2. amps-preamps
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Tube virgin looking for tube amp under $3k

I’ve never owned any tube amps or preamps and since I’ve got 95dB efficient speakers I thought why the heck not? And wow! What a rabbit hole I’ve gone down In the last week or so and my head is really spinning. For just about every amp or amp/preamp combo there’s someone who loves it and someone who says don’t bother. And then the more I dig, the more brands I find.

I’ve read about these products recently:

— Erhard Audio integrated amp 
—The various iterations of the ST-70 (Van Alstein, Bob Latino, Will Vincent, etc.)
—Music Reference RM10
—Cary (out of budget except used)
—Raven (at max budget for integrated)
—Dennis Had (hard to buy/find)
—Quicksilver Mid mono (need preamp)
—Decware (too long a wait for me at the moment but maybe one day)
—Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III (at max budget and do I really need 100WPC with my speakers in a small room?)

And probably a few others I’ve forgotten about already. 

I have to say that the Bob Latino ST-70 speaks to me for the price of entry (about $1400) and the fact that I could get away without a preamp and only use a passive input selector. That said, would an ST-70 be the best choice or only the cheapest? 

Any ideas for a tube newb who doesn’t have a stockpile of tubes to roll in and out of an amp?




larshepping

Showing 1 response by russbutton

russbutton's avatar
russbutton
454 posts
 
If you've got a $3k budget, why not get the Bob Latino ST-120?  Fully assembled for only $300 more than the ST-70.  $1700

And if you're really willing to drop $3000, that will get you the M125 mono block pair at 120 watts each!   

And don't forget that the kits not only save you some money, the act of building the amps is satisfying in a way that can never be matched by any straight up purchase.   I built my first tube radio kit when I was 12  years old.  I built any number of Dyna and Hafler kits back in the day.   You can do this!
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