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How would a tube amp fit into my setup?

post #1 of 6
10/12/11 at 10:32am
Thread Starter 

I am thinking about purchasing a Little Dot tube amp and I am curious how I would fit it into my setup. My current setup is a Marantz 2252 receiver that powers my homemade speakers and my AKG 240mkii headphones. For a source I either use my turntable to the phono input of my computer to the tape monitor input. 

 

How would a tube amp fit into this?

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post #2 of 6
10/12/11 at 10:48am

You can run the tube amp from the outputs of your Marantz receiver.  I don't think it would help a whole lot though.  I find headphones work best on their own system like Lossless files --> DAC --> Amp --> Headphones.

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post #3 of 6
10/12/11 at 10:50am

You could, for example, connect the amp to the tape out of your receiver.  Another option is to use the line out on your computer.  Both would work well to give you a taste of an HP amp and of tubes.

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post #4 of 6
10/13/11 at 1:41am
Yes, a tape loop out would work.

Though I'm not sure if a Little Dot would have an output impedance low enough to work well with AKGs. If you built your speakers, look into the Bottlehead Smack kit. It has output transformers, so it should handle your AKGs. I would not recommend an OTL for them.
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post #5 of 6
10/13/11 at 9:31am
Thread Starter 

Hm, I am rethinking the tube amp idea. I have been considering selling my 240mkii's and upgrading to the k701 or k702's. I will start a new thread with questions about powering those. Thanks for the help!

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post #6 of 6
10/13/11 at 10:03am
I can tell you from first hand experience that the K702s with the Little Dot MK III is a very very good combo. Especially with the Mullard CV4010 tubes.

The amp seems to take the edginess away from the headphones, makes it more laid back, and smoother sounding. Which these headphones benefit from. Its not as good as some of the much more expensive stuff but then again that's why its cheaper. For the price I think it will be hard to beat with a SS amp.

You just need to make sure to change the gain settings to its highest. You will likely be playing it with the dial set to 12' o clock. It won't start distorting until you hit around 3' o clock. Its not the most powerful amp but boy does it sound good.
Edited by Gatepc - 10/13/11 at 10:05am
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