Oxymoron: High powered tube amps that stay cool

No such thing i'm afraid. If you want the tube sound, you could consider a hybrid.

Best tube amp - Spectron Musician III SE Mk2 !!! Better then all m tube amps I owned or auditioned including CAT and VTL Siegfried!

Good Luck
Rafael

Only the Berning 2100 and 2101 meet your definition.

You may want to check into some of the newer "Green" SS "Class A" amps coming out of China. Their circuit designs are actually extremely effective in terms of efficiency, yet still provide true "Non-Switching" Class A performance.

I still haven't found a Class A amplifier that runs as hot as tubes. I've been experimenting and auditioning Chinese gear as of late. I'm extremely impressed.

If they continue to produce the quality they are presently producing, many manufacturers are going to end up behind the eight ball because the Chinese gear is beautiful, well built, dependable and sounds absolutely wonderful.

Hi Ryno, living in Austin I do empathize with your plight! But I fear that the only time pure tube amps are cool is when they are turned off. . . but then so do a lot of SS class A and A/B like my own JRDG 7Ms. If you were not interested in exploring alternative Texas-friendly technologies, like high end switching and some excellent cool running SS like the Theta Citadel monos, you may want to explore some of the excellent hybrids from Lam and ARC. Guido

Hi Buscis2, could you point us to some Chinese green designs that you have found particularly interesting. . . I will look them up at RMAF for sure. Guido

A great example is what Dussun is doing with their "Hyper Class A" variable bias circuitry. It's my understanding that they will be releasing a Pre/Power with Stand alone power supplies with 150 watts class A power.

At present, they are utilizing similar circuitry in their V8 integrated. I haven't heard it but it's my understanding that it's a wonderful sounding amp that is extremely efficient. However, I have yet to determine if "Hyper Class A" is a true class A design due to it's level of efficiency. Ping from AAA audio could provide you much mre info than I I'm sure.

http://www.aaa-audio.com/index-products-dussun.htm

Xindak also offers an extremely efficient Class A amp with their XA-6800 SE integrated amp. You'll be seeing many more designs like these coming from China.

http://www.xindak.com/english/products/showditail.asp?id=251

Funny that a country with the absolute worst air quality is focusing on "Green" amp designs.

Just burn fossil fuels to make enough energy to fire up your favorite tube amps and turn on the ac pumped through baffled chambers from an outlying building to keep in comfy.

I have the Berning Quadrature Z's, 250 watts into 8 ohms, and I can put my hand on the grill right above the power tubes and hold it there as long as I want. Now if by cool you mean room temperature, no way, but compared to other tube amps of similar power, they certainly run cool.

Berning ZH270 runs relatively cool for a push pull tube amp. It uses a screen or "grid" drive which allows it to run much much cooler than conventional tube amps. Overall, its very easy to live with and is about as reliable as you can get in this hobby. The tubes last for a very long time too, another advantage to this design. Best if luck.