Summertime ss amp Question

Have one. No effect on 58 tubes operating in Class A. Zilch.

Don't get a ss amp, it will spoil your ears. Other then a new wife, try the laptop cooling approach. Laptop coolers are very inexpensive, some less then $5. All will run on a wall wart and hub, so you do not need to actually have a laptop. Most laptop coolers are very quite. The trick is to use more then one, each with dual fans. I have three running on my cayin 100 tube unit. They run all the time, and can't be heard.

I am a tube lover and live in the desert southwest, I feel your pain. (58 tubes/class A...... well maybe not that much pain).

A 5 blade ceiling fan would make you/wife feel 7-8 degrees cooler. Don't know if that is enough for you.

A McIntosh amp from the 80's/90's with autoformers might be an okay change for the few months.

Two amps I use, but are less power than you are looking for, are a Bedini 45/45 ss amp and a Red Wine Audio 30.2 battery powered chip amp. They both have a sound I like and run cool or even cold in the RWA case.

On the power you are looking for (150/4 ohm): I used to think I needed gobs of it with my Apogees and Maggies until I heard a 50 watt pure class A Accuphase driving them. Sounded better than my 500 wpc ss amp. There are lots of reasons why some lower powered amps would work but if you really like to crank it, maybe you do need the watts.

Springbok10: In an attempt to get a better feel for your tastes for purposes of your question, I went back through some of your A-Gon posts. If you are still running an Atma-Sphere preamp (which is differential balanced), are intrigued by Jena cables (all my IC's and speaker cables are Jena Symphony), own a dachsund (we have short-hair and long-hair mini's), and judge equipment on how it does with orchestral music - :) - I have a feel for who you are and again mention the Rowland Model 2. The Model 5 went out of production in 1991 and is somewhat primitive compared to later Rowland vintages - it's very well built like all Rowland gear, but it's a bit too colored (molasses) and if it breaks, Jeff doesn't like to do repairs on his really old equipment. Take a look at the Stereophile Review of the Model 2 - it's pretty much spot-on.

It sounds like you really want a bit more power, however, and given your placement constraints and the need to find something that will really do justice to your preamp, the only thing that comes to mind is Model 6's (they can be had for less than $3k in this market). Jonathan Tinn likes Model 6's for customers who buy Evolution Acoustics speakers, yet can't afford to power them with a darTZeel.

Good luck with your search.

Raquel, it is amazing that you went to all that trouble! The only thing not current is my affinity for Jena cables -everything else is true! The Rowland 6 consists of 2 monoblocs, right? That would be a problem fitting into the cupboard space - any ideas of the dimensions? I will take your advice and look into Rowland. I appreciate your efforts greatly! There is a 6 on A'gon for $4700 and I have asked the seller for dimensions.