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I've narrowed it down...

So my first venture into tube equipment will be an integrated amp based on the recommendations of this fine group of enthusiasts. I have narrowed the field to the Rogue Audio Tempest III, Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum, the Cayin H-80 and Cary SLI-80.

All of this is based on what I have read and what fits in my budget. The Cary is a little over but for something I think I'll have for a lifetime I'm willing to go a little over...

I will be driving B&W 602S3's until more $$$ are available for something else.

My intent is to listen to vinyl then maybe venture into CD's or digital music. Any feedback or suggestions are appreciated.

Going somewhere to listen to any of these is not an option for me, and room size is undetermined as I am in the process of moving.

Thanks.
botit
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
I agree no harm would come to the amp, but I think tubes do wear out faster when asked to drive more difficult loads, not sure by how much, but that is my understanding (though I could be wrong, but I'm sure the more technically adept would be able to say more definitively).
mgattone
25 posts
 
I think tubes do wear out faster when asked to drive more difficult loads

That very well could be. I ended up selling the B+Ws shortly after I got the tube amp, I had gotten the upgrade bug by that point anyway.
unsound
7,329 posts
 
Mikrrob, I get it and didn't misread your post, I just disagree. I don't think one should buy speakers for amps. I think one should decide on speakers before choosing amplification.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Mikirob,
Your example is my historical reality! My first high end systems for competely SS gear.Over time I was introduced to tube amps and preferred them by a consideable degree.
Once exposued to the genre of SET amps if was all over,I found them much more natural and closer to what I hear with live music.

I bought a 300b amp built my system around it and it exceeded my high expectations. I enjoy the best music reproduction I`ve ever had(by far). Absolutely either a amplifier or speaker can be the building block for an audio system. I know I`m not the only one who has sucessfully done it this way.
Best Regards,
mikirob
955 posts
 
Unsound, so why don't you give some concrete scientific back-up to that reasoning. In the real-world what I stated is the more likely scenario as to Charles1Dad attests; this is also my real-world scenario. My father and uncles all had great tube systems in their day. Me, I started with SS, was very unhappy, something was always missing, it just wasn't right for me. The more tube systems I heard, the more I understood what I was missing. My parents and several relatives are musicians, I am also, among other things, know what "real" music sounds like. In the professional music world I and most of my colleagues didn't ' select speakers first, we bought the guitars, musical instruments we liked, then the Marshals, Vox, etc.

How and why should a person say, oh, I must, it's mandatory to go speaker first? Say you inherit an amp. You don't take it because you don't have your ideal speakers? When I got my first SET amp I had big inefficient speakers that I had to change. No big deal, no harder to do that than doing it the other way around.

How and why do you believe this theory of yours?
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