What would you do?
I am seeking opinion on adding a single tube component in an all Solid State system. If you’ve made this transition, which one of these components gave you the best results for that warm, rich and harmonically diverse tone tubes or valves are known for,
1) DAC
2) Preamp
3) Amp
The speakers are Tannoy’s Canterbury (96dB) paired with Accuphase E-650. I really love my current system and there is nothing lacking as E-650 offers a very sublime listening experience. The source is Aurender N30SA and upcoming tw-acustic GT2 turntable with Reed 3P arm.
So then, why seek out a different experience. Well, beyond the obvious distinctive sound of valves, I kinda miss tube rolling and pursuit of exotic tubes.
Happy Holidays!
Preamp. The preamp is the heart and central component. That is where to start. A good tubed preamp will be very musical and reliable, and give you a taste for what is to come if you continue down the path. BTW, for the first twenty years in audio all of my equipment was solid state and then over the following thirty years one component after another got switched to tube equipment (my system is shown under my ID). My only regret was no doing it much faster. |
Definitely Tube Preamp I only recommend what I have owned, this Vintage McIntosh mx110z Tube Tuner/Preamp is the best one I ever owned. If something happened, I would get another one without considering anything else. here's one, no wood case like mine. You can find them with wood cases, or find a wood case separately later, they pop up frequently.
This convinced me to get one, glad I did https://positive-feedback.com/Issue77/vintage_mcintosh_experience.htm#:~:text=The%20MX110Z%20makes%20vinyl%20%26%20FM,modern%20preamplifier%20on%20Planet%20Earth. After a year, I took it to audio classics, they replaced a few resistors, and the best improvement: they replaced all the rca jacks with new gold plated ones. .......................................................... It is FULL Featured, has two MM Phono Inputs, tape loop .... http://www.berners.ch/McIntosh/en/MX110.htm I get remote volume/mute from my Integrated Amp.
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Get a nice tube preamp. I like tube power amps, but also love gobs of power (even on those 96dB Tannoys), and it costs a LOT more to get there with tubes (like my VAC Master 300's). And after all these years, I have to admit Tannoys do great with either tube or SS power - they're truly ambidextrous. You might need to shut off the supertweeters for SS amps though - ouch! And the pre/power equation absolutely might flip if you're a low volume listener - I'm not 😅 Tube DAC - tubes are just an extra thing in the way, and I'd just let the DAC do its thing without a superfluous tube buffer. I suppose I'd have to hear a Lampizator to be properly qualified to an opinion here, but I've never invested enough in digital to go there. |
