Top ten tube amps

Raquel: I am curious as to why Conrad Johnson did not make your list? In my opinion they make some of the finest tube gear ever.

The following are some of the better amps I've heard in my system or in familiar systems. Most of them can only be used with somewhat efficient speakers.

Audionote (uk) Sogon
Audionote (uk) Gaku-On
Audionote (UK) Kageki (the one I own)
Western Electric (don't recall the model name, but it is mounted in an enormous vertical rack; the owner paid $70k of a single channel)
Custom made OTL amp (hand-made by a Greek diplomat, around ten models in existence)
Joule Electra Grand Marquis
Deja Vu pushpull 45 (very limited production amps made in Virginia by a retail store- Deja Vu Audio)

Another indicia of quality is whether the amp uses circuit boards, which make assembly less time-consuming and thus cheaper, or discreet transistors which are individually soldered in and thus more time consuming and costly to use ("point-to-point wiring").

A case for point-to-point wiring might be made on the basis of better sonics and lower cost to upgrade or repair.

I believe Thor amps use circuit boards to fix its components, but no signal carrying component is fed through through a printed circuit. The last I knew, Quicksilver tube amps were hand wired.

Cheers,
Tim

If I was not clear, I confirm that point-to-point is superior. Some manufacturers claim that boards are better, but I think that claim is disingenuous -- the only advantage I am aware of with boards is a more consistent sound from unit to unit, because they take much of the "hand-craftmanship" out of the process.

The $350k Wavac 833 with outboard power supplies is the best I have ever heard. The Reimyo PAT777 is the second best, but not all that close. I have owned twelve different tube amps both SETs and PPs and still say that the 45 based ones in SET at 1.56 watts are the best if you have 103 db plus efficiency.