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Best Tube Amp for High Sensitivity Speakers: 45, PX25, or 300B?

I am looking to change / upgrade my tube amp.  I have a good, all-purpose Primaluna EVO 400.  It employs the EL34's and has a nice sound, especially in the ultralinear mode. Other components:  streaming from Innuos Zenith MKIII to Lampizator Atlantic DAC.  Everything playing through Daedalus floorstanding speakers with a 96-97dB sensitivity. Currently, my office / listening room is on the small side: 12'L x 16'W x 8' H, but I'm building a new listening room on our farm where I will later upgrade some components to fit a larger room.  Now, here are the tube amp options I am looking at:

Audion Silver Night PX25  8 Watts.  Very popular among some, touting a slightly more balanced, dynamic sound over the 300B.

Swissonor 45 SE  or  Tektron TK One 2A3 / 45 i   The 45 is the low wattage (2.5W) but sweet tone alternative. Considered by many to be one of the most musical out there. Of course, its low power makes it more restrictive, only efficient with high-sensitivity speakers and in more small-to-moderately-sized rooms.  It might be great in my current office but would have to work harder in a larger one later.

300B Integrated Amp, Make / Model not yet determined.  8-10 watts.  Of course, the 300B is making a big comeback and has wonderful characteristics, especially in the midrange and especially with certain genres of music such as acoustic, vocals, jazz, etc.  I heard one opinion from someone with a history of work in sound production, "The 300B is great if you just want to listen to a female vocalist with a guitar." One take on it.

Adherents of the PX25 and 45 tend to regard the 300B as a nice-but-limited cousin. I honestly have no experience with any of these three tubes.  I moved from SS to tube with the PrimaLuna, a well-built amp that I have increasingly felt carries some limitations that other tubes--more focused specifically on higher sensitivity speakers--would open up the sound in the lower frequencies and some tone qualities all around.

Any opinions would be welcome.

 

gregjacob
liquidsound's avatar
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liquidsound
153 posts
 

Hi Gregjacob,

Some nice and great responses to your inquiry on quality flea-watt tube amplification for your efficient speakers. I have had tube amplifiers in the past and for the past 12 years, I am the proud owner of a BorderPatrol S20 parallel 300-B tube amplifier with dual power-supplies. I have heard a few tube amplifiers on my system and all of them sounded good with of course their own sonic signatures, but my mind was made up when I heard the BorderPatrol amp. Not only did this amp sound more dynamic especially in the bass area, but articulation, frequency response and clarity of the music really drew me in to each performance. Also, vocals especially female take on a very realistic presence. With this amp, the music on the whole seemed to have for lack of a better word, more body. I, also own three solid-state Class-A flea-watt amplifiers all of which sound great on my system. While they all have their own sonic signatures, I keep on coming back to my two favorites, the BorderPatrol S20 300-B amp and the First-Watt SIT-2. I wish you well on your tube-amp journey.

Regards... John

markusthenaimnut's avatar
markusthenaimnut
371 posts
 

@gregjacob 

I think you're going to have to try some different options in your system. while i appreciate the opinions of those who have a strong technical understanding, my experience is that things that should not work DO work for me in my system. 

Again, my system, my room, my preferences. 

gregjacob OP
114 posts
 

liquidsound  John:  That BorderPatrol is a beautiful unit.  Out of my current budget but could be a bucket list amp one day.  Thanks for sharing.

Markusthenaimnut:  I think you are right.  I failed to give proper disclosure from the beginning of the thread:  exact speaker specifications, exact room dimensions, exact distance to speakers and, finally, average decibel listening of what genres of music.  I know all that could / would affect answers and opinions here.  

At any rate, the wealth of information continues to grow.  Thanks everyone. Your participation is being heard and it's a help to many!

kennyc
1,471 posts
 

@gregjacob are you looking for an "integrated" amplifier which includes the preamp just like your Prima Luna, or are you looking for just the amplifier? There are much more 300b amplifier offerings than are integrated 300b.

gregjacob OP
114 posts
 

kennyc:

Yes, I was looking for integrated at this stage of the game as it would probably be more within the current budget than separates, cables, etc.  Also, space issues where I have my sound system located.

My goal has been to learn from this system so that a major upgrade in about 2 - 3 years would be sussed out.  We are renovating an old farm in the country. I have a room that I'm renovating to be a dedicated music room, larger than the office where I currently have my system.  In my current room I have limited space with a pair of Daedalus Muse speakers.  They are sweet and demand little and I am not pushing them at all.  I will be upgrading to either a larger set of Daedalus or moving to a pair of Coherent 18's.  Both are reasonably high-sensitivity speakers but might require a different amp system at that time.  I'll have a better budget then as well. 

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