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 
tobor007
It all comes down to what sounds best to the listener (buyer). I had a Constellation amp/preamp and switched to tubes after hearing a setup at RMAF in 2016. I ended up buying the Voxativ 9.87 speakers and their integrated 211 tube amp, rated at 24 watts. The speaker drivers are very efficient, I believe 98db, and play at very loud levels. They also have 2 dedicated woofers that each have 250 watt A/B amplifiers. I get plenty of tight bass and the magic of a single driver with no crossovers. I know somebody said don’t trust anyone that mentions a specific brand but I have no affiliation. I just listened to everything I could find at RMAF for 3 days and nothing sounded better in my opinion. Point of my comment is to suggest a somewhat unique solution that has satisfied all my needs. I like listening to all types of music from Madeline Peyroux to Tool and find my setup very satisfying.
+1 MC, wrong loudspeakers. As I went up the efficiency ladder,  I went from clipping high powered SS amps on Mirage M1’s to barely cracking 5 watts on OB’s at 96 dB, 1watt, savoring the colors and hues over the wind blowing in my face. 

mmporsche,

Wow! Switching from the constellations to the 211 tube integrated is quite a leap across the amplification spectrum. I suspect your current system sounds marvelous.

bigwave1,

I understand your point regarding the advantages of higher efficiency/sensitive speakers (My preference as well). However the OP (Dave) is happy with his Revels. So I believe most suggestions to him are provided with that in mind (Keeping the current speakers),

Charles

@oldhyvmec

’life is short, make sure spend as much time as possible arguing with strangers on the internet’

just trying to reward good behavior here, discourage bad

but do i really care? no, not really - just would be nice to have folks be nice while helping other nice folks

with covid, fires, horrible state of the nation, we hang out here more than we should, so it’d be nice if we could have a nice place here
A few thoughts.

1. +3 or +4 on a nice tube preamp with a quality high power SS amp. Those speakers are almost certainly designed to be driven by a SS amp. Arguing with a designer and using equipment out of its intended use case is a tough road... 

2. You don't state what is wrong with your current system. If you do feel like something is missing, a report of what that is *might* improve the quality of the comments.

3. If you do want to change amps, have you contacted the speaker manufacturer to give them your budget and ask for a recommendation? No one knows more about what will work well than them. Maybe once you get a few options from them you can bring those back and try to get some additional feedback from other users.

4. I also love SET amplification and high efficiency speaker designs, but was able to find happiness with a SS amp and 6sn7 based pre when I discovered that my current speakers were not as efficient as advertised (Coincident PREs). There are many paths to beautiful music reproduction.