Reactions to HP's review of Antique Sound Lab amp?


He raved about the Hurricane in the latest TAS.
Anyone with long term experience care to comment?
jp
914nut
I haven't had the Hurricanes for very long, but have never had a biasing problem. Neither did the previous owner. Biasing is easy and straight forward. I didn't see any mention of biasing or reliability problems on Salvatore's site. I've read that the Chinese KT-88 is not a very reliable tube. No surprise there. The Svetlana 6550s have been trouble free. By the way, I also have a Wyetech Topaz 572(which I've also sold), so my comparisons of this amp are from an amplifier Salvatore considers to be a reference. If you have tube friendly speakers, these are probably two of the best amps you can buy. Can somebody recommend a solid state amp of equal ability? I've been a tube guy my whole life.
If the Chinese KT 88s are sometimes prone to failure, can one substitute 6550s (any origin?) or EL 34s, etc. without additional problems or sonic degradation? Could there be any improvements substituting other makes? Has anyone ever tried?
I understand that the newer Hurricanes have better caps than the previous MITs plus addition of optional triode operation mode! Improvements on an already good design? Let's hope so!
I have 6550s in mine. They are much better than the KT88s that come with it. Not sure about EL34s, but I doubt it. I don't think there is a triode switch on the new ones.
There is a triode switch on ALL the new ASL Hurricanes we have in stock. Biasing is easy and new Valve Art KT 88 seem to be very reliable.
Thank you for the informative as well as constructive comments about new ASL Hurricanes. Yes, I also did hear that they now have the more reliable Valve Art KT 88s. Where are they from--Chinese also? Additionally, I have been told that they are more reliable and also extend/improve the "highs" with more "air" as well as more transparency. Have you found that true?
How did switching to 6550s improve the sound?
In the triode mode, do you have any estimate of watts output available? What would the advantage(s) be over non-triode configuration? Thanks again.