Best EL-34 Amps?

I highley recommend the Air Tight ATM-1 amp. There's one for sale right now on Audiogon for $2700.(With the Mullard rectifier tubes and Seimens EL 34s). If I had the money, I would buy it now.

These Cayin 860 monoblocks are worth considering. Shameless plug warning....

If you love the luscious, warm, rich, textured sound that only tubes can optimally deliver, explore this Cayin line of gear. These were voiced to match the classic sound of the famous Marantz 9 power amps.

These 860 mono amps are hand-built and feature point-to-point wiring. Each of these monsters weighs in at over 40 pounds. This is classic, heavy-duty tube gear. 70 Watts (Ultralinear) or switchable to 38 Watts in Triode mode.

Can operate with EL34, KT 88 or 6550 driver tubes to fit your needs.

I purchased these new early last year (2007) and have had significant upgrades ($1200) done after consulting with Sonic Craft (Sonicraft caps, Cardas caps, Mundorf & Blackgate caps, precision resistors, discrete ultrafast/quiet diodes, Cardas wiring, +++). Have orignial tubes (EH and Cayin) plus upgraded set of NOS Mullard tubes, and new reissued octet set of all new EL34 Mullards. Many more details and pictures available.

They are really sweet amps. I run them with my Modwright LS 36.5 and Merlin VSM-MMs. The Cayin gear is super quality bang for the dollar (point to point wiring, solid chassis, massive transformers, etc).

You can find out more details at Acoustic Sounds website as they sell them and had them in one of their demo rooms with Harbeth speakers. I recently posted these for sale on AA and AC.

Kenreau, have your tried KT88s in the Cayin. I wonder because I have a Music Reference RM9 Special Edition which was oringinally equipped with NOS Siemens EL34s but I bought RAM Labs KT88s and thought it was much better with my Merlins. I know Bobby likes the EL34 tube, but I sometimes don't know how much of the tube sound is the tube versus the circuit it is impelemented in. In the Music Reference the amp was significantly more dynamic, with better bass and more detail in the midrange. I'm not sure that would be true for all EL34/KT88 implementations but it is in my amp. As an aside, in many ways the Music Reference RM 10 which uses EL84s was the best of the lot through the midrange, but not quite emough power and drive for my speakers.

Hi Pubul57, I have not tried any of the other tube variants in my Cayins. I am now curious though. I stuck with the EL34s given their reputation and BobbyP's recommendations. Interesting comment on the EL84 lacking power. In my Cayins I get ~38 watts triode and 70 watts ul. I can switch it on the fly and the sound difference is very subtle. I had expected a more significant change between the two, but it is fairly close. I'll usually go ul for HT movies and triode for dedicated listening.

The RM10 is 35 watts and it is enough power on its own terms, but when you put the 160 watt RM9 in the difference in power makes a difference that is preferable - I was attributing it to the power difference and the fact that it looses no wattage as the impedance dips (which should not be much of an issue with the Merlins). But give the price of the RM10 with the EL84s I would say the EL84 is a very nice sounding tube in a well designed amp - great midrange tonality and I think more resolved than the EL34. There is another member who is doing the EL34/KT88 comparison with his RM9 as well (and Merlin speakers) and I'll let you know what his impressions are when he has some time for the comparison. I won't speak for Bobby other than to say he proabably likes the EL34 for its midrange beauty and his speakers don't depend as much a lot of bass drive and control from the amp to produce well defined, controlled bass (why they work so well with tubes in general).