2. amps-preamps
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I'm going to buy my first tube amp. I need honest blunt opinions

 

 

Recommendations please. I am thinking of dipping my toes in the tube amp water.  For the longest time I have been tempted to buy a modest tube amp to run my Monitor Gold 300’s at 90db.

I’ve been toying around, researching the different characteristics of SET, class A, class AB, B Ultralinear tube amps for months. It’s a bit much. As far as the reviewers go, they are too vague. They are afraid to be upfront honest.

Sources are a Parasound JC 3+, a Innous ZENith Mk3, and a Oppo going to a Benchmark DAC, then all go to a Benchmark LA 4 preamp that will feed the new amp.

My room is 16 x16. The speakers have a 12-foot spread. I sit 14 feet back, so it’s not that big of a room.

I have narrowed it down to four candidates.

A used Canary Audio M90 300B Tube Amp at 24RMS,300B push-pull stereo triode Class A $4,000

A used Jadis Orchestra Black, 40 RMS, Class B $4,000

A 16-year-old, Used Cary Audio Six Pac Monoblock’s, 50 triode watts A/AB $2,000

A new Dynaco by WILL VINCENT 35RMS Ultralinear $2,300

 

marshinski15
bmontani
192 posts
 

Check out VAC.

donavabdear's avatar
donavabdear
477 posts
 

There is no app that allows amps to match up to speakers, someone would have to have extensive knowledge of the crossovers, voice coil, drivers, internal cables, internal components of the speaker and the same type of knowledge of the Amp. 

Tube amps are a pain they are like that beautiful girl in high school that you can't stay away from even though you know better. 

macguy's avatar
macguy
24 posts
 

I have a Cary Audio Rocket 88 no intention of selling it.  If you are new to tubes, BE CERTAIN to test your output tubes regularly.  ALL of my problems with tube amps were because I didn't test regularly.  If you don't want to test, then buy new output tubes yearly. Sorry, there is no easy way out with vacuum tubes.

moose89's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
moose89
170 posts
 

Definitely bring it all CLOSE IN. You won’t be happy until… small 7’ triangle. We all have great visions of people coming over to our house and showing off what we have in relation to sound but 99% of the time it’s gonna be you and your system by yourselves. If you have a spouse or partner Great. Other than that it’s intimate and it’s low volume to really appreciate, concentrated, listening, and to break down what your speakers are offering. Acoustics are terrible and I once had a large room like yours with 20 foot ceilings, and it sounded like I was in the gymnasium.

mambacfa
71 posts
 

The updated Dynaco ST-70 is a wonderful amp and a total bargain at its price. This is a design that has sold over 350,000 amps of the the past several decades. Tube rectification, better power supply than the original, and improved tube choices for the preamp and driver functions improved the amp even more. Lots of power (35W) in its ultra-linear mode (which is how these transformers were wound) so you should be able to drive most speakers. I owned this amp and was very happy with it, as it compared favorably to my Decware Torii (another EL34 amp.) As a bonus, the tubes this amp uses are affordable ('m a former 300B amp owner!)

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