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Living With A Class A Tube Amp

I'm ready to replace my venerable Prima Luna Dialogue One amp.  Just as I thought I had my choices sufficiently narrowed down, I came across Roger's EHF-100 integrated amp.  It has the features I'm looking for without any frills, and has sufficient wattage to power my Sonus Faber Sonetto VIII speakers   Checked out their web site and had an informative email conversation with Roger, who confirmed that this would be a good amp for my speaker. s and room.  He provided me with some useful information, but I need some info from Class A tube amp owners generally.

From what I gather Class A amps produce max power at all times, therefore run hotter than a typical amp.  How does this affect amp placement?  My current amp is on a heavy wooden table and in front of a curtained window.  Would the table need to be replaced?  Do I need Nomex curtains?   How does this heat affect tube life?  Any other internal components subject to accelerated aging due to the heat?  Any other thoughts from Class A amp owners would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

John Cotner

New Ulm, MN 

jrcotner

Showing 1 response by rooze

rooze's avatar
rooze
645 posts
 

@jrcotner 

  1. Class A tube amps have desirable sonic qualities, but other current tube or solid state amps can produce equally good sound quality without the drawbacks listed above.

That came from @atmasphere and while I agree with the majority of his posts, and learn a lot from him, the point above is too subjective. I've heard him comparing the latest Class D amps to tubes and using the 'equally good sound quality' comment. I've yet to have that experience. (But I also haven't heard Atmasphere's own Class D amps.)

There's a couple ways that good tubes present themselves that I haven't heard from solid state/Class D. 

 

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