Used Heresys
Beginner looking for guidance into tube sound.
Hello all, I am looking for some input on the best way to add tubes to my current mess. I currently have what I am sure everyone here would consider barely a step up from my parents zenith HI-FI circa 1977. please keep in mind I am lucky if I can afford to look in the window of an actual audio store.
I currently have a Peachtree nova 300 and a Marantz CD player and a pair of monitor audio silver 500 speakers. A friend gave me a blue sound node 2i also. I have always wanted a tube powered amp. I see these Chinese amps like the Muzishare X7 and Willsenton R8 that have lots of great reviews. Or maybe a tube DAC. Then I see the Black Ice for ss-x. Each having less tubes respectively. Not sure how much that matters but I would think the more tubes the more tube sound one could expect. I would like to be in the $1000. range but would go to $1500 if I had to. My goal is to find the best most cost effective way to enter the tube world.
I currently have a Peachtree nova 300 and a Marantz CD player and a pair of monitor audio silver 500 speakers. A friend gave me a blue sound node 2i also. I have always wanted a tube powered amp. I see these Chinese amps like the Muzishare X7 and Willsenton R8 that have lots of great reviews. Or maybe a tube DAC. Then I see the Black Ice for ss-x. Each having less tubes respectively. Not sure how much that matters but I would think the more tubes the more tube sound one could expect. I would like to be in the $1000. range but would go to $1500 if I had to. My goal is to find the best most cost effective way to enter the tube world.
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- 142 posts total
I know I'm a little late here and you might not see this, but I have some experience that might help. I was in the same position years ago and I used a Peachtree iNova as a preamp into a 1970s era Dynaco ST-70 tube amp I found for under $1,000 at a vintage shop near me in Syracuse, NY area. Definitely had the "classic" tube sound. I then moved into a bigger house and needed more power so traded in the ST-70 for a pair of Dynaco mono blocks, again under $1,000 full price. Again sounded great. Then came I to some cash, sold what I had and went with the Prima Luna Dialogue Premium HP printer integrated. Very different sound! I learned that the sound of tube amps has changed from the classic days to the present. Sounded more solid state at first. But after it broke in and my ears adjusted from what I was used to with the Dynaco it is now excellent. Test if the system now is Tekton Lore speakers, Lumin D2 streamer, Rega Planar 3 table, Muse Erato CD player. |
Don’t listen to anyone who says it can’t be done. They are just being snobs and are possibly compensating for lacking equipment elsewhere. A Dyna 70 can be had for $250 to $1,400, depending on condition. Here is one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dynaco-ST-70-Stereo-Tube-Amplifier-Fresh-Rebuild-/224475589237?_trksid=p234... |
Any vintage equipment like the Dyna stuff should have their power supplies rebuilt. The original filter caps in most of the tube stuff is all bad now- and if you run equipment like that without servicing it out you run the risk of destroying the power transformer. A lot of that 'classic' sound is actually bad filter caps and other aging parts. |
Atmasphere, Obviously. Please: I provided a link to a rebuilt one. You make wonderful amps but clearly this person is starting out and can’t afford them, not my Julius Futterman OTL3s. I began by building my own Dyna 70 when I was 14 years old and it kept me quite happy from 1968 through 1980, when I moved up to the Dyna MK3s. Those were not particularly stable, I got the Futtermans in 1985, they were modified from pentode to triode in 2015 and I am still using them. Question: do you consider the NYAL Futterman OTL3 “classic” even if it’s been completely rebuilt with Jensen audio grade foil caps? |
- 142 posts total