To Tube or not to Tube......


For quite some time now I've been thinking about switching from a solid state to a tube power amp. My Threshold T-100 has been real good to me and I do like it, but it's really the only "high-end" amp I've ever owned, so it's all I know. I'm intrigued by the "warm" sound of tubes and do have a tubed phono amp and CD player, but I am by no means well-versed in the sound of tube power amps having never really auditioned one. I know that goes against the prevailing wisdom and I should listen before I buy, but I don't think I will have the luxury of doing that.

That being said, I've gone through about 20 pages of this forum reading about the benefits and detriments of tubed power amps but nothing I've read has swayed me either way. The posts I've read have been informative re: bias issues, reliability, blowing fuses or whatever else might blow up or go wrong with the tubs, etc. So, if I were to go the tube route, I would not want deal with too much of that hassle. At lease I know that the amp I have doesn't have any such issues. That's why I was leaning toward amps like BAT with their auto biasing (I also need balanced inputs), and would want at least 60-100 wpc. I would be willing to deal with adjusting bias so long as it was a relatively simple process.

I figured I would pose my main question to the exerts here (and this I did learn for this forum): given what I already have in my system, what tube amp would be a good match for me? My pre-amp is a SS Threshold, JM Lab speakers with a "minimum impedance of 4 Ohms," EAR 834P phono stage, & Unison tube cd player.
Much appreciated.
ebuzz

Showing 6 responses by swampwalker

Ebuzz- They would be considered 6 ohm w a relatively flat impedance curve. Together w the 90 db sensitivity (and assuming no really unusual phase angles) they would be considered "tube friendly".
"Should I use the 4 ohm or 8 ohm tap?"
Yes ;-)
Only your ears can say for sure.
You won't find phase angle in most manufacturer's specs, but if Stereophile's JA did a review, he usually provides that info graphically. but like Unsound says, they are likely to be fine for tubes.
Tubes keep those Russian birds flying
Hmmm, maybe that's what bankrupted the Soviet Union...trying to find matched quads of NOS 6CCC3Bs ;-)
Ebuzz- There is no right or wrong answer but IMO, you need tubes fore and aft (pre and power) to make reproduced sound as close to "real" music as you can. It will never get there, but....