Amplifier recommendation
We who love this hobby/obsession are an interesting lot. We love to converse with, encourage, challenge, insult, and offend one another, then turn to one another for advice and recommendations. Because we are haunted by the possibility that while we think we have Golden Ears, we might just merely have Silver Ears, so we seek reassurance from one another that we really are hearing what we think we’re hearing. “Did you find that to be a little too rolled off on the top end?” “I agree that it’s right tonally, but lacks the imaging of comparable models. Or is that just my room?”
With that brief preamble, I am going to, you guessed it, ask for a recommendation. And I’m going to ask a question hoping some will have a very specific answer to, knowing full well that most will say,”Well, that depends”. Can you name a specific stereo tube amp that is reasonably affordable, (no &100k or even $10 k, please) “vintage” or current, that you think produces 70, 80, 90% of the sound characteristics that tube lovers love? Can you say THAT amp is what a typical high end tube amp “sounds like”? An amp about which you would say, “Wanna know the difference between a good tube amp and a good solid state amp? Listen to THAT tube amp! Thanks!
+1 For Aric Audio. His Components are top notch. As a person he is one hell of a great guy. Just an absolute positive experience from the beginning with him, and the music. It just comes from nowhere with a very neutral (in my opinion) presentation. I am running a upgraded version of his Transcend pre amp he labeled "special 6sn7 pre". As well as his current version of the "Super 88/120 SE". Mine is the one that is pictured on his website.
J.F. |
good point being raised in the last few posts op would benefit from posting what speakers (and size of room) he plans to use... there are lower powered tube amps basically dedicated towards high efficiency speaker designs, this is a rather special sub-segment -- versus those which are made to drive speakers of more average/’normal’ sensitivity levels |
@mazian If you are in the Sydney area, then Alan is going to be the blue mountains area in under a week. His website has the info.
Supateck in Margaret River was closed to visits a few weeks ago (Covid concerns), but Mick is also well regarded (in the valve gear).
I’ll probably just sit tight, or sell the exiting amps and get on the Atmasphere wait list. |
