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Moving away from tubes. Is this a good idea?

I need a new amp for my Totem Sttafs and REALLY considered tubes. My final thought is that if you don't have a certain pile of money you are only kissing your sister. Have you ever seen my sister? Besides there is a Devel's Tower of a learning curve for me to climb around tubes and I'm really anxious to just sit down and listen without any anxiety (if you know what I mean).

I have an opportunity to pick up a JungSon JA 88-D class A integrated amp. Just one piece of electronics to move onto the rack (but what a BIG piece:-)

I have a relatively med/small room (16'x17'x8'). The speakers are rated 8hm, 88dB, and 100 W max. program.

The amp is rated at 80 wpc, class A, RMS 8ohms.

From what I read the JungSon is about as close to a tube sound via ss as I can get without breaking into the kids xmas fund. I just want a rich full room of acoustical/vocal/instrumental music.

Could you give me your opinion if you think the Sttafs will be underpowered or unmatched.

Thanks.
djh
restock
831 posts
 
To answer your questions:

Moving away from tubes. Is this a good idea?

No.

Have you ever seen my sister?

No.
glenfihi
525 posts
 
You no doubt could have a SS amp and be happy. But having tubes really are not the hassle some believe them to be. Go for the tubes at least once in your life, you may never go back.
springbok10
711 posts
 
Any of us tube freaks think you should go with tubes. There are a few Consonance integrated amps, with the sweet sounding EL 34s in your price range. I know that this is what I would do. If you go straight to ss, you'll not know what you're missing - if you go tubes and buy one of these units and it's insufficient power (which I doubt, since 40-60 WPC of tube power easily drove my Totem One Signatures easily in a bigger room), then you can sell it withot taking a beating.
lak's avatar
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lak
4,680 posts
 
If you don't want tubes take a look at the Plinius line if amps or integrated amps. Very tube-like and sweet sounding with the power to drive just about anything.
aball
2,018 posts
 
You don't need to worry so much about tubes. Just enjoy their wonderful sound. The Cayin 70T is INCREDIBLE for the money. My neighbor has one and I've heard it with several speakers and it sounds knockout in every way and it autobiasing so there is no worry at all. Besides it looks killer. Also the Consonance tube amps for less money are also fantastic. I don't know the Jungson.

But if you want rich and full sound, you got the wrong speakers. Or you need a sub. YOur room is too large for the Sttafs to ever produce a full sound - no matter what amp you buy. If you're on a really tight budget, I'd suggest you keep the amp you have now and buy a small sub instead. It will do wonders for your sound quality and will give you the most improvement for the dollar. Trust me on this one.

Arthur
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