2. amps-preamps
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To Tube or not to Tube......

For quite some time now I've been thinking about switching from a solid state to a tube power amp. My Threshold T-100 has been real good to me and I do like it, but it's really the only "high-end" amp I've ever owned, so it's all I know. I'm intrigued by the "warm" sound of tubes and do have a tubed phono amp and CD player, but I am by no means well-versed in the sound of tube power amps having never really auditioned one. I know that goes against the prevailing wisdom and I should listen before I buy, but I don't think I will have the luxury of doing that.

That being said, I've gone through about 20 pages of this forum reading about the benefits and detriments of tubed power amps but nothing I've read has swayed me either way. The posts I've read have been informative re: bias issues, reliability, blowing fuses or whatever else might blow up or go wrong with the tubs, etc. So, if I were to go the tube route, I would not want deal with too much of that hassle. At lease I know that the amp I have doesn't have any such issues. That's why I was leaning toward amps like BAT with their auto biasing (I also need balanced inputs), and would want at least 60-100 wpc. I would be willing to deal with adjusting bias so long as it was a relatively simple process.

I figured I would pose my main question to the exerts here (and this I did learn for this forum): given what I already have in my system, what tube amp would be a good match for me? My pre-amp is a SS Threshold, JM Lab speakers with a "minimum impedance of 4 Ohms," EAR 834P phono stage, & Unison tube cd player.
Much appreciated.
ebuzz
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,236 posts
 
Ebuzz,
Congratulations! Let us know your impressions once you've become familiar and comfortable with your tube power amplifier. Keep in mind that down the road there's ample flexibility via tube rolling to really tailor the sound to your discretion. This is a significant perk with tubes.
Charles,
jedinite24's avatar
jedinite24
1,503 posts
 
Hi Ebuzz. I agree with Charles1Dad's recent post. Only you will be able to know if any tube amp will be a significant upgrade to your existing T-100.

I have a Jolida JD-502P amp and I won an auction for a Hafler 9505 Transnova amp that was fully working. In my system I swapped out the Jolida for the solid state Hafler as I've always wanted to listen to this Hafler amp in my system. I kept everything the same. Now I couldn't say exactly which amp in my system was a significant upgrade but what I could tell was that it made the sound very different. With the Hafler 9505 in place the volume controls on my system got even more sensitive. It gets really loud but still clear with the volume on my preamp at the 9 o clock position.

So just be wary you might not get a significant upgrade in sound you just might get different sound that you may or may not prefer.
ebuzz OP
104 posts
 
Thanks, Jedi, that is one fear that I do have. Different, but not necessarily better. Don't know exactly how to deal with that problem, and that's what makes this decision so stressful. My T-100 is a fine amp, but I know it's not like one of the older Thresholds (when NP was still there), and it certainly isn't up there with those "A" rated amps. So I figure this has got to be better (fingers crossed).
unsound
7,315 posts
 
An instrument amp isn't required to have the same frequency range as an audio amp. The fact that musicians choose one amp over another for it's sound, reflects that instrument amps aren't necessarily as neutral as an audio amp needs to be. Instrument amps can be an extension of the instruments characteristic sound, something that would be an anathema to a "high fidelity" audio amp.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,236 posts
 
I suspect musicians are drawn to the tone/harmonic overtones of tube amps when compared to the transistor alternatives. May just sound more natural to their ears. Same idea probably applies be it instrumental or audio amplifier. They have surely stood the test of time in both applications.
Charles,
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