Well I made my decision, sort of. Solid state or tube??? (1 Viewer)

[Jesse Sharrow]

Ok well I have made the decision that I am NOT going to integrate the dunlavy's into the hometheater. I am going to just build a really nice 2 channel music setup. But my major concern right now is.... solid state or tubes.

If I go with solid state this is my plan. A krell integrated amp with a krell cd player and a nice turntable. Proably a 300il and 280cd. But if I do tubes thats where Im lost.

Ok with tubes I dont know a whole lot.... to be honest I havnt even heard any yet. Dont worry I will go audition a setup though. So what is a good brand? Should I do an integrated setup? Is there anything specific I should know first????

Well I would love some info and some advice/opinions.

Thanks again guys for all your awsome help and knowledge.

P.S. Im pretty stuck on the Krell, I have just wanted one since I first saw it. But Im gonna make sure I go audition one first also.

 

[Parker Clack]

Jesse:

If you are going to go with 2 channel audio only I would personally go with a tubes setup. I would also listen to vinyl on a turntable and leave it at that. That is just me. I don't have any good recommendations on a tube set up but I am sure there will be plenty that follow.

Parker

 

[FeisalK]

Jesse,

fall in electronluv!!

the way I understand it tube setups are generally low powered (10-20w is common) and need fairly sensitive speakers; and the price increases exponentially with power output. could be wrong tho. Are the dunlavys sensitive?

 

[John Garcia]

Remind me, but don't those guys have ribbon tweeters?

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

Feisel.... I dont know what that was, but it looked expesive. :-D

They are not ribbon tweeters. But they do recommend at least 75 watts. So if I do go tubes it would proably be pretty high end.

 

[Brad_Harper]

Honestly I would forget tubes if I were you (my opinion). People may like the way they look and sound but they are a pain in the a** to own. All tubes will eventually fail and getting replacements can be expensive and hard. They are not kid or pet friendly as they get very very hot.

Go audition some tube amps at your local store and see if you even like the sound. If you do then talk to the salesperson about maintenance and then decide from there.

I would like to second the vinyl recommendation but in conjunction with CD. Like tubes vinyl isn't always easy to get.

 

[Arthur S]

Packy

Tubes and vinyl are a good recommendation. I wonder though, with the ultra flat high frequency of those speakers, (including that peak at 5.5 KHz), how distracting any pops and ticks on the vinyl are going to be? One good thing about tubes though, they might roll off some at the top, especially into 4 ohms.

Jesse

You are really caught up in this now. If you aren't careful you could end up with $10,000, $15,000 or even $20,000 worth of high end gear. Do you really want this pair of speakers to end up costing you the price of a car?

I am remined of a guy on another forum who bought a pair of very high end speakers at a closeout price (still about $8,000). He was mightily impressed by the wooden crates they came in and the large and attractive speaker cabinets themselves. He loved em for a week or two. Then they were too bright. He went through all kinds of cables, speaker wires. Still too bright. Then amps. Went through all kinds of amps. Too bright. If I am not mistaken, he ended up using something like a 3 watt single ended triode amp.

Somehow I doubt your wife would buy you those speakers again after all that has transpired since you got them. She got yelled at at work and now look how much money you are thinking about spending. Does she give a hoot about what Krell looks like?

Please be very careful before you get any further on the audiophile merry-go-round.

 

[Mark Russ]

Jolida makes some "hybrid" integrated amps which have a tube pre-amp section and a SS power amp section, so you get the best of both worlds, in theory anyway. They are reasonably priced too.

 

[GregC]

One option not yet mentioned is to use a tube pre-amp and a solid state amp ... gives you some of the advantages of tube sound but allows you to get all the solid state power you need.

Best advice I can give is to go listen to tube gear! If you decide you like the sound, make sure you get a good return policy before bringing anything home .... and don't give up until you get the sound you want.

Good luck.

 

[John Garcia]

McIntosh makes hybrids as well. Check the used market, some can be found at decent prices.

I'll second Jolida too; they make some nice stuff, and reasonably priced for the sound you get.

