Sweet sounding SE tube amps under $3K USED

My little sojurn into well, lets say "les than mid stream powered" amps might not be the best test for yourself. Primarily as my particular tastes in music tilt towards the "not quite at" the truly neutral side of things and rests securely on the warmer side of it.

I still have a propensity to listen to a wide variety of genres. With Roomful, Gordon Goodwins group, many old school R&B artists such as Solomon Burke, Wilson Picket, Aretha, etc.. amongst my favs I pray I never settle into any myopic phyllum of musical expression, aside from my prefferences to tonal qualities, with thick and rich being my usual standard. .. and naturality always the judge.

Therefore, I can't get in one amp (s) everything I desire. My willingness to make concessions in exceptionally dynamic presentations is tuff for me... yet to more than some degree that seems my particular bent.

I doubt seriously, given the money spent to bring in what other pieces I have on hand is already gone, that I'll digress or consolidate my rig, for at this point several items IMO, are keepers. The amp situation does seem questionable however. The question lays more to prefference than to preformance, to put it squarely.

In a few weeks I'll know far, far, better about the amp too as the current speakerage is definitely lacking in conveying to me great accuracy of scale, and organic timberal qualities quite often. Although pleasant enough to listen to, wagering on system needs based upon their presentation abilities is sheer folly.

The ‘real deal’ as I see it is finding out which tube amp will provide enough harmonic richness and texture, and still have enough jump in it to bestow an . involving re-creation.

In the back of my mind is a fall back plan that allows me, should the tube amp be just flat out gorgeous sounding yet without the dynamic thrustyness I feel is necessary, I’ll just get 100wpc SS amp for part time duties.

What has surprised me too is no one has mentioned Qucksilver, ASL, Cary, or Outlaw. IN fact a friend of mine said she had owned a Stingray int. and went to an ASL int. and was far more pleased with the ASL. She was using Vandy 2’s back then.

Blindjim,

Since "attack", "exceptionally dynamic presentations", "great accuracy of scale" along with "harmonic richness and texture, and still have enough jump in it to bestow an involving re-creation" are you primary goals - POWER is what you are looking for. Lots of it with reserves for more even with fairly efficient speakers.

As I mentioned in an earlier post/thread, your speakers are 92dB, so listening at 89dB requires 0.5wpc. Well recorded classical or jazz (not most pop/rock music) can have 14-20dB transient peaks above average listening levels.

That means in order to accurately recreate large dynamic swings in complex musical passages without clipping or compression/distortion and keep the amp in it's most linear range of function, you'll need at least 100wpc - 150 to 200 is more like it.

Now, that estimate is obviously an ultimate goal and you can get by with less than that, but I would seriously stay above 100wpc and look for an amp known to have a serious power supply.

Take a good look at some Manley Labs Snappers monoblocks. They are 100wpc and more importantly, they use the same EL34 in ultralinear PP just like the Thor TPA-30(or 60) amps that you loved. On top of which, they allow both RCA and true balanced(XLR) inputs. The amps truly differential instead of simply using an input transformer to convert balanced/XLR inputs to single ended.

Manley Labs are known for making amps that kick a** dynamically. A huge part of their business is to the pro audio/recording industry. Also, they are made in the USA and have a great reputation for support.

There's a pair for sale here on Audiogon for $3,200. Go to Manley's website and read the reviews, especially the Inner Ear Report, Positive Feedback, Stereo Times, and Soundstage.

If not the Snappers, then consider an older set of VAC PA series amps. There's a set of VAC PA-100/100 monoblocks for sale here at $1,600 which use Kt-88/90 output tubes. Both tubes excel at bass and dynamics.

Darkmoebius
I think you're onto something there. Thanks much.

two issues are at hand for me. One, not being able to travel and hear them. Two, I think I am trying to get in one amp waht it likely takes two to do properly. One lush amp, and one for most all else.

Power reserves are sure important. I do know that much.

Imho, EL34 based amps are a great place to spend some time. The AE Sixpac are very reasonably priced (under $2k used) and highly reviewed. Also, look at the Cayin 860 monoblocs. I bought a new pair for under $3k and they are a fantastic value and sound great. I think they are the Cadilac version of the Prima Luna(Chevy) as I suspect they are made by the same people.

I run them with Merlin VSM MM's, Modwright 36.5 Preamp, Modwright AT Denon 3910 and they work together very well.

I'm just starting to go through the Cayins and swap out and upgrade some caps and tubes and I plan to be content for a long time. Highly recommended.

Blindjim, FWIW, I recently bought a Cayin A100T out of curiosity. I've only had it for a month or so but so far I'm not only pleased but surprised. While this is an integrated amp it has in input for a preamp which bypasses the 'front-end' of the Cayin so if you want to use your pre amp its easy to do. It also has the ability to switch from triode (laid back, less focused) to ultralinear (which is a very focused sound)on the fly with the remote. I prefer high resolution w/out brightness and a very focused image. My speakers and ears prefer the ultralinear but I'm sure many would like the triode or both. The best part is the sound! The unit (after fiddling with the tubes a bit) has real balls (heft!) but is not boomy at all, the mid range is very liquid and the highs are fine as well (again with a few tube changes). It is very linear, if a tad warm with my stuff and the tube changes. In my set up I'm getting my typical wide and high imaging, and focus depth (which has been more prominent in the center) some pretty good depth on the soundstage rear sides as well. If you develope any interest in this unit, send me an e-mail and I'll answer any questions (that I can).