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
Thanks George. I looked at the review and picked up the following concluding statement that "[t]he Manley's output impedance [1.5 ohms], while not unusually high for a tube amp, is still high compared with typical solid-state designs, and may therefore have some effect on the frequency response of the speaker-amp combination.—Thomas J. Norton"

The reason I asked the Q is because Capdek said that the Manley does a good job with his ML ESLs. I'm sure Capdek has good reason to be happy with his Manley/ML combo. But I suspect that the treble may be a tad shelved and the bass a bit augmented -- just based on what Thomas Norton said above.

Obviously, unless one measured the ML's frequency response in a controlled environment, it's difficult to know what's really going on with Capdek's rig. So, I'll leave it there. If Capdek is happy -- then that's all that matters.

This has been an interesting thread. I think all of us have leaned a lot.
Correction to my previous post: delete the word "ohms" which appears immediately following the number "4.7"

Regards,
-- Al
OK Almarg, I'll split hairs with you.
With a measured damping factor of 4.7 and an output impedance of 1.5ohms it's closer to an 8ohm tap than a 4ohm tap.
But all this can change with a bit more global feed back to raise the damping factor and lower the output impedance.
But then Audiophiles don't like the idea of too much feedback, so throw a Zero on it for difficult loads like these speakers the OP has and maybe be happy???

Cheers George
George, where do you see an indication of a MEASURED damping factor of 4.7?

Regards,
-- Al
From here Al. At the The Manley website.

http://www.manley.com/msn.php

Features and Specifications
Manley Snapper

Damping Factor: 4.7

Cheers George