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Tube Amp for Martin Logan Speakers

Hi, I love tube sound through my Martin Logan Aerius-i fronts and Cinema-i center. I currently have a Butler 5150 which is a hybrid, but it busted on me and would cost $700 to fix. I've had china stereo tube amps that were pretty good and gave true tube sound, but not enough drive for higher volumes. I live in condo, so not like I can blast music anyways but still. I got the Butler because I wanted 5 channel tube sound for home theatre (The piercing sound from my Denon 3801 receiver was not pleasant to my ears). It appears there are only three multi-channel tube amps around, from Mcintosh, Butler 5150, and Dared DV-6C. The latter two are hybrids, and the last one was one of the worst tube amps i've ever heard. I have no clue why 6Moons gave the Dared a 2010 award, but maybe it's because it produces only 65W.

So since multichannel tube amps are hard to come by, and they tend to be hybrid, I was thinking maybe it would be best to get three true tube monoblocks to power my fronts. Thing is I wonder if they will be underpowered for my speakers, and not sure which ones are decent for the price. Maybe China made ones would suffice, and they still go for pretty expensive price. I'm wondering if anybody knows of a decent powerful tube monoblock that is affordable, because I can't pay $3000 per block. or maybe best to just repair my Butler. Thing is, I'm not confident that it is reliable. The tubes are soldered in which is weird, and i've taken it to a couple repair guys who both said that the design is not good, because it's very tight inside and more susceptible to being fried from DC voltage areas. it's too sensitive.

Any suggestions for tube monoblocks, even if china made ones? the holy grail for me would be Mcintosh tube amp, but they are hard to come by. Thanks.

smurfmand70
smurfmand70 OP
10 posts
 
I could repair the butler locally and add sockets for the tubes for easier maintenance. I'm just not too confident in its reliability. Seems that it's very sensitive and can blow if moving it around or playing with cables. The other option is send back to butler so they fix back to original spec but that would probably cost more than 700. a lot cheaper than getting monoblocks, and about same price as getting a used SS amp.

I've read that martin logan have demo'd their speakers with parasound which apparently has warmer sound as opposed to say lexicon and nad amps, so maybe should look into that.
smurfmand70 OP
10 posts
 
Im shocked at how much tube monoblocks go for new. I don't get how it is justified for makers to charge 3000-10000 for such a small thing. Compared to SS amps that are massive and with more parts. I guess tube monoblocks have solid gold power sections or something.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,807 posts
 
Tube amplifier power has always been more expensive (the tubes themselves cost more, the filament circuit to light them up costs something, so does the output transformer). It was the reduced cost of transistors that got the industry going in that direction in the first place.

Class D has added another order of magnitude to that.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Ralph: why not just put some output transformers on your OTL's so they can drive these types of loads then, instead of this band aid fix of the Zero's

Or the owner can do one of two things to fix the problem.
1: Is to get the right amp to drive said speaker load.
2: Is to get the right speaker with a load so amp can drive it.

And the suggestion to put this Zero transformer on a tube amp that already has an output transformer is one of the worst ways of fixing/masking the problem.

Cheers George
smurfmand70 OP
10 posts
 
Yeah different technology but still seems like companies are ripping people off with tube monoblocks. If $10000 each and you need two, I'd rather get $18000 gold bar to hang around my neck and $2000 used amp haha
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