 

[ColinM]

TAD - Tube Audio Design. They were selling a "hand finished" version of an Audcom (solid Chinese firm) tube pre. There's a gent on Lansing Heritage who loves his Signature version(upgrade). Phono input, remote controlled, HT passthru.

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/bizzyb/TAD-150.html

 

[ChrisHeflen]

You might wanna try this. It's not too high priced and it will help you get into it to see if you wanna pursue it further.
Notice it's an "integrated" too.
http://www.av123.com/products_produc...s&product=26.1

Also maybe check out some used Sonic Frontiers equip. They made some excellent gear and I've always seen some on ebay.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Another benefit: When (insert any country here) drops "the bomb" on us, you'll be sittin pretty knowing the EMP will destroy any solid-state amp in a 50 mile radius, while your tube gear will still play strong......

Assuming you're listening to vinyl and have a generator......

 

[Jeff Aguilar]

I'll second the TAD stuff. I currently am running the TAD-1000 tube mono blocks and the TAD-150 preamp. He has a great deal on the set for only $2,500. Pretty good deal. They really are a great combo.

Just my opinion, but the tubes are easy to take care of. You don't need to worry about the tubes in the preamp for 5 to 7 years and the amps have to be tinkered with every 5 months. It only takes 15 to 20 minutes to bias them. Really, really easy.

Here is a link to the special TAD special

I also have some pictures on my website.

Jeff Aguilar

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

Thanks jeff. Well those tubes certainly would be enough power and I love the idea of monoblocks. But Im thinking that if tubes get hot, then monoblock tube amps sitting right behind the speakers on the floor wouldnt be smart for my one year old.

What Im thinking right now is solid state, with 2 monoblocks. But in my previous statement I need ones that dont get insanly hot. Out law makes a nice set, that are 100 watts a piece. So I could put one of the highs, and lows. Sounds good to me. Also I was looking at some 300-400 watt adcom mono blocks. Any others you guys would recommend?

 

[FeisalK]

Jesse,

What about digitals? I have some friends here who are using Flying Mole monoblocks with good results. 100W per channel (into 8Ω and 160W into 4Ω ) and hardly ever get hot

they've also recently established US presence
http://www.flyingmoleelectronics.com/

Look @ the DADM100pro


I trust you'll find the reviews interesting:
Soundstage AV
Positive Feedback
Stereo Times
AudioFile (Malaysia)

 

[Jeff Aguilar]

I would not recommend tubes if you are worried about little hands touching them! Tube amps get REALLY HOT!!

There are many good SS amps that stay pretty cool to the touch that would work well for you.

If you really want the tube sound then I might suggest getting a tube preamp. They do not get as hot and most likely, it would be on your equipment rack.

Jeff Aguilar

 

[Arthur S]

Then again, there is the Sunfire stereo amp. It can be switched from solid state sound mode to tube sound mode. Rather ingenious. Back in the day, Bob Carver bet $10,000 that he could make his solid state amp sound like ANY amp, be it tube or anything else. He holed up in a motel room for 48 hours and modified his amp such that he could make it match the sound of anything anyone had. No one was able to win the bet.

There is a demo on Ebay right now at $950. 300 watts per side (600 watts per side into 4 ohms). I read a complete review in one of the big mags few years ago. The current source (tube sound) vs. voltage source (solid state sound) really works.

 

[Scott_N]

Well I have a tubed 2-channel system but if I ever went back to SS I would go with either Edge or Pass Labs. If you want a tubed preamp Conrad Johnson, Cary, Audio Research, Rogue and VTL all make quality well built tubed products. As far as turntables go if you want to spend less than $1000 I would look at Music Hall, Rega and ProJect. Over 1k I would look at Nottingham, VPI and Sota. As far as a cartridge for your turntable goes some of my favorite brands are Dynavector, Lyra, Shelter and Koetsu. If you want a CDP some good brands are Arcam, Cary, Wadia, Audio Aero and Ayre. If you want to save some money I would check out ebay and audiogon. Good luck with whatever you choose!

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

Wow! Thanks alot scott.

I will definitly do some research.