Tube Amp Suggestions
My Meadowlark Shearwater Hot Rods have an efficiency close to your Virgos but are 8 ohm rated. I am using Shanling SP-80 monoblocs in stock form but with NOS driver tubes. This amp is the only one I know of which gets 50 real watts out of a pair of sweet-sounding EL34s. Mods are available from 2 or 3 places, looks are killer. Built-in remote-controlled preamp can be bypassed simply. MSRP $2495. U.S. distributor's page |
May I make an alternate suggestion, I use the Aleph 3 and find it hard to beat as a power amp into my admittedly sensitive Living Voice Avatar speakers. why not keep it and go for a valve pre. I recently changed to a Conrad J Premier17 and could'nt be happier. Wide detailed fatigue free soundstage etc. I am a great believer in the Valve pre, SS power route. I hope that is of help, probably just confused you more. |
'Supposedly, there exist a few 'triode' (tube) amplifier designs of exceptional transparency. Usually their power output is below 20W and insufficient to drive most speakers'... most important are low output impedance (<0.4 ohm) and low distortion (<0.1%) of the amplifier over a 5 Hz to 50 kHz frequency range' (Seigfried Linkwitz). The best I could find among the popular tube brands is 1-2% THD, and only over 20hz-20khz range. 'Rogue' looked better than any of those. But I am not sure the compromise in transparency (low distoriton) is worth the 'bloom' of tubes when you need more than 20w to power your mid and upper range drivers. (always use ss for woofers) The ATI line of solid state amps are <0.005THD, for instance. As are the vintage Hafler DH-200/220, the Muse 160 (and Bry$ston, and the very $$ Jeff Rowland) solid state amps. If you just want a 'warm', 'soft' sound, put cotton in your ears, or hang a blanket over your speakers. It will accomplish the same thing. Really. |
In the 2 to 3k used price range you have your pick of all but the best tube amplifiers and even some quality single ended triode moderate powered amps suitable for your speakers (like the Cary 805b). Cary 805B monoblocks are close to 3k used and give you 50 single ended class A watts..very good amplifiers.. McIntosh MC240 (40 watts), mc275...work well with a 4 ohm load due to the McTransformers..nice sounding amps that will retain their value if you do not overpay. 1000 to 2500 used Bruce Moore Dual 70 tube amp...I only remember this guy makes really good stuff is the reputation. Air Tight ATM2..very good amps Canary CA300 monoblocks..think this is a push/pull class A 300b amp that makes good power... BAT VK60 about 2000 very good amp Audio Research VT60, VS55 Melos Audio MAT180 Lots of choices; there were more. There are examples of all of these for sale as of this writing. A quality 845 single ended amp would make about 22 to 25 watts depending on design; that would be sufficient for your speakers as long as they do not present a low resistance that varies a lot. |
