I have owned a large number of tube amps over the years. The list includes a pair of McIntosh MC60, a pair of Paoli 60M which were enhanced Dynaco MK3, Hadley 601, Conrad Johnson MV50, and Dyna 70. I've always preferred tubes.
My current amp tops them all. It is a model 66-100 from Elliott Studio Arts in Seattle.
Each unit is custom-made by hand.
The transformers are made in the USA and they are huge.
The circuit is wired point-to-point. The mechanical construction is aircraft quality. The heavy gauge metal chassis is machined to tight tolerances. It uses quality fasteners and sports high-quality paint and plate finishes. But it's not just beautiful, it is quality throughout.
The best part is the sound. My unit uses four KT-120 tubes that provide plenty of power for my power-hungry vintage JBL L-250ti speakers. (Lower power tubes can be used as well with slight mod by Kevin Elliott.) Tube bias is easily adjustable with controls on the top and a built-in meter.
The amp comes with a 5-year warranty plus complimentary minor upgrades if circuit improvements become available. Kevin is easy to talk to, builds a great product, and stands squarely behind it. And the price is much lower than many of the other quality amps of the day. I highly recommend it. |
Air Tight here,
ATE2 preamp for 11 years now. Nothing to fix until now. Works like a charm
ATM3 amps for 23 years. Only one timer (starting tempo for protecting the tubes) to fix 3 years ago.
And wonderfull music !
Thank you Miura San and Respect. |
Bdp24, the preamp,monoblocs,and dac from Ear are great!!! Beautifull,natural and holographic sound.
i have the preamp Audio Note M5 and poweramp :GamuT D200 |
Kronzilla or for that matter any of KR Audio's tube amps out of Prague has been my favourite for years(currently got 3 pcs.). Build quality and sound is our of this world. May not be the prettiest around but they do for sure stand out in every other aspect. |
My vote is for Decware!! I bought mine about 15 years ago and have never had a problem. Sound is fantastic!!! Great people. |
Printed circuit boards comes in different ratings, most common is FR4, but there are others, including some laminated on metal. It would be possible to have a poweramp with a PCB and have chassis mounted tube sockets with wired connections to a PCB. Suitable slots can be routed in the PCB for higher voltage tolerance, as is commonly done in AC line power supplies and high voltage circuits in CFL tubes.
What fails in tube amps?
Overvoltage and overtemp. Electrolytic caps comes with so many hours of load life specified for a max temp. Metal film resistors can degrade over time with too much voltage for their spec. The degrading can take years and results in a noisy amp.
Wirewound resistors don't do this.
Tubes degrade over time but may last a very long time, longer than electrolytic caps. Film caps can break too, causing tubes to loose bias and overheat.
PCBs as stated before, turn brown and ugly, oveheating solderjoints loosening them up making them noisy.
Connectors and pots are common culprits.
Many amps do not have indiviual bias pots for power tubes, but that can be added. Unless of course it is a selfbiased tube, which not so efficient, and not much used in high end amps.
Solid state components can also take a hit from adverse operating conditions.
Don't be afraid of tube amps.
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....or Audio Note may be the more familiar name.
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DECWARE as noted by others here.. He's been refining his product for years. Great person to deal with. Check out the site and give the company a call and ask for Steve. He's the owner ,, PTP of course.. He had offered only SET amps since the beginning. Over the last 10 years now has higher powered amps.
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I run Class D amp with expert DSP adding a "hint" of tube sound. I just don't have the stomach and budget for GREAT tube gear. Cheers, Pin |
I have only had 2 tube amp failures. First, an Audio Research Classic 150. It went up in a puff of smoke, dimmed the lights and everything. It was repaired under warranty. Second, I had a transformer fail in an amp I built myself. Solid state, on the other hand, 4 failures, some of them multiple. I have owned more tube amps than SS. Admittedly, all but one of the SS amps was at least 18 years old, but that amp I built is now 20 years old and has only had that one bad transformer. I’ve never had a preamp fail. |
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I have an EAR Yoshino V20. I own a lot of other tube gear and none of it is built or sounds like this. Two thumbs up for Tim deParavicini. Seriously, give EAR a look.
ray
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Viva amps are very well made, reliable and great sounding.
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I had very good long term service from my Quicksilvers, but I'll give Manley another recommendation.. I've had my Manley SET 300B's for about 5 years now A light bulb went out once. An added benefit: the sound is glorious.
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My Audio Mirror 45 Watt SETs have been working flawlessly for years. And with auto-bias, the power tubes last a very long time. Glorious sound to boot. |
I will add a vote for PrimaLuna ProLogue 6 amps, which I have owned for a number of years, changing the tubes once. They were used when I bought them and have been great. They were a recommendation from Kevin at Upscale Audio. I have never had the urge to change. |
Lots of good suggestions. I may have missed recommendations for Decware, VTL and I agree with the recommendation of Manley. I’ve owned 4 pieces of Manley and never a problem.
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Quicksilver Audio, Audio Connection
for over 29 years have installed them successfully with
Vandersteen, Proacs, Klipsch, B&W, Magnepan etc
Point to point wiring.
Easy Bias
Great Transformers
Slow turn on
Issue free operation
unrivaled support
sound extraordinarily engaging.
Made in the USA
Pride in ownership.
can sleep well at night.....
Best,
JohnnyR
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One of the biggest considerations I have with purchasing audio equipment is the quality level of communication and support. Often companies offer long warranties but don’t want the customer to use it. So you can’t get ahold of them, you are put on the long backlog or back burner. A quality company responds to customers concerns and backs their products!!!!!
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^^ They also build the equipment so it can be easily serviced.
