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Tubes?

I have Revel Salon 2 speakers. Sensitivity is about 85 db. and 4 ohms. They are power hungry speakers. Currently, I am driving them with McIntosh 601's and a McIntosh solid state preamp. I was look looking at a pair of McIntosh MC2301. They are tube amps rated at 300 watts into 2 - 8 ohm loads. I listen to all types of music (sometimes at very high levels). I never run out of power with the 601's, but I am very intrigued with tubes. This may be a misconception, but I remember some friends who played guitar saying, tube watts were louder than solid state? Perhaps this is not really true or not true regarding home stereo. Perhaps the best idea is to keep the 601's and get a good tube preamp?                          Thanks, Dave 
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ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,219 posts
 
I own the Carver Mono Blocks. Listed as 350 Watts per channel.
Each mono block has (6) KT-120 tubes + input tubes.
https://www.bobcarvercorp.com/products

ozzy
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,610 posts
 
tube watts can sound louder than ss watts due to the overload distortion characteristics of tubes being more rounded and ear-friendly than transistors' hard clipping which sounds more ragged

either way you really don't want any amp, tube or ss, to regularly go into clipping if you want consistently good SQ
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Tube watts are greater than SS watts, and no it has nothing to do with distortion or any of the other excuses SS people in love with measurements like to make. Your problem is nothing to do with the type of amp. You simply have chosen absolutely the wrong speaker for your taste in music- loud. The absolute minimum you should consider is 90dB and if you really do like it loud then I would strongly recommend 95dB or higher. This alone will solve all your problems as going from 85dB to 95dB drops your power requirement by TEN TIMES! You can go from using all 300 watts and wishing you had more to being happy as a clam with a 30 watt tube amp.

markusthenaimnut's avatar
markusthenaimnut
354 posts
 
Before you spend money, I encourage you to read Roger Sanders white paper on tubes vs. Solid state.  Available on the Sanders sound systems website. Very helpful. 
mozartfan
2,143 posts
 
Do not be so concerned with wattage, a  good hefty 50 lb tube amp will drive mosr mid sized low eff(89db/lower) speakers, 
@ 50 lbs, (push pull, not SET), you'll have good trans to push the Revels.So you will need a tube amp that delivers at least 35+ watts. <<True> 35 watts. Not <hyped> watts.

Look for the 6550/KT88 tube as my prefered musical tube.

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