I'm going to buy my first tube amp. I need honest blunt opinions


 

 

Recommendations please. I am thinking of dipping my toes in the tube amp water.  For the longest time I have been tempted to buy a modest tube amp to run my Monitor Gold 300’s at 90db.

I’ve been toying around, researching the different characteristics of SET, class A, class AB, B Ultralinear tube amps for months. It’s a bit much. As far as the reviewers go, they are too vague. They are afraid to be upfront honest.

Sources are a Parasound JC 3+, a Innous ZENith Mk3, and a Oppo going to a Benchmark DAC, then all go to a Benchmark LA 4 preamp that will feed the new amp.

My room is 16 x16. The speakers have a 12-foot spread. I sit 14 feet back, so it’s not that big of a room.

I have narrowed it down to four candidates.

A used Canary Audio M90 300B Tube Amp at 24RMS,300B push-pull stereo triode Class A $4,000

A used Jadis Orchestra Black, 40 RMS, Class B $4,000

A 16-year-old, Used Cary Audio Six Pac Monoblock’s, 50 triode watts A/AB $2,000

A new Dynaco by WILL VINCENT 35RMS Ultralinear $2,300

 

marshinski15

I considered myself a detail whore and digital fiend for most of my life until I discovered how tube amps are 'supposed' to sound, and it took about $120k to finally get to the most basic setup I've ever had. I now have a Sonos Port feeding through a cardas clear spidf to a Synthesis A40Virtus tube amp/dac combo feeding to a pair of Wilson Duette IIs ans literally bnothing else. I've had $10k DACs, pricier amps, name brand streamers, crazy expensive sound cards, etc, etc. Nothing touches this, and, finally, I feel settled. What a crazy road it's been.

I have recently discovered Synthesis Amps and really couldn't be happier. They get virtually no attention in the name brand world and little in the way of reviews, but, honestly, after owning systems between $30-60k, I can honestly say my A40 Virtus blows everything else away. 

To be fair, I am a vocal, acoustic lover; so, the warmth is welcome, and these produce a fat, Juicy sound, but, somehow, do not feel muddy or over colored - just full.  And, I have probably the very worst spaces to listen (an enclosed porch full of glass and a cubed room with nothing but hard surfaces).

I've no horse in this race, but, for someone who's spent an insane amount of money (for a mailman, anyway), the rabbit hole has led me to abandon my Denafrips Terminator Plus 12th and a Classe' SIGMA AmpII in favor of this Amp/Dac combo - which doesn't even make sense on paper, I know; still, I couldn't be happier.

A used Pass Labs 1st watt  25 WPC in pure class A would work just fine and give nice detail and warmth with plenty of power on tap ,I used with87 db Dynaudio speakers . Plenty of good reviews.

The OP could buy a nicely restored pair of Dynaco MKIII's for less than $2K. With 60 + watts of 6550 power no problem with his speakers! I have the Paoli-modded pair!

 

 

 

 

My 2 cents from someone who owns tube amps and that my system sounds pretty good. First make sure that your DAC has an high output voltage 6V it’s ideally but no less than 4V, this will make your requiere less watts to drive those speakers. Second I will recommend going for Audio Research, for me those are some of the best tubes Amps and you can find a lot of used ones here. I owned also the MC275 from McIntosh and it’s a great amp but depending on the model ARC could be a better amp.  There are so many options in the market I will recommend you to listen to them before buying anything because at the end we all have different tastes.