Got tubes??? (1 Viewer)

[Scott Oliver]

Track record of a company can certainly be a good thing, but looking outside of the the bigger manufacturers can also yield some great finds for your dollar. I feel that the bigger a company gets, than more corners may have to be cut for it to reach a certain price level, as it takes a good amount of money for a company to maintain huge facilities. Compared to say a smalltime manufacturer who is building something out of the back of his garage all he needs to do is cover the cost of his parts, time invested, and add a profit margin on top. Just my theory.

 

[Scott Oliver]

As for tubes,
Lee I put EH Kt-88's in my amp 2 weeks ago.
They were brittle at first, but are now starting to come into their own. I am now satisfied with their sound. May still try Svetlana's and Valve Art's, but for the money paid these EH's are nice.

Previous Kt-88's used are KR audio ($500 quad) and JJ/Tesla ($300 quad). I really liked the KR audio tubes but since I seem to be re-tubing every 6 months, their price is too much for me.

Speaking of re-tubing, Kevin how often do you have to do this? I saw you post at some point that you leave your amps on 24/7, so I would be interested in finding out about how many months you get out of a set?

As for input tubes, I have some nice NOS tubes but couldn't tell you if they are worth the expense as I haven't tried other ones, these NOS tubes are what mine came with my amp, and they are still measuring very, very strong. My amp is currently using Telefunken 12AU7's and Tungsram 6922's.

 

[John Beavers]

I like the best of both worlds myself Hybrid tube amps! Blue tubes even, looks very cool, and is the most dynamic sounding amp I've owned. It's the 5-ch Butler hybrid-tube amp.

 

[Kevin T]

i've contemplated dabbling in tube amplifiers for a while but don't want to fully let go of my solid state roots just yet. what is everyone's opinion regarding bi-amping with tubes on top and solid state on bottom? granted this would be passive bi-amping. presently, i have a pair of aragon palladium ii monoblocks. if i were to tube to the top end, i would prefer something like 20+ watts though 50+ would be more ideal (and more $$$). can anybody give some recommendations for an affordable and solid tube amp? thanks.

kevin t

 

[Scott Oliver]

Affordable as in how? 1000 - 2000 - 3000

Choices around the $1000 level are somewhat limited, but if you can get your budget to at least $2000ish then it opens up all sorts of possibilities.

What type of speakers are driving as well?

 

[Kevin T]

i would like to keep it at $1000 but i could stretch to $1500 if need be. not sure what the used market holds for such amps but i've had good luck buying used so that's always an option. right now i have a pair of mirage frx-7 speakers so i seriously doubt i'd see a great benefit in bi-amping right now. however, within the next 6 months of so, i anticipate purchasing a pair of gershman acoustics avant garde speakers. they're 8 ohm nominal with 87db sensitivity. i'm not well versed when it comes to tube amps so i'm not even sure how many manufacturers are out there. plus i have limitations with local dealers. i'm considering the decware torii which is a 12 watt dual mono tube amp though i am concerned regarding the low wattage as i listen to everything from tori amos and sarah mclachlan to bile and deicide. just fishing for ideas right now. no hard plans just yet.

kevin t

 

[Scott Oliver]

Well here is a quick run down of tube amp manufacturers in your price range some new, some used.
First you have all of the new to the US Chinese amp manufacturers - Dared, Caiyin, ASL, Consonance, and a host of others. Is Jolida made in China?

Of all those brands ASL is garnering the best reputation for SOME of its designs.

As to other manufacturers producing amps in this price range at a new price you have Quicksilver and their Mini-Mono's or Horn Mono's, AES Super-25. and the Sophia Electric EL-34 integrated. Of those, I would lean towards the Quicksilver for the following reasons, company has been around for a long time, they ar emonobloacks that produce 25 watts, and they accept 6550's, KT-88's and EL-34's so you can tinker with the sound some.

Then some other amps that can be found used in this price range are Conrad-Johnson MV-55, Audion Silver Night 300B mono's, Canary Audio CA-706, Rogue 88 and the Audio Note P2SE. Of these for my tastes, I would lean towards the Audio Note or Audion amps, although the Audion are the most restricted in terms of wattage so probably not a very good choice if you will be doing HT with them.

The Decware you mention seems pretty nice as well, their SET amps are highly regarded especially considering the price they are offered at.

