2. amps-preamps
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Who makes the highest quality tube amps?

One scale of 1-10, 10 being best designed and constructed technically, personal sound preferences aside, who are the 8s, 9s, and 10s?

VAC, ARC, Atmasphere would seem like likely candidates I can think of. Are they ?

Where does Decware rank? Rogue? How about others?

SOme technical facts to help support any claims is appreciated please.

Durability and reliability matters to me here as much as anything. I would want my tube gear to continue to work as reliably as designed years down the road as well as up front.

THanks.

Thanks.
mapman

Showing 5 responses by wolf_garcia

wolf_garcia
6,779 posts
 
If there's something built better than a Dennis Had Inspire amp, I'd be surprised. Hand built little gems at a fraction of the cost of Shindos or just about anything else of this quality...mine sounds astonishingly good, and recent ones (available only on Ebay) list for around 1500 bucks.
wolf_garcia
6,779 posts
 
I have a Jolida that sounds great and has worked perfectly for over a year.
wolf_garcia
6,779 posts
 
My Jolida was playing some small Jazz combo music one day and I ran into the room thinking a live band had broken into my house. Turns out, they had, so I had them arrested and taken away.
wolf_garcia
6,779 posts
 
I use a tube power amp because it has a characteristic that most well regarded solid state amps claim to have: It's "tube like."
wolf_garcia
6,779 posts
 
I LOVE meters...I often keep my Squeezebox Touch in its "meter mode" because it looks so cool. I think all amps should have glowing little needle meters...Pass does it...Cary, McIntosh, D'Agostino...I was looking at 2 new Rogers amps in a shop the other day...they look like 1956 Buicks...great stuff.
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