My first tube amplifier was a hybrid: A New York Audio Labs Amp with a combination of tubes an mosfets. It was paired to a New York Audio labs minuet preamplifier. It sounded pretty sweet. It was, however a little noisy. I was powering bose 901’s with it at the time, using a Rega Planar 3 turntable (I forget what type of cartridge) and an NAS Cd player.
I did roll some Russian tubes into that setup, but is was so long ago that I don’t remember the details.
I eventually replaced it with a (Carver) Sunrise Integrated.
My current system is Magnepan 1.7i’s powered by a Aric Audio Transcend Tube preamp (awesome little hand made preamp) and an old Parasound HCA2200 amplifier (ss). I am enjoying this system, but am saving my nickels for a tube amplifier with enough oomph for the Magnepans.
I know this is heresy, but I have dispensed with motorized sources entirely and use a Cambridge CXN streamer primarily in conjunction with Tidal, but I sometimes listen to BBC 2.
I did roll some Russian tubes into that setup, but is was so long ago that I don’t remember the details.
I eventually replaced it with a (Carver) Sunrise Integrated.
My current system is Magnepan 1.7i’s powered by a Aric Audio Transcend Tube preamp (awesome little hand made preamp) and an old Parasound HCA2200 amplifier (ss). I am enjoying this system, but am saving my nickels for a tube amplifier with enough oomph for the Magnepans.
I know this is heresy, but I have dispensed with motorized sources entirely and use a Cambridge CXN streamer primarily in conjunction with Tidal, but I sometimes listen to BBC 2.