Help: low Maintenance Tube Amp short list.


I am making a short list of tube amps for audition. I would like to spend around 2000, give or take a couple hundred bucks. I would like to stay in the 50 to 60wpc range. And, last, but now least, I am looking for very low maintenance. I have seen some pictures of some tube amps, like the BAT models, with so many tubes that I wouldn't know what to do with them if they failed or needed replacement. Don't even ask me about biasing because I don't even know exactly what that is. Right now I have my eyes on a Conrad Johnson MV60. What else is there out there?

Help!
matchstikman
Hi, As Jfrech said in his post the Bat tube amps couldn't be any easier to operate. The auto-bias feature does it all. Just plug in turn on and play and they don't need a long warm up time for them to sound their best. Also would like to add their costumer support is the top in the industry. Fantastic sounding also! Good luck, Tom
Zaikesman, I have a small listening room. My system consists of Decware preamp, two no-name 60wpc tube amps(low quality), Pioneer DVD player as transport, Bel Canto Dac, audioquest cables, and a pair of Silverline Panatella II speakers. I recently switched from B&W DM602s over to the Silverline speakers. My room is very small and it couldn't hanle large, full-range speakers, so I switched to the Panatellas which are basically floor stand and monitor, all in one, plus their frequency range goes much lower than the DM602 and they are very tube friendly speakers.

I listen to everything from rock to classical, but lately I have been more into classical than anything else. I have two pieces left to finish my modest system; a subwoofer(probably a Rel Strata III) and the amplifier. Audiogon has been a good ride so far.
After much trial and error I have found the right tube amp for me and it fits what you are looking for. Aronov LS960.
60 watts, auto biasing, and can use 6550, KT88's or KT90 tubes. Simply the best sounding I have heard. Kinda like a Jadis with bass. Other great tube amps worth a try are VAC and Musical Reference.
by Bin
Matchstikman, it's interesting that you already own tube amps, given that you seemed to come across as if you were a tube novice, and I guess you should have a better idea of what it is you want than your question may have led me at first to assume. Well, since you say your current amps are "low-quality", then what you can expect with something better is primarily a superior power supply, output transformers, and passive parts/construction, although different circuit designs and execution will still sound different from one another. But in general, you can look foward to more tonal neutrality, frequency extension, dynamic capacity, and resolution/transparancy with a better tube amp, while still retaining the traditional tube-amp virtues of spatiality, harmonic purity, and lack of textural coarseness. Good luck with your search!