Tube amps under $7500


Ready to experiment with combinations never before (or not recently) tried. Step one requires a tube amp. Now looking at Prima Luna EVO 400 which sells for 5K. Any other tube amps I should consider in this price/feature range? Must come in silver with balanced input. For pairing experimentally with various tube and SS preamps. Efficient 4 ohm Legacy speakers (and the room/setup) are the constants.

 

hickamore

@mikhailark In truth my own immobility lies in a1.5-acre live-in, finest-and-rarest arboretum created over 40 years. Then there is the 2k-bottle fine and rare wine collection, assembled over the same time, demanding impeccable storage and transit conditions. Unlike amplifiers, trees and wines are living things. I could subsist on everyday wines, but losing the garden would be curtains. So you're right: amplifiers are trifles in the greater scheme of things.
@invalid Indeed, a huge hybrid amp (a one-off T+A) has been recommended to me and there is no doubt it would handle the  bass dips. Still, now is not the time for "business as usual." As dozens of philosophers, from pre-Socratics to Stoics to Existentialists have counseled, prepare always for the worst. And so I do.

"I look upon the pleasure which we take in a garden as one of the most innocent delights in human life. . . It gives us a great insight into the contrivance and wisdom of Nature, and suggests innumerable subjects for meditation."

Marcus Tullius Cicero 

What about an Audio Research REF 75SE….? That was my first foray into tube amps and it was a great place to start…! 

@jomonhifi If ARC Reference is where you START, where can you possibly END? One very notable and insightful contributor here has described his 40-year evolution through audiophilia which finally culminated with ARC Reference gear including DAC. Though I just noticed there is a REF 75SE listed on Agon at $5,650. 

Yes, Audio Research Ref75se.  I have been listening to mine (with an ARC Ref6 Preamp) for quite some time and with the right dac, speakers & cables, its been a couple years now that I have trouble listening to my system because the music keeps quickly distracting me - and sometimes keeps me up too late at night.  This system does require good source material though.  More than enough bass to satisfy me and for me my exactly the right balance of resolving technical detail and musicality.