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
Again two different perspectives on how to get a good amp/speaker match.

To me the point is zeros are the best solution for ML with many tube amps. If you match up amp and speakers directly, zeros not needed.

Perhaps an "adaptor" would be a better technical term for what the zeros are. They would make for some fairly pricy "band aids", though the argument could be made that an adapter is a technical form of "band aid". Its mostly just semantics, some more agitating to some than others.
I recently auditioned a set of Manley Snappers with my ML Aeon i's and the combo with my ModWright SWL 9.0SE sounds absolutely superb! The Snappers are 100 WPC monoblocks that run in ultralinear mode - they are very tight and detailed in the lows and highs with no boom or grain and the midrange is to die for. They pair exceptionally well with the ModWright which is a very transparent tube-hybrid design. I have a fairly small-sized listening room and the Snappers have plenty of power to drive the Aeon i's - even for demanding rock and full orchestra pieces. Depending on your listening levels, I would highly recommend the Snappers as being a great match for MLs.
I certainly did not derail the topic Atmasphere, the OP asked for suggestions for tube amps to go with his Martin Logan speakers. I simply mentioned in my first post that they are a difficult load, no mention ever of him getting a SS amp ever, you are seeing things.

It was you Atmasphere that started spruiking on about the Zero from your first post, instead of guiding the OP correctly to a suitable amp.

It was also you Atmasphere that said, "that others said", (never implicating yourself) that the Zero is beneficial to all amps "even good solid state amps" into these kinds of loads.

You call me a troll twice now. Be careful Atmasphere, It almost looks like your shilling for the Zero, because your amps are the ones that need them the most, and visa versa, the Zero's need your amp's the most. as this quote from Paul Speltz from a TNT review of the Zero's

"Paul Speltz, a devotee of OTL amps, decided that he wanted to use his favourite DIY speakers with his OTL amp, but the nominal speaker impedance of 4 ohms wasn't a good match for his amp. With these thoughts in mind, Paul designed the ZERO Autoformer"

And then this quote from the TNT reviewer on the Zero's with amps that don't need them.

" The most important thing to remember about the ZERO Autoformers is: if there is no significant impedance mismatch, then there will be no real benefit to using the ZEROs. For example, when the Autoformers were connected as an impedance multiplier to a pair of B&W DM602 speakers there was little benefit for most tested amplifiers. In fact, the Le Amps and B&W combination sounded a little too bright with a strident sibilance that was distinctly irritating."

As I've always stated the Zero's add their own set of problems that can be clearly heard when the amp/speaker combo does not need them. (as the above reviewer found)
And to suggest they are beneficial for all amps into hard loads is an absolute misguided quote.

They are a bandaid fix for owners that do not want to change their amp or speakers so they are compatible.

Cheers George

Capdek, glad to read that your Manley amp does the job. Just curious, do you know what the output impedance of the amp is? Does the amp have different taps? I ask about taps because you mention it's ultra-linear.
Atmasphere, 04-03-14: "...George keeps pulling the thread off-topic by suggesting that a powerful transistor amp be employed; he also said that my suggestion of the ZERO was 'stupid', and did so without any experience whatsoever with their use...."

Georgelofi, 03-19-14:"...I have Ralph, and I stand by what I said, I have even put them on my system which definitely doesn't need them, and the sound took a big step backward...."