Scott/Dynaco TUbe Amps......

Scott and Fisher made great tube equipment. The RCAs and binding posts aren't very good though by today's standards. Also the caps in the power supply possibly will need to be replaced. The old Stereo 70 is a great amp and it is even better after being modified with better parts. The Jolida gear is very good and little needs to be done in terms of having an up-to-date amplifier. I own a Consonance integrated tube amplifier myself and love it. Jolida and Consonance are both made in China and that is the reason they are not all that expensive.

I currently own several tube amps and if I were in the market for an inexpensive tube amp, I would buy an Anthem Integrated 1. It is a 25 watt/ch. tube integrated amps using EL-84 output tubes. It has a tube based pre-amp section also.

I recently bought a nice one for under $300 on this site, however, they generally go for around $500-$550. It sounds very good for the price, but not as good as my other (much more expensive) tube amps.

I have owned ASL and Dynacos and I think the Anthem Integrated 1 sounds better. I have also owned other Anthem products that were not nearly as good as the Integrated 1 IMHO.

If I were looking for a NEW amp, I would check with the folks at http://www.idealinnovations.biz/. Also, I've heard good thing about the Norh SE-9 for $399. It is a 9 watt/ch. tube integrated. With efficient speakers, it might be a good choice.

Enjoy,

TIC

My experience is that the Scotts and Dynaco's are nice enough for the money. They're certainly woth a shot to try at some point, and you can sell em off if you want to change in the future easy enough. I also have had the Golden Tube's, Jolida's, Anthem's, Sonic Frontier's, and others. As far as integrateds go, I would place the Scotts and Dyanco's in the same leagues, and you could upgrade tubes for better sound if needed. The Jolida's are a bit better, but more money of course.
I might suggest picking something up and trying, and then you'll know!
Good luck