Going Tubing

Thanks for these responses!

My speakers are GoldenEar One.R:s. Sensitivity is pretty solid at 92 dB, and they have built-in subs so I would assume a need to push a great deal of power to them wouldn’t be necessary. Thus a - typically - lower power tube amp (compared to ss amps) may be sufficient, and not too much a concern/consideration.

Starting off with a tube preamp seems to make sense, though. I am eying the Black Ice Fusion F360, not least because of its rather intriguing sound field “enhancing” feature, designed by Jim Fosgate.

Here is an excerpt from John Atkinson’s Measurements section for your speakers…

“The One.R’s impedance is specified as being "compatible with 8 ohms." The solid trace in fig.1 reveals that the impedance magnitude ranges between 3 and 6 ohms for much of the audioband, with a minimum value of 3.1 ohms between 290Hz and 390Hz. Like the original One, the One.R’s use of a passive high-pass filter with a low corner frequency means that the electrical phase angle becomes increasingly capacitive below that frequency. Although the impedance magnitude rapidly increases below 100Hz, mitigating the effect of that phase angle, there is still a combination of 4 ohms and –48° at 100Hz, which will require a good 4 ohm–rated amplifier to drive the speaker to acceptably high levels.”

This doesn’t scream tube friendly to me and almost certainly not for a lower-powered tube amp as it will easily be forced into operating out of its comfort zone. Makes a lotta sense to just start with a tube preamp and then decide if you wanna spend $$$ on a higher powered tube amp. Hope this helps, and best of luck.

A good friend who is a very competent EE, has built a range of Amp's in both SS and Valve, of which Valve is their most preferred.

Recently they have bought into a DHT Pre Amp design and have been trying it out on owned Amp's.

The Valve Pre' coupled to a SS Power has proven to be extremely impressive and one they want to demo'  to the Local HiFi Group at a meeting.

Demo's ser aside for the HiFi Group as a result of a experience had, usually prove to be very very well received by those receiving the demo' and new experience.

Like you I had a tube phono pre and wanted to find out what all the fuss was about. so I ordered a Bob Latino ST-70 Dynaco clone. I was shocked at how good it sounded. So It replaced a high $$$ SS amp. I have stepped up to 65 wpc now. My speakers are 93.5 db. However, considering @soix post, I wonder if the VTA ST-120 will work? You could call Dan, the new owner operator and get an opinion. Or, there is a CJ CT-5 preamp on USAM which was a top tier preamp just under the Act 2. Stereophile review said the CT-5 had better slam than the Act 2. Its known that the CT5 comes far to close to the Act 2 performance. The outcome, CJ upgraded the Act 2 to a version 2. The CT-5 never had a version 2 and IMO would be much better than the Black Ice.

Theres also a CJ LP 125SA which is 125 wpc for sale in your price range on USAM. I like to stick with an amp with 4 power tubes rather than 8 due to the cost of tubes. Then too, I don't need the wattage and not sure you do either. You have to make that call. Best of luck

Tubes4hifi vacuum tube amplifiers and kits