How hot is hot when moving from class a/b to to a or tubes?


I am considering moving from a class a/b Luxman L509x to a class a or tube amp. 
I have never owned a class a or tube amp, so have no experience of living with one. My kids are hopefully old enough and wise enough not to burn themselves, but I do live in an already warm house with bifold doors leading to a south facing garden. There is no escaping the sun, despite having uv treated glass. 
 
My room is roughly 9 meters by 12 open planed living space. Equipment is, Luxman L-509x integrated, Zu union 6 supreme, 99db sensitivity (this is why I am considering a lower powered tube I can barely turn the Luxman up) music is played roughly 6 hours a day, more on weekends  

who here has moved from class a/b and d to class a with or without tubes. What were the differences of things like:

warming up time 

additional heat to the home

Running in summer time 

additional cost to run

any considerations I should make before purchasing something. I will try in my home, but will need to free up funds 
 

 

mpoll1

It would be a good move for you to try Class A and/or tube equipment given your Zu. I tried a number of solid state Class A with my soul Superfly when I owned them, but I much preferred tube equipment with high efficiency drivers. And low watt also helps to maintain low noise. Some of my favorites with Zu included:

Oliver Sayes Korneff 45 Clone (4wpc) 

Bottlehead Kaiju (300B, 9wpc) with upgraded caps and tubes

Atma-Sphere S-30 3.3 (10-30wpc depending on number output tubes used)

As with any Class A or tube, allow 30-60 min of warm up to sound their best. This doesn’t mean that the system sounds awful before the amp is warmed up, but most can detect an audible difference that brings along additional transparency/openness and dynamics when the amp reaches full heat. I don’t recommend wasting the energy to turn it on prior and come back 30-60 min later as it is just that - a waste of energy and time.

Yes, these units will incur more heat and run up your electrical bill. They aren’t by any means “green”. But with the size of your space, if your listening position is a good 8-9 feet or more from the amp, you probably won’t feel it too much from your listening position. The open space will likely not run up the temperature of the room. If the room were more like 3-5 meters, that would be a different story. But you will notice a bit of a bump in your electrical bill, probably by a couple of bucks each month, depending on how much the amplifier is on. 

All worth it in my opinion, if it brings the sonic benefits you seek  

  

 

FWIW, I live in Texas where it gets pretty hot, after going from a set of B&K M140s then a CJ MF2250A both solid state to tube monos by different companies including VTL & Quicksilver & a Pass Labs XA30.5 the heat issue never was a problem till I hooked up a Jolida 302BRC and there was no way I would run that amp inside a cabinet even with proper ventilation due to the heat exchange. The moral of the story is be diligent because they are not all created equal and some will have that as an issue. Enjoy the music

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