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Having already owned tube amps from ARC, Cary & Rogue the best is my Music Reference RM-10 Mk II bought new in 2011....hard wired point to point masterpiece...bulletproof, light, small footprint, simply built, easy on tubes and great sounding. It's a remarkable piece... If 35 watts is enough it's hard to beat |
+1 Audio Connection. In my many years in this hobby and with respect to many of the very fine products mentioned in this thread, Quicksilver audio is among the best values I can think of. A no brainer choice matched to the proper speaker load.
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+1 jazzman: Manley Labs. I have communuicated with Eve Anna several times and she is VERY responsive and supportive. Remember, they make their own transformers in house! |
Aric Audio and don’t look back.
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My Altec Lansing 1570B were built around 1954 and run fine. They were rebuilt in 2004 but the transformers, chokes etc are all original. |
Kingrex, when do you predict your Altec will be fully broken in?
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Anyone with experience to share regarding Rogers EH series? I found a dealer within a one-hour drive and like the looks...and obviously the specs looks great.
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I've heard a few Rogers amps here and there and they seem to sound great...I know somebody who owns one (EHF200) and loves it. A Lifetime transferrable warranty on everything they sell (beat that!), hand built with point to point wiring, great reviews (except for claims that the 65V-1 has bass issues or something)...what's not to like? Sort of pricey, but possibly worth it. |
Received new MC275 yesterday. Units On/Off switch doesn't work. Amp only shuts off when you unplug it. And no, I don't have any triggers attached to it. Most disconcerting considering I waited three weeks for it. I've read Mcintosh has lowered the bar the last couple of years, but this is aggravating. Would not recommend this amp! |
sorry to hear. McIntosh is one of those great "classic" American companies. Let's hope McIntosh does not go down the path of older "classic US names" like GM and start building junk. |
I bet the on/off switch is easily fixed. |
I hope that isn't the Mac that is sensitive to DC in the power lines.
B |
I’ve heard great things about Quicksilver. I’m eager to hear one. |
Rogue Audio is really great. |
+1 for Rogue.
I mentioned Kondo/Audio Note earlier but I also use a Rogue preamp (modified by the factory), and they're great. Great service.. they care about their work and customers.
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Recommendation - Line Magnetic, Music Reference, Shindo, Lamm, Manley, and VTL (except I have seen excessive tube wear with VTL designs)
I totally disagree about Rogue (transformers buzz and ground loop issues) I had problems with CJ (6months to get a tube preamp fixed after they sent me the wrong tubes for a Premier 14 and cooked it) and ARC (use to have great service but now that they were sold off meh). VAC and Cary are crap where the designers blame the tubes and way too many trips back to the factory to make it sound nice. Cary has rolling changes on hardware which they aren't even tracking. |
Since your question is on BEST BUILD quality and not BEST SOUND quality:
Ayon comes to mind. You could insert the tubes with broken pins the wrong way and it would just blown the fuse and not toast the amp. Insane expensive parts inside. Tube bias barely moved for 3+ years of active use (no need to keep swapping out tubes nor re-bias). Simply amazing. If an idiot can’t break it, nuff said.
I like Rogue 120, 150 and 180 too. But the Apollo ... be careful with tubes blown on you periodically.
There are better sounding tube amps, but they are complete joke in terms of build quality. VAC (never got one that didn’t act up nor service free). Kora. Jadis (try bias them yourself, or accidentally cross the speaker spades, and you’d know exactly what I meant). Modern Carver monos (my buddy’s big expensive red mono blocks kept blowing the tubes away ... and literally set the tubes on fire inside ... not for the faint of heart... yet BC hinted that my friend is an idiot who doesn’t know buy good tubes).
Another big name tube amp maker once claimed that you shall never power up the tube amp without any tube, or the amp would be damaged. Now that’s QUALITY... not!
Most OTL tube amps I owned were fire hazard. They sound gorgeous with the right speakers, but they are also the most temperamental of all tubes amps I ever owned.
What not to consider ever, if you care about quality, that you don’t want fire hazard, that you could walk away for an hour or two with the tube amp unattended, is most mainland China imported tube amps (sorry). You don’t even need to open it up to see what kind of fire hazard is inside. Buy one of them, leave it on, and watch how the bias swings wildly, nuff said. (and I am talking about the *expensive* ones costing $2k-$5k MSRP)
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Too bad we are in Covid world. I’d love to hear the Carver M350, especially after rolling all my Line Magnetic LM805ia tubes. I might be biased (pun intended) but I can’t imagine being much happier than I am now. Hopefully, someday I’ll be able to discover what the differences are between the 2. |
I miss Zanden here. One of the most beautiful tube gear. |
TW ACUSTIC SET AMP THE BEST BY FAR.Jump on one ASAP!! |
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IMO/IME building a power amp, especially a tube amp, is best done point to point. This ensures that the amp will have the longest life. But I also find it important to have a nice build quality and appearance internally, since its actually easier to control stray capacitance, which can mess with high frequency bandwidth. Plus its nice to see that people take pride in their work. A technician's signature or initials is always a good thing to see.
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25 years old Air Tight ATM3. A timer had to be replaced 6 years ago and a couple of resistors. That’s it. 12 years old Air Tight ATE2 preamp. Nothing needs to be fixed yet. |
Wavelength Audio by Gordon Rankin. I have a pair of Cardinal XS monos (300B) and Siver 45 monos first versions. |
I normally find this kind of question impossible to answer, but, when it comes to build quality, I think there is a company that has a record to sustain the evidence that it is a top contender, and that is Western Electric. There are many of its amps that are 80 to 90 years old that are still running and delivering world-class sound. I've heard terrific modern builds using old Western Electric parts, including 70 year old capacitors and resistors. Some other brands may, in the future prove to be that good, but, for now, I find it hard to beat Western Electric. |
