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My first Tube Amplifier

I have a 40 years of audio history starting with Garrard Turntable, Fisher Intergrated(SS), ADS bookself speaker on 1978.

But I started using tube amplifier on 1999.

Since then I had been using only tube amplifier in my main system.

My last SS main amplifier was Krell KSA 150 to drive Apogee Duetta Signature speakers.


http://www.jadis-electronics.com/photos/ja500/45/3/ja500.jpg

My first tube amplifier was Jadis 500 which comprised of 4 pieces weighing 120 lb each.

B&W 801 driven by Jadis 500 gave most deep and powerful bass at my home.

But it generated too much heat so it was hard to use during summer.

It was memorable experience to use it for 4 years.

I may not go back to such monster tube amplifier again.



How about you?

What is your first tube amplifier?



I bet two cents on no one had used larger one as the first tube amplifier than mine.


128x128shkong78
markainsworth's avatar
markainsworth
93 posts
 
My first tube amplifier was a hybrid: A New York Audio Labs Amp with a combination of tubes an mosfets. It was paired to a New York Audio labs minuet preamplifier. It sounded pretty sweet. It was, however a little noisy. I was powering bose 901’s with it at the time, using a Rega Planar 3 turntable (I forget what type of cartridge) and an NAS Cd player.

I did roll some Russian tubes into that setup, but is was so long ago that I don’t remember the details.
I eventually replaced it with a (Carver) Sunrise Integrated.
My current system is Magnepan 1.7i’s powered by a Aric Audio Transcend Tube preamp (awesome little hand made preamp) and an old Parasound HCA2200 amplifier (ss). I am enjoying this system, but am saving my nickels for a tube amplifier with enough oomph for the Magnepans.

I know this is heresy, but I have dispensed with motorized sources entirely and use a Cambridge CXN streamer primarily in conjunction with Tidal, but I sometimes listen to BBC 2.
jackd
1,074 posts
 
Music Reference RM-10 bought used in 1996 and put back in service again earlier in the week.  Classic amp still in production after over 25 years. 
shkong78's avatar
shkong78 OP
1,485 posts
 
@ja

You are still using the tube amp you bought in 1996.

That is amazing.

It is going to be classic so you can keep it until you die.
ramtubes's avatar
ramtubes
460 posts
 
http://www.jadis-electronics.com/photos/ja500/45/3/ja500.jpg 

Do folks know that this amplifier has a slew rate so low that it can only product a few watts above 10 Khz? The power drop off starts around a few Khz and just keeps falling. 

Now what happens when you play trumpet music with lots of energy at 10Khz on an amp like this?

The transformers are excellent, the construction is excellent but for some reason they limit the drive to the bank of output tubes by using a 12AX7 running one mA or so. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,948 posts
 

Brooks Berdan very much liked the Music Reference amps (and he was extremely hard to please), recommending and selling them to his customers. But some of his customers wanted to spend more money (bragging rights? bling?), and Brooks didn't mind taking his 40 points out of a $10,000-$20,000 sale instead of a $2,000-$4,000 one.

If more consumers carefully read John Atkinson's test bench reports they would have a much better idea what's going on under the hood of the amps that get reviewed. Amplifier sound quality is determined by many things, but just as a Pop song's ultimate quality is limited by it's chord structure and melody, an amp can not outperform the limitations imposed upon it by it's basic design. Changing the fuse in an amplifier, even if you perceive it to make a difference, is not going to improve the amp's linearity, increase it's power output, or decrease it's instability when driven into clipping. And spending more money on an amp does not necessarily buy one any of those. But you knew that ;-) .

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