To Tube or not to Tube......

I use a new model Jolida 502p with factory upgrades that is one of the biggest "bangs for the buck" in tubedom, at about half the cost of any comparable high quality power amp. The XLR balanced inputs were important to me also as I have a balanced preamp, and simply like XLRs. The amp has bias adjustment pots on the top of the amp so they're accessable and really easy to use (LED indicators that work very accurately) although you only need to check them every few months at most. The output is selectable at 4 or 8 ohms and this thing has plenty of power at 60 to 85 glorious tube watts per side and I can run KT120s no problemo. It sounds beautiful and effortless, with a modern full range tube sound.

Jolida, hmm? I'll check it out. thanks

For speakers of medium to low sensitivity, the best solid state designs have probably eclipsed anything that tubes can do. At lower price points, tubes may be more competitive with solid state, depending on power requirements. Tubes probably still rule for high efficiency drivers, regardless of price.

Tube!

My first tube amps were Jolida 502p power amps and the I moved up to a pair of Jolida 1000p powers amps running bi-amped to my speakers. I have moved on to a pair of Bob Carver Cherry 180m mono blocks.

First, from my experience, biasing is not a big deal. The Jolidas were manual bias but even with me using them for hours on end in my Home theater setup I never had an issue with tube bias. I never blew any fuses and had only one tube failed after probably 3000hrs. The only problem I had was one of my Jolida 1000p (which was very low in serial number) had an issue that when watching a movie at very high volume and if the movie had a particularly loud noise like a single gun shot it would trip only one of the amps, even tho multiple other amps were also hooked up. Jolida replaced it with a brand new one at no charge.

My current Bob Carver Amps are Awesome, and if you can afford them. Would recommend a pair. I have had absolutely no problems with these amps. I have thousands of hours on them. They have a bias system that is not quite auto but you have one knob and a built in meter that adjusts all the tubes at once.

So I would not worry about bias or blowing fuses.

The main negative I can say about Tube Amps is the heat they can generate, when I had my Jolidas I had five stereo tube amps running a Home theater setup. The Jolida but out tons of heat even when listening at a low level. But they Carver amps do not put out anywhere near the heat of the Jolidas. Of course even Solid State True Class A amps put out a lot of heat, thats what the heat sinks are for. So it really might not be a negative after all.

I say go for the Tubes!

I have Tube pre-amp with tube regulated PS, tube DAC, tube amps, heck if I could find a Tube Blu-Ray player I would buy one. I have seen the tube mod that Modwright sells for the Oppo player but I hate the look of those players.

Thanks Z, you've eased my fears about things blowing and biasing problems so I won't worry about that anymore. I'm not real concerned about heat either, it's a pretty big room and my Threshold gets pretty hot too. I'm sure amps like the Carvers are out of my price point right now. I am looking at the Jolida, an ARC VS115, a BAT 60 & maybe one or two others. All of which are used &/or here on A-gon. I'm the sort that seems to stick to one thing for years so I want to get the best one I can afford now b/c it will be here for years.