Never Owned a Tube Amp and Want Advice

Man if I was new to tubes, this thread would leave me confused and wondering where to go.

Forget the numbers for a bit. Just go and listen to a few tube amps in your budget range and a few slightly higher in price. Listen to a range of tube types - EL34’s, 6500/KT88, and SET amps such as 300b tubes. You may find you prefer the sound of specific tube types, although newer amps seem to blur the line between how specific tubes should “sound”.

Power is important but it shouldn’t dictate your decision, it’s just a factor. I’ve successfully run low powered SET amps with less efficient speakers, and I’ve had higher powered amps struggle to sound good with super efficient speakers. Try out with your speakers and read forums to see what has worked well with other owners who use your speakers.

A pragmatic factor with tube amps is the number and cost of the tubes. You’ll be tempted to try different tubes which do sound different, and that is far more costly on a 300b amp than with an EL34 amp, and costly on amps that use a lot of tubes or esoteric, NOS tubes. I try to avoid amps that use tubes I can’t easily source online.
I currently use a 300b 10wpc SET amp (Woo WA5) to drive Devore Nines, which are tube friendly. The same amp did well with ProAc Super Tablettes which shouldn’t be as friendly. I’ve owned more powerful EL34 amps (the mighty AirTight ATM3 mono amps) and will shortly own a Leben CS600x, which is 30ish watts. I’ve had failures with well lauded amps (the WAVAC being an example that didn’t work for me) and pleasant surprises with amps that were not well known (remember the Antique Sound Labs)?

There are few rules that seem to be absolute with tubes, other than avoiding pairing with speakers that are low impedance (and not running unless you have speakers connected as was mentioned). Tube amps are fun, wonderful creatures that will delight you, and if you choose well, will encourage you to try different tubes and enjoy. Biasing is not hard with most amps - a ten dollar multimeter and a screw driver is all you need in most cases, and most newer amps use auto bias.

My favorite reasonably priced tube amps (may mean buying used) of those I’ve heard, and which mate with a decent range of speakers, include:

VAC Avatar SE
Leben CS600 series
Line Magnetic amps
Audio Research VT60
VTL amps (newer)

Yes, whatever “perfection” means. Somewhat of a minimalist system, it combines new and old tech and sounds exquisite

that’s is key, it has to work for you @roadsterluver

Life is too short for me buying a conventional tubes amplifier: heat and distortion from failing tubes with a life that is shorten by each months....I hate heat.... 😁

Perhaps i dramatize a bit....

Very dramatic :),

• agree that life is too short
• agree with the hate of heat (I live in South Florida)
• Heat from tubes, it depends on which amplifier design you get, I have Atmasphere’s and the Russian tubes biased in whichever way Ralph does it it is very good even for South Florida standards, let me put it this way, I feel more heat coming from 2x 6C33C on a SET amp than from 28x 6AS7G from my Atmasphere amps, subjectively
• What distortion? if the tube amp is well designed there is less distortion even at high SPL than with other amps including SS (I am referring to the OTLs here not every tube amp)
  
• Shortened life? doesn’t the components on SS amps have shortened life too? don’t we too? let me make a case, true you can expect the tubes on my specific amp to fail or degrade in 10 years, the caps will degrade the same way (possibly more). aren’t we using tubes from the 30’s and 40’s sometimes? shortened life is very relative as a term
• I have heard the latest ZOTL at the South Florida audio show (wasn’t the last audio show on earth?) it was good but subjectively I prefer my Atmasphere OTL’s,
  

I respect your comments @mahgister of course, I just differ a little with some of them. Oh an I know you are not making a case for SS vs Tubes.

I am not affiliated with Atmasphere in any way, as a matter of fact I have tried other amps because I was using my OTLs as a reference and I was convinced these would be bettered by other amps (tube and SS) and it turned out to be a complex matter to beat that reference, I have heard at shows (Axpona, RMAF, South Florida) all sorts of amps, including the super expensive ones (ARC, Pass and such), I guess for my taste and my liking OTL provides that magic.

Good post @davehg I concur. Your post reminded me of

• VAC, the Statement 452 I did not like (i think it was paired with ML) could have been the pairing, not that I can afford the amp anyway, that is (was) the fun of audio shows
• Airtight amps, it reminded me these sounded very good, I was much impressed with it, could have been good pairing as well.

my comments on some of the recent threads below:

1) linear tube audio’s zotl technology by berning does generate heat from output tubes, albeit less than typical transformer coupled tube amps of the same output that drive the tubes harder/hotter

2) power output of a tube amp matters, it matters greatly, esp. in light of the op’s 88 db/w/m speaker efficiency - unless you are in a very small room listening nearfield that speaker efficiency rules out many low wattage tube amps

3) yes most amps that employ the russian 6c33c tube will generate quite a lot of heat

4) ss and tube amps can both be low or high distortion, though tube amp's characteristic distortion tends to be more listenable and less harsh, even euphonic - as always, the specifics of the amp, its design, the tubes employed, and the speaker driven are key to the distortion produced and how it will affect the sound

Hi Everyone, 

What is missing in the above thread is I am considering a pair of Tyler Acoustic Linbrook Signatures.

Because of the dual woofers, they will be 4 ohm,, and not 8 ohm with a sensitivity of around 88dbl.

The top end of loudness for me is about 80 to 85 decibels at my listening position, which is about 8 or 9 feet from the speakers. 

My goal was to try to stick to 60 watt tube amps to avoid the heat and very high tube replacement that comes with bigger tube amps. 

Everyone's comments and suggestions are appreciated. I am 68 and figure this might be my last all new system and I want to try to get it right; which causes me to ask these ridiculous questions. Thanks!