Best looking tube amp
Feb 6, 2012 at 11:38 PM Post #707 of 1,828
http://www.nataudio.com/products/Xenon/photogallery/XENON%20photogalery.htm
 
 
Now this I really want!  the Xenon  Plasma Effect AC Conditioner!   never seen something like this before.
 
   
 
Feb 7, 2012 at 2:03 AM Post #708 of 1,828


Quote:
http://www.nataudio.com/products/Xenon/photogallery/XENON%20photogalery.htm
 
 
Now this I really want!  the Xenon  Plasma Effect AC Conditioner!   never seen something like this before.
 



I saw a February 2011 street price of $9,484.36 USD. 
tongue_smile.gif
 I want one!
 
Feb 7, 2012 at 7:26 AM Post #710 of 1,828


Quote:
I work at an electronics repair shop. and a guy brought in a big beautiful Mcintosh power amp with MATCHING TUNER. 
The amp was just like this one. He wanted it checked out and the caps reformed. It worked perfect and was amazing.
Maybe just a wee bit overkill for a headphone amp!
 


This is beautiful. If memory serves (it's nearly 0430 hours), the McIntosh is the first tube amp I ever heard in a big high-end setting. Prior to this it was just small esoteric tube amps in small systems. The host had two Klipschorn's sitting in the corners. And brought them to full power on only 1 watt. 
 
The Champagne was flowing and the guests were chatty. I was neither drinking or talking, as I was distracted! I was mesmerized by the gear though none of the other guests seemed to notice or care.
 
 
Feb 7, 2012 at 7:44 AM Post #711 of 1,828

4x 300B, 2x 12BH7, 1x ECC81 - 18W parallel single-ended. Oh, and 30kg - mostly transformers!
 
I suppose at some point I'll have to get myself some K1000s....
 
Feb 8, 2012 at 12:31 AM Post #715 of 1,828
I always liked the look of ayon amps. If only they would make a dedicated headphone amp.
 
Feb 8, 2012 at 6:51 AM Post #718 of 1,828

There certainly is a massive lot to choose from. For a niche product, I find it very strange. Probably it is beacuse it's not necessary with large scale production to keep costs down - so anyone with a small budget ad the know how can start up on his own...
Quote:
I am constantly amazed by all the tube amps there are for sale.  



 
 
Feb 8, 2012 at 11:59 AM Post #719 of 1,828


Quote:
There certainly is a massive lot to choose from. For a niche product, I find it very strange. Probably it is beacuse it's not necessary with large scale production to keep costs down - so anyone with a small budget ad the know how can start up on his own...

Quote:
I always liked the look of ayon amps. If only they would make a dedicated headphone amp.

Quote:
It's good to see their resurgence. Just not the tube boutique pricing that follows...


Back in the late 80's I had a few power mono blocks from different designers.   I never rolled.  Tube rolling wasn't as easy to do as it is today because there was no internet and it was very hard to find any info on tubes or even converse with many other tube aficionados.   In many ways it was very underground.  No forums to find info, no eBay, no online tube resources to buy from.  In many cases you had to rely on the designer to set you up with more tube.  If you had tubes back then you wee pretty much on your own.
 
The only problem today is that the amps just cost so much.  Most of the amps listed here in this thread are pretty much out of reach for the average audiophile.    Recently a friend of mine sent me these little DARED VP-20 amps and they are very inexpensive.  But you know what?  They sound really good and for the money I am very impressed with their sound and their build.  In fact the build is pretty amazing and I have the 2003 production.  Current production is even more advanced.   I like them so much now that I may actually buy a 2012 production pair of DARED VP 20's for a small desktop system with a set of mini monitors.  $650 for a pair and they each have a separate volume control. They look nice also.
 
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top