Tube amps for home stereo

[twobone]

I'm thinking of buying a tube amp kit from Elekit in Japan for a basement man-cave.

What do folks think of tube amps? I have a set of Energy speakers currently running off a crappy sony amp. I'm hoping this will wake them up. Clarity and depth are my key goals

[imcarthur]

Tube amps -particularly low wattage inexpensive designs - will typically sound warm & fuzzy. Rounded rolled off bottom frequencies with a smooth top end. They lack the punch of solid state & the detail in the high frequencies. That said, if you have an efficient pair of speakers >90dB/1 watt, they can be very nice. Think Simon & Garfunkel rather than Van Halen.

Ian

[Por_sha911]

Who would ever want a tube amp?

[HardDrive]

My dad had a beautiful Dynaco amp, with a few burned out tubes. He threw it away without telling me. Ugh.

[Don Ro]

About 100 yrs. ago I built & ran four Dynaco Stereo 70s in mono config. to drive an Infinity Servo Static system (w/100w 18" base commode).
At the time we thought it was Utopia.
.
ps That Mac amp gives me wood!

[Superman]

In Nostatic's thread about his bass amp, I mentioned that some folks can't seem to hear the difference. This absolutely STUNS me. To my ear, the difference is COLOSSAL. Not every tube amp sounds great, but most of the vintage stuff does and some of them sound amazing.

I walked into the house of a business associate of my father's one day. I was about 20 at the time and this was mid to late seventies. I was a musician, if that means anything. I had heard some terrific solid state home stereos. He had a McIntosh amp. The sound instantly BLEW ME AWAY.

I have heard that, as good as a MC-275 sounds, the better sound is with two single-channel 40's. MC-40 or something.

In my humble view, solid state amps can be amazing, and then a very good tube amp will crush those amazing solid state amps with sound that is in a whole different category. I would call the low frequencies "fat," the high frequencies "etherial" and the mids "soundstage." Sublime.

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by Superman

I would call the low frequencies "fat," the high frequencies "etherial" and the mids "soundstage." Sublime.

Good descriptors.
'Have to laugh - brings back memories of when my buddies & I would turn out all the lights at night and listen to our latest components and try to lay words to our listening experience. Back in those days - late '60s - we called it "hi-fidelity".
We were so amp-abundant that we bragged to each other about how much hp we were running.
DC Crowns a-plenty.
Damping factor was a consideration back then, too - but mostly just something to brag about. I built tone arm suspensions, anti-skate, etc. I loved those days!

[dtw]

Have been a low-budget audiophile all my life, with a really nice solid state system for the last 17 years. Just last month I picked up my first tube amp - a Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum. I'm a huge fan of their engineering ethic - the remote control for example, is a weighty billet of raw brushed aluminum with two buttons...volume up, volume down.

First session was with an excellent recording that I know backwards and forwards. It was like hearing it for the first time...in the recording studio. I'm completely hooked...and am in the process of rediscovering my music collection.

[cairns]

Funny I listened to a Mac Tube amp and solid state one together on my speakers (B&W 801s) and thought the solid state sounded better- the sound was more defined and "crisper" to my ears and I liked it better. So I bought solid state. In my case the speakers provided the warmth. I suspect other speakers would color the sound one way or another and a tube would sound better....but all sound is "personal' IMO.

[Don Ro]

Tubes can't switch as quickly as solid state - which can make for better transients (attack & decay)...as I understood it decades ago.
As you say, it's a personal thing.
My .02.

[Chocaholic]

The fact that two components sound "different" is obvious. Which one sounds "better" is purely subjective.

[imcarthur]

^^^^ There you go.

Subject to your room, your expectations, your biases, your culture . . . etc . . . etc . . . etc.

The biggest improvement that you can make to any audio system is to fix the room it is in.

Ian

[cairns]

My baby:

[Don Ro]

"My baby:"
~~~~~~~~~
Show off!
.
~~~~~~~~~~~
twobone, Google on: Do tube amps like Mcintosh mc 75 and the like really sound better.
(The link won't post here)
.
Good listening.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by twobone

I'm thinking of buying a tube amp kit from Elekit in Japan for a basement man-cave.

What do folks think of tube amps? I have a set of Energy speakers currently running off a crappy sony amp. I'm hoping this will wake them up. Clarity and depth are my key goals

Elekit TU-879S Stereo Tube Amplifier Kit
Elekit TU-879S Stereo Tube Amplifier Kit

.........single-ended, class-A vacuum tube amplifier kit echoes past greats like the Japanese made Audio Note Ongaku.........

Vacuum Tubes: 6L6EH x 2pcs, 12AX7 x 1pc
Rated output: 8.5W per channel (8 ohm load)
Suitable speaker: 4-16 ohm
Weight: 14.3 pounds

This sort of amp is best matched with loudspeakers which will take advantage of it's unique abilities.


Buy it, build it, test it out then send the Energy speaker's to Home Theater duty, and build yourself a full range single driver speaker maybe Lowther based or open baffle.

Example of open baffle (DIY/build or purchase complete):
Hawthorne Audio -

I've heard the above at the AK-Fest, best of the show in my opinion.

Horns even with a tube amp grate on me after a while.

Some amp kit building threads in a good forum:
Elekit - diyAudio

Amp Review:
6moons audio reviews: Elekit TU-879S

Speakers used in test....Loth-X

....a Lowther based speaker....transmission line design which you can DIY/build. See link below.

http://www.ossaudio.com/lothx/ion.html

I need to get my old tube amp repaired, it's a wonderful thing. My tube pre-amp with tube phono section is also a delight. Something about all tubes in the playback system makes the snap crackle and pop of old records go away. It also helps make digital more listenable.

[Don Ro]

In the old days ('60s - '70s) local audio stores would bring in some Mac sound guys for a free bench test of any one's amp(s). They'd put a load on it & we'd get a performance printout & some helpful tips on what might cause the problem, if any. Pacific Stereo in Berserkeley, CA had a couple of Mac labs/yr. - standing room only - out into the street.
.
The Mac units always got special treatment. Any sign of faulty performance whatsoever and they'd pull any and all tubes & toss them into a 32 gal. metal trash can with great vigor. CLANG! - BANG! - the crowd cheered and marveled. New tubes installed - all for no charge. Needless to say, Pacific Stereo was the top seller of Mac amps in the Bay Area.
.
Them was the days.

[Cajundaddy]

Originally Posted by Don Ro

Tubes can't switch as quickly as solid state - which can make for better transients (attack & decay)...as I understood it decades ago.
As you say, it's a personal thing.
My .02.

Agreed. A good tranny amp is faster so better transients. A good tube amp is sweeter. I appreciate and use both.

In a perfect world I would have a McIntosh amp with a pair of Altec 604s. For now I will get by with a nice Yamaha amp and some vintage Boston Acoustics.

[creaturecat]

Me get new(used) Mcintosh system tomorrow.
Solid state, in this case.
C30
MC 2002
MR 7082
MCD 7005
My friend's father bought this stuff new in the 1980's. With all original boxes, manuals, etc.
3000 bucks, seems like a somewhat reasonable price, no?

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

The fact that two components sound "different" is obvious. Which one sounds "better" is purely subjective.

Amen.

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by cairns

My baby:

Drool