Ok....Audiogoners: need some tube amp ideas


Any suggestion/comment is appreciated. Just off the top of my head, below is a list of initial parameters.

- budget: $4k ish (somewhat flexible)
- tubes/valves amp(s)
- preowned or new
- mono or stereo configuration
- min wattage: 70 and higher (this rating would afford me more speaker options down the road e.g. 4/8 ohm and >88db efficiency)
- brand(s): leaning toward more esoteric manufacturers or models (e.g. Dodd 120, VAC PHI, Audio Valves); would prefer staying away from manufactueres that do magazine advertisement.

Current thought: I might push the budget a bit to consider a pair of preowned Lamm ML1.

Thanks much. (currently listening to Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2 by NY Philharmonic/Berstein)

Ken
kyyuan
Agree completely with what Atmasphere said. Their amps with autobiasing are simple to use and enjoy. Just hook 'em up and switch 'em on. Initially you want to zero the DC offset and once in a great while after that, but there's no tube swapping involved. The 6AS7 output tubes are good for 10,000 hours' use on average.
Indofunka- the Atma was the M-60 2.3; the Joule VZN-80. And to keep the discussion current; after several back and forths, I believe that I am sticking with the Joule but with a quicker, more dynamic i/c.
Sheeh. My apologies to Nkj and everyone else on this thread. His post was a year ago! When I emailed him, he had forgotten about it.
Wow, the internet is a strange place. I was queried the other day on comments I posted a year ago and low and behold did not remember what I said. I assure you I have had the atma amps as I described in my system. I decided to go with the Berning amp because of chassis size, tube heat and biasing fiddling.

Ralph has addressed 2 of these issues in his current line-up ...that's great. My comments were relevant for the models that were availble to me from my dealer's current stock at the time I auditioned them and posted.

Atama's are great amps ...so is the Berning. Go listen and live with them and see which you prefer.