Another company that is new from Hong Kong that Wayne of Bolder Cables just started to import is Radii and they look interesting, especially these monoblocks that were recently completed and Wayne is using for his system.
http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=4001
Don't know much about them their design looks solid kind of like ASL, but their prices seem maybe even better than ASL.
The monoblocks pictured are said to cost $1000 per, which is of course out of your budget and then you could start getting into amps like the C-J Premier 11A or something.

But the main reason, I bring them up is their power rating of 75 watts, as your proposed Gershman Acoustic speakers are not known to be very tube friendly so I think you will need to throw close to a hundred watts at them to open them up, however I am not sure if all power concerns would be eliminated through your propsed bi-amping.

Personally, I am not a fan of bi-amping but still feel either way you would always be better off getting a speaker that is frienldier to tubes vs. one that is not so friendly. So if you are interested in moving into tubes, I think you might also want to investigate friendlier speakers. See review below for why I am worrying about this.
http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/staff10.htm

 

[Kevin T]

scott:

thanks for the input. perhaps i should call ofra at gershman and see what her take would be on bi-amping the gershman's with tubes. i'm certain the palladiums could more than handle the avant gardes on their own. i had previously considered bi-amping with an aragon 8008bb for the top but would've loved to give tubes a try. if i don't end up tubing my main system in some manner, i have definitely plans for an ancilary two channel only bedroom system which will definitely be tubed. thanks for the insight. i appreciate it.

kevin t

 

[Kevin_R_H]

Scott,

I apologize for not responding sooner, but I didn't notice your question in the middle of your previous post. As you mentioned, yes it's true I leave my monoblocks (and preamp) on all the time - well unless a thunderstorm is near.

I'm afraid to answer your question, however, for fear it will jinx me. But so far, I have yet to replace any tubes (I bought my amps last Spring). Now that I've said that, I expect they'll begin giving out tomorrow.

There are 16 output tubes (between the 2 monoblocks) which are 6AS7G triodes. These are best known as powering Atma-Sphere OTL amps. Even though they have a reputation for being durable and rugged, perhaps I've just been lucky so far.

An interesting sidenote, I sent an e-mail to the designer team in France, asking for insight into tube-rolling (once these stock tubes give out). They replied there is nothing to be gained by swapping out the output tubes. I'm just as good off as sticking with the stock Sovteks/Svetlanas. Now, rolling the input tubes (8 @ EL84) and driver tubes (4 @ 6922) proves much more beneficial. And of course, the preamp's sound can be enhanced with some experimentation.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++

Kevin,

I've never heard the Avant Garde speakers, but I spent considerable time with the Opera Sauvage - that is where I fell in love with my KORAs (as they were paired with the big Gershmans). Despite the moderate efficiency of the Avant Gardes, I would have expected them to be a good match for mid-to-high output tube amps. Again, I admit I have no direct experience with them, so your idea to contact Ofra Gershman is a good plan. I know she was very helpful to me last year (she even sent me snapshots of the various finishes).

Also, here's a couple of amps currently for sale on Audiogon:

$1,500 Mesa Baron (150W Pentode / 60W Triode) Seller will throw in an extra set of new replacement tubes.

$1,375 KORA Galaxy (50W Triode) Stereoblock version of my monoblocks.

Needless to say, I'm partial to the latter, but I have heard nothing but great things about Mesa equipment. They're worth investigating anyway.

Good luck in your decisions,
Kevin

 

[Scott Oliver]

Coincidentally, here is a current thread on AA from someone asking about the Avantegarde's (is this you?)
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/spe...es/135072.html

Oh and I forgot one other tube brand that every once in a while appears on Audiogon within your reach ($1400- $2000) WAVAC MD-811
It is a 15W passive integrated amp.

Kevin R_H,
You haven't retubed in a year and some months!! Man maybe I should leave my amp on all the time. Probably, your amp has so many tubes providing the juice, that they are probably being driven only a fraction of what they could be driven. Has Kora told you how many hours to expect out of the tubes?
My manufacturer told me to expect 2000 hours, but by my guesstimations I am have been getting about 1500-1600 hours.
Oh and last bit of advice, order the replacement tubes prior to yours going. It really sucks having to wait around for a week or so waiting on tubes.

 

[Kevin T]

thanks for the info, guys. to answer scott's question, i didn't start that thread but i did take a read of it. kevin, i noticed the kora galaxy on audiogon the other day. they make some beautiful amps in my opinion. oh well, right now this is just the planning stage so nothing will come to fruition for some time. gotta pay off some bills before i make more bills. thanks again.

kevin t