2. amps-preamps
  3. 165466-4741

Class D for a Tube Lover

First, I'm sure this has been asked many times but searching the subject wasn't too helpful to me.

So apologies in advance.

I enjoy tubed electronics and class A amps, which tend to be a bit warm.  My current Cary 805s warm my small (12x16) music room even in the cool/cold of winter.  I've got other amps that don't produce much heat, but am looking for something that produces no heat.  Living in a home with no central AC the room gets uncomfortably hot during the summer months.

So...I'd like to try some Class D amps.  Stereo or mono is just fine.  And my speakers aren't difficult to drive so I don't need a thousand watts.  But if that thousand watt amp sounds great, I'm not adverse to that, either.

I'd like to keep the price under 2k used.  

Please help.

Thanks.


128x128audiodwebe
audiodwebe's avatar
audiodwebe OP
244 posts
 
The Audions look very futuristic to me, like they somehow made improvements to tubes electronics.  

I hope lots of people buy them, tire of them, and sell them at discounted prices until bottom dwellers like me can afford them.

I'd like to hear them at some point.


rh67
307 posts
 
The Audions are the first and only class D amps that for ME i can honestly say that class D is in the big boy class of amps.

I took the 15 day in home trial and they are staying. After being on the class D merry go round for over a decade and wasting time and money the Audions have checked all of the boxes of what a great amp should sound like.
ml8764ag's avatar
ml8764ag
502 posts
 
Atmasphere.... agree 100% with your.    “You need to hear better preamps!”

FWIW,I have  a Joule Electra pre in front of my PS Audio S300 ... absolutely glorious.
niodari's avatar
niodari
305 posts
 
Hm. You need to hear better preamps! The way to limit distortion (and colorations) with tubes is not unlike how you would do it with transistors- go fully differential. This keeps the even ordered harmonics down (part of the 'tube' sound) allowing for far more transparency. If you have such a preamp it can work fine with the very transparent class D amps that are now available.


You made me to reconsider a tube pre option with class D. @ml...  did you also try a non-tube pre with Stellar S300?

@atmasphere, this is also a stimulating note for me since i was and remain to be a tube fun.   I still enjoy very much my tube integrated. Could you be a bit more specific on "marching the distortions" and what kind of a tube preamp could be of a "right type"?

ml8764ag's avatar
ml8764ag
502 posts
 
@niodari.....Sorry for the delayed response re. The S300...Haven’t had the chance to try a SS with it.... But did run direct from my PS Audio DAC (has a volume control)... Much much better with the pre there.

However, been using the tube front end trick with solid state amps during the years...Essentially, give you best of both worlds... And generally is less costly and involves less tube maint.  Also a good solution for those with power hungry speakers.  Very powerful (quality) tube amps can get very expensive, heavy, and hot.
More to discover