Inexpensive Tube Amps

pawlowski.  Glad to hear you get it.  I've literally got to spend thousands for so many new things right now that have been neglected for years and that includes my stereo system.  Aside from my speakers most of the other gear needed to be upgraded aside from the Yamaha S300 CD player.  I need to buy so many things and do work at my house which leaves very little money for audio at this point.  

The TubeCube7 aka Miniwatt N3 sounds BETTER than any of the SS amps I've owned.  Why this is not getting though to some people is beyond me.  

From where I sit I am getting anything but useful advice from a number of people on this subject.  BTW.  My friend the Broadcast Engineer is going to build his own Mono Block tube amps in the very near future.  When I told him what I just bought he said he heard that many of these little amps sounded great and were reliable.  What they lack, which keeps the price down is numerous inputs and outputs and that is precisely the reason they market these cheaper amps to people that want to get real tube sound but don't have the money to get the more expensive gear.

Will62...I'm not trying to talk you into anything and hey, I get it, and even mentioned that I thought your amp seemed pretty cool. I'm into inexpensive gear with high value and great sound as I think it's simply more fun to seek out that stuff.

@will62 .. I think you made a good choice with the TubeCube 7. A while back I purchased the APPJ PA0901A ($180, now discontinued). I believe it was APPJ who originated the design and licensed it to Tube Depot (and others). I used it for about 6 months before rolling the tubes, which made a big improvement across the board. IMO this little amp sounds much, much better than it should. I purchased it as an introduction to the SET/SEP world. After living with it for a year and being sure the SET approach was for me, I placed an order for a Decware amp. The little APPJ went into storage. I won't be getting rid of it, surely it will be put to good use again at some point in my future. Best of luck with your new amp. Sorry for being late to the party.

Thanks wtf.  Yes, it really is a very good amp.  Wish I had more to spend but I don't.  Maybe in the future.  For now this one works just fine for me and with the preamp I have, I am able to use any of the components that I have with it.  At some point if I buy another tube amp I will be sure to get something with more power that can drive my Castle Conway 3 towers.  8 ohm with a sensitivity of around 89 I believe.  Not enough to sound right with the TubeCube7.

The "where I wound up so far" story: I became enamored of the sound of my Had amp used with a pair of new 93db Sonist Recital 3 speakers until I put my previous Silverline Preludes (supposedly 91db) back in the system just to see how they sounded with the SEP amp. Sold the Recitals as the Preludes sounded more to my tastes, and that got me thinking about efficiency generally which led me to a pair of Klipsch Heresy IIIs. The Heresy IIIs at 99db are perhaps the most efficient 3 way around without getting into large horn loaded boxes, and they are a surprisingly coherent and clear speaker. I say surprisingly because I assumed I was too hip for a silly Klipsch speaker that had been around in some form since the steam power era, and man...these things are great, but need a sub or two.