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Looking for a Tube amplifier

post #1 of 8
6/28/11 at 1:28am
Thread Starter 

Long story short, our family wants to chip in to buy a vacuum tube amplifier for a special family member. We want to spend around 2-3k, but I don't really know what to look for other than how much bling and shine they have... :s Would be nice if there was a DAC so I could hook an IPOD, or computer as well. So far, we have a pre-amp that's also tube, with a pair of Magnepan speakers.  Any clues as to what and where to look?

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post #2 of 8
6/28/11 at 1:29am
Thread Starter 

Also want to mention that I'm from Vancouver, B.C. so was wondering if there were any local stores to check out.

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post #3 of 8
6/28/11 at 4:01am

sorry but I don't understand, do you want a heaphone amplifier or an integrated? 

for the dac, do you want it to use s-pidf or usb?

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post #4 of 8
6/28/11 at 9:29am
Thread Starter 

Hi,

 

Sorry, I probably posted in the wrong forum, but this is for speaker amp, not headphone.  I'm afraid I don't know "much" about tube amps, other than the fact that they generate some particular harmonics that make it sound "better" than transistors.

 

s-pdif, or even both would be sweet, but prefer s-pdif.

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post #5 of 8
6/28/11 at 9:39am


 

Quote:
Originally Posted by pk_volt View Post

Hi,

 

Sorry, I probably posted in the wrong forum, but this is for speaker amp, not headphone.  I'm afraid I don't know "much" about tube amps, other than the fact that they generate some particular harmonics that make it sound "better" than transistors.

 

s-pdif, or even both would be sweet, but prefer s-pdif.


before this can be answered we need to know what type of speakers you want to drive. Some speakers will not be driven by tube amps with low impedance. If you can provide the speakers and the make of the tube preamp you are using I would give you some information as other here would also. But as your asking without all the information I would not be able to make any recommendation.

 

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post #6 of 8
6/29/11 at 12:27am
For speaker amps, I like the models from Conrad-Johnson, McIntosh and Atma-Sphere. Be sure to consider used ones - you'll find quite a few at Audiogon with a big savings over retail.

Also, a lot of this will depend on the speakers you plan to run. Google the speaker model and find out which tube amps are a good match.

Personally, I run a Conrad-Johnson MV52. Spectacular with my speakers (love those EL34s), but YMMV depending on what you plan to use.
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post #7 of 8
6/29/11 at 3:46am

A tube amp to run Maggies? Uh, unless the person in question only wants to listen to simple acoustic music at low volume you'll struggle to drive the speakers properly with your budget. Besides, I've found that a good solid-state amp works wonders with a tubed pre (what I have) and allows you drive a much wider range of speakers whilst still taking advantage of the strengths of tubes.

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post #8 of 8
6/29/11 at 5:39am

I would look at older McIntosh like the MC2205, a SS amp that produces 200 wpc. I would send it to Terry in Knoxville for a full check-up and tune-up.

 

http://www.mcintoshaudio.com/dewick_repairs.htm

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