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Tube amps & warm speakers?

Hello again folks,

In my quest to try and get into audio again I had another post regarding good 2 channel pre's or integrated's. Upon browsing this forum and looking at all the beautiful used gear around I now find myself a little interested in maybe a tube integrated amp now. Seems like all the serious audio enthusiasts enjoy tubes more than SS. I really want to be blown away sonically when I choose to listen to my system. And...they're oh so sexy. :)

My question is this....I've heard before that tubes and warm speakers can almost be too much of a good thing. I realize listening is subjective but just trying to learn and save myself unproductive searching if I'm only going to be disappointed.

My speakers are Dynaudio Audience 50. I know, I know.... bottom of the barrel for Dyn's but still sound pretty good to me for the money.

Thanks for any insight.

AW
awilliams

Showing 1 response by aball

aball
2,018 posts
 
It really depends on the tube amp. Some of them are not as seductive and warm on top as you might think. For instance, I had a CJ MV55 and compared to my McIntosh MC240, the MV55 sounded like a solid-state amp in that it was cool and dry sounding.

As far as too warm, if your amp and your speakers have good transparency, you can alter the tonality very easily with the source and cables, and to some extent, the room. The trick is to realize that you have several variables to work with and not just two. Good luck and have fun.

Arthur
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