better IMHO. |
Relevance to the question will go a long way to make the use of this forum worthwile as in, rescourcefull or enlightening.
Looking at the various answers, it make me doudbt that my question must have been properly formulated, (english is my second language), yet, maybe not. Thanks again, specially, the Berning, Cary, Airthight suggestions. |
