Never Owned a Tube Amp and Want Advice

luisma31, 

Maybe I need to get a couple of tube amps as it is turning to winter in the Indianapolis area!

Changing the interconnects certainly helped with the sibilance. I also took out my AT cartridge and inserted an Ortofon Pro S40, which is supposed to be a "DJ" cartridge but with a better stylus...seems to have made an improvement.

I am learning that changing out speakers is a big deal and has me rethinking everything!

gkr7007 wrote "... couple of recommendations. The Carver Crimson 275..."

How does the Carver sound compared to others you may have heard?

Happy New Year everybody,

For those that are interested, I reinserted my Thiels and DNA-500 and got instantly reconnected with what I liked about that combo - there just is a good weight and tone to that combination.

In comparison, the small Tyler Acoustics MM5x's and CJ tube amp are ..well...a bit more thin, less solid sounding. The dynamics and sound stage are better with the Tylers and the CJ tube amp. Detail is more in your face with the Thiels compared to the Tylers, which are just as resolving but more... soft...?...laid back. Both setups have pace but the Tylers with the tube amp seem more musical. 

I knew the Tylers (SEAS Excel drivers for tweeters and mids with Dayton 10 inch woofers) were probably not going to be "right" for me as they are more of an entry level speaker. My original goal was just to get a handle on tube amp sound and the Tyler sound; both of which I like.

Tyler is willing to build me a pair Linbrook Signatures if I want them. These come with all SEAS magnesium drivers and Millennium tweeters. I expect that these would provide the weight and tone. They are 48 inches tall, which I think is a good fit in my listening room. 

The caveat is that the Linbrooks come with dual woofers so they are a four ohm, 88 dbl speaker. So...now my new question is can one find good tube amps that will drive a 4 ohm speaker that might dip to 3 ohms?

Thanks for listening,

Dsper

@dsper Ask him if he can wire the woofers in series rather than parallel. It will require a little bit of adjustment in the crossover but otherwise the math of the drivers in the box is exactly the same. Contrary to popular myth, the woofers will be no less easy to 'control'. But it will make the speaker much more friendly to tube amps and all amps will have lower distortion driving a load like that.

There is a great deal of tube amp experience offered in many of the submissions.  The sheer volume of responses reflects the complexity of the variables involved.  If there really was a simple answer, we would all have had our respective audio epiphanies long ago.  There are MANY very fine tube (and of course solid state) amps in all price points.  The salient variable is, simply put, your own personal taste.  How many times have you heard that, right?  I have been on the quixotic search for 50 years and it has led me everywhere.  Fundamentally, the answer is relative.  At present, I have a McIntosh MC275VI and a Benchmark DAC3 with a pair of Triangle Signature Theta bookshelves and a REL T5i playing classical and jazz via Tidal.  Perfection?  Yes, whatever “perfection” means.  Somewhat of a minimalist system, it combines new and old tech and sounds exquisite.