Rleff, thanks for the suggestion :) I might have to think about a drip can so I don't get burnt fat spots on the tubes. |
Wow, I've never received more replies to a post than this one. Guess what Semi said is what convinced me most :)
Seems that the availability of tubes will be the biggest issue to be considered, followed by the heat. As I don't listen for long stretches of time the heat should be tolerable and knowing that tubes are expensive simply means that I'll have some fun looking for them right away while they are still available.
Haven't actually dropped the money for it yet but will very soon and can't wait to get it. Right now I'm using my old Denon receiver and it's not quite what I want to use on the long run, otherwise I could have kept my Electrocompaniets as these of course were a lot nicer as far as SS stuff goes than the Denon.
Well, glad I got all the replies and feel highly encouraged to go for the tubes. The only direction I could imagine changing my mind to is to a tube amp that uses more affordable tubes and I'm not really considering that yet.
Thanks again |
Every time I come back there's more. Looks like I started a small avalanche here :)
I shall take a look at the amps mentioned in the thread though so far I haven't chamged my mind. The only thing I don't like so much is the price of tubes. But at least it seems one can get them. Can't say that about ammo for my target gun (hmmm, yeah, sometimes I like things that make boom.
The other thing that does seem to crystalize is that there is somewhat of a potential for damage to the speakers if a tube says goodby in the shape of a wee supernova. Is there anything that can be done to prevent any downstream damage like additional fuses?
Well, thanks again and I shall check back later on. |
Well, the more often I come back here the more I known that I'l stick with my original decision to get the 300B amp.
Tinkering with things I do like and biasing the tubes and keeping a log (thanks Rleff, I like that idea) is a good idea to keep track of things.
The speakers I have I did buy knowing they'd be a better match for a tube amp than other speakers (I shall not say good match as surely someone would say there are much better ones) and so I better get that tubeamp and find out about the "magic".
And now as I have a day off I shall go fishing :) |
I'd rather have a hot tube amp than a tiger. The thing with the tiger didn't go so well for Siegfried and Roy.
Well, think the thread has come to an end and I appreciate all the replies. Glad I didn't change my decision on the amp as an extra heater in the room isn't so bad. Being a mechanical engineer I might just need to design some contraption that channels the heat and put it to good use. Maybe a coated aluminum plate above the amp to fry eggs or so. |
And late at night I'm back to check on this thread :) Mrtennis, you have a point there. As tube amps allow us to roll the tubes and try different things it is hard to optimize the system as there is quite a choice of tubes out there.
The other side to that argument is that with SS amps I don't have have the freedom of simply purchasing a set of tubes to change something. I actually have to roll the amps so to speak to achieve the same result. Needless to say, some tubes will cost me the same as an amp and that need to be taken into consideration.
As this thread has been going on for a bit now I'm glad to say that my decision to go with tubes and namely the Mastersound 300B intergrated is unchanged.
Thanks for all the great input and I mean all of it. Yes, most everything can be measured, but at the end of the day it comes down to what we perceive as good sound.
I personally don't believe that one needs to spend $10000 to get a good tube amp. In fact I listened to the Mastersound Due Venti again today and the smile on my face was big. The price tag was way below above mentioned number and yet I smiled.
Bummer, maybe I have a problem by not being able to hear the $7000 difference. But hey, the good part is that I can buy a hearing aid to help me and have money left over for a better amp. Hmmmm, if only I had that $10000 :(
Thanks folks for making this a great thread, well, at least to me it was, or should I say is as I'm still right in it. |
What is drawing me to this tube is very much some reviews of the amplifier in question and the sound supposedly being this "the singer's in the room with you".
I have to admit that the little brother of that amp, the Due Venti, did a marvelous job in my opinion and I have asked myself if I should get that one as it's available right where I live and would even cost me $500 less, new warranty and everything whereas the 300B I'm interested isn't new. On the other hand at least judging by the reviews I prefer the sound of the 300B based amp over the Due Venti with it's EL34's.
Decisions, decisions :)
If the 300B |
I have a question for Spatialking now. What is the reason for the issue with you not being able to run the tube amp for 24h like you'd do with a SS amp? is it simply to get the most out of the lifetime of your tubes or some other reason.
As I don't think this has been mentioned before I'm quite interested to hear more about it.
Don't think the heat will be much of an issue as I don't listen all that much. It may become an issue though as we don't have central AC (just two of those AC cubes that go into the windows and neither one is where the amp will live and here in Grand Rapids/MI it does get rather humid and pretty warm in the summer. I'll find out either way. |
I'm not really worried about the heat or power consumption anyway. The Electrocompaniets got warm but not too warm and I don't think the 300B's will be worse.
Maybe I give of some heat due to audio excitement but that's probably gonna be it.
Still surprised for how long this post has been going :) |
As the original poster of this thread I actually like the fact that this thread has taken on it's own life. Think that's just what happens over time as once the downsides I've asked for have been stated thread drift sets in.
That some folks seem to find it necessary to ask what others may be "on" isn't what I had intended, but then again, I have no power over this thread and shouldn't. But hey, this is where that proverbial grain of salt may be helpful.
Raquel, thanks for a clear answer as to why tube amps shouldn't be run 24/7.
Well, it's a long weekend and as there's more to life than audio gear and so I shall try to catch a fish and check back later on the life this thread has taken on. In a way I agree that it has outlived it's usefullness as my questions have been answered and my decision is still the same. Hiho, hiho, and off to tubes I go, hiho hiho, hiho hiho......
Enjoy the long weekend
As far as how many times the same thing needs to repeated I think once or twice is good enough. |
:) I just got home from a somewhat unsuccessfull fishing trip to Charlevoix and you guys have kept going on this thread and I found it's even in those three threads right on top. How did it get there? Really didn't plan on that.
Still don't have the amp as I need to wait how the whole GM thing will play out this week as unfortunately I work for a company which is directly affected by that. Hope I won't be knocking on the door of the unemploment office downtown next week.
Well, I shall keep coming back as I kinda like a thread with it's own heartbeat. As far as the usefullness goes I guess it has outlived it a little, yet if we were to no never through in something a little different this could be a somewhat boring forum.
Thanks guys |
Thanks Brianhutch, always glad to hear from guys who run the same speakers. As I did buy these speakers with this particular amp in mind I think I'll be ok for the future. Also can't see myself wanting to change the system that much anytime soon.
If anything will change than it should be the sources as they will be the weakest link then.
For now I'll get the amp and we'll see what comes after that. |
