Hi-End Home Tube Amp for Sale

[Spiritzly]

Please view ad. if interested:

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.p...iew&1155195511

Thanks all!

[RetroAudio]

looks like a nice amp. I just wonder why the old style caps are being used when more modern ones are probably available.

[Spiritzly]

That is a good question I would have to address with the designer. I think his many years doing everything from cheap old stuff to boutique designs has led him to chose whathe has chosen. I'm not so sure if the cap change would really do anything, but it is more a question for the man in charge of his knowledge in the making of this fine amp.

[miklos]

Hi,
I can't see how two 6L6 can deliver 50W?

[SY]

Originally posted by miklos
Hi,
I can't see how two 6L6 can deliver 50W?

http://frank.pocnet.net/sheets/093/6/6L6GC.pdf

[Spiritzly]

I also can't see how the amp gets as loud as my 150 watt per side solid state amp either when both amps clip.

[EC8010]

Originally posted by Spiritzly
I also can't see how the amp gets as loud as my 150 watt per side solid state amp either when both amps clip.

Loudness is a subjective thing and clipping on a transistor amplifier tends to be nasty and immediate, whereas some valve amplifiers can still sound good 3dB into overload.

[Spiritzly]

Originally posted by EC8010


Loudness is a subjective thing and clipping on a transistor amplifier tends to be nasty and immediate, whereas some valve amplifiers can still sound good 3dB into overload.

That's a good point. Why would it even matter that a manufacturer states how many watts something produces when they should be stating the amp's relationship to loudness? I.E. "We have tested our amplifier on the Magnepan series of loudspeakers and the loudness level is equal to such and such 600-1000 watt amps by Krell, Levinson, etc." People always seem to look at watt figures when they never tell the entire story except when the big amps are draining your electrical current.

I was very curious about that 3db overload thing. Are you saying that the clipping is so gentle that at high volume levels you cannot hear the amp clip? I've driven about 10 tube amps I have owned to clipping levels and while they don't try to kill me like the SS amp does they still don't sound good to me as I like to hear a clean sound that has zero strain at all. Just curious if what I have heard in these amps have been that 3db extra before they start to sound like they