Hi Chuck,
Yeah, I imagine that would be a bit scary. Do you have any idea what caused it? Did you just fire the amp up, or had it been running? I've been using tube preamps for over a decade now, but I only used tube amps for a couple of years, two different tube amps to be specific. Though I never had any problems myself, I have heard of others having issues. I would also be afraid of any collateral damage that an amp blowing up might do, like taking out a speaker. You didn't have the issue with the SLI-80 did you? Because one of the amps I'm considering trying is the CAD-120S to mate with my SLP-98P F1. The 120S has a LOT of tubes, 8 KT88's!
That's probably one of the reasons why I'm running a SS amp now myself. Though I do miss that tube bloom. Both of my tube amps were push-pull designs. My current speakers may be candidates for a SET amp, I have to admit that trying a 300B amp does tempt me. LOL!
A friend of mine has an Allnic T-1500 integrated amp, which also looks very tempting to try. As you can see, it costs a bit less than the VAC too. It doesn't have the power that the OP is looking for though.
Cheers,
John
Yeah, I imagine that would be a bit scary. Do you have any idea what caused it? Did you just fire the amp up, or had it been running? I've been using tube preamps for over a decade now, but I only used tube amps for a couple of years, two different tube amps to be specific. Though I never had any problems myself, I have heard of others having issues. I would also be afraid of any collateral damage that an amp blowing up might do, like taking out a speaker. You didn't have the issue with the SLI-80 did you? Because one of the amps I'm considering trying is the CAD-120S to mate with my SLP-98P F1. The 120S has a LOT of tubes, 8 KT88's!
That's probably one of the reasons why I'm running a SS amp now myself. Though I do miss that tube bloom. Both of my tube amps were push-pull designs. My current speakers may be candidates for a SET amp, I have to admit that trying a 300B amp does tempt me. LOL!
A friend of mine has an Allnic T-1500 integrated amp, which also looks very tempting to try. As you can see, it costs a bit less than the VAC too. It doesn't have the power that the OP is looking for though.
Cheers,
John