2. amps-preamps
  3. 1180927507

Tube amps & warm speakers?

Hello again folks,

In my quest to try and get into audio again I had another post regarding good 2 channel pre's or integrated's. Upon browsing this forum and looking at all the beautiful used gear around I now find myself a little interested in maybe a tube integrated amp now. Seems like all the serious audio enthusiasts enjoy tubes more than SS. I really want to be blown away sonically when I choose to listen to my system. And...they're oh so sexy. :)

My question is this....I've heard before that tubes and warm speakers can almost be too much of a good thing. I realize listening is subjective but just trying to learn and save myself unproductive searching if I'm only going to be disappointed.

My speakers are Dynaudio Audience 50. I know, I know.... bottom of the barrel for Dyn's but still sound pretty good to me for the money.

Thanks for any insight.

AW
awilliams
saki70
907 posts
 
I don't recall the Dyn's as being a warm speaker .

But anyway , some of today's new designs for tube amps are really not "warm" as the older designs have been . Some of the newer designs are closer to good SS than traditional tubes . And tubes can be fine tuned to increase or decrease a particular aspect .

One of these 'newer' designs is the Primaluna Prologue 2 .
An integrated that stock , does not have that traditional tube warmth . It can use quite a few different tubes to tailor the sound to your liking and is self biasing , which can make the initial experience less daunting . Some tube amps can be a real bear to bias .
pauly
1,012 posts
 
AW, you'll probably be better off with a transistor amp driving your speakers. The 50's are not very efficient and have a nominal impedance of 4ohm which makes me think they they are not going to be tube friendly.

You could try a big push-pull tube amp, but I doubt it would be worth the effort.

Regards
Paul
shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
I second Pauly's comment - nothing really to add to this good advice.
tpsonic
1,092 posts
 
I will second the PrimaLuna PL2.Very dynamic and possibly a bit lean w/stock tubes.I substituted the Shanguang triple-mica 12ax7s and some French cryo 12au7s-stand back.The 12ax s are about $6/ea and the 12au s were $45 ea.Listening room size and distance from the speaker will determine the amount of power you need.Experiment with the different sound of the corresponding taps-4 ohm/8 ohm,they will sound different.Which ever suits your system best,is the correct tap.
troyca
45 posts
 
I would pick up one of the used Music Reference RM-9 For about 1300.00 range.Plenty of power for almost any speaker.
More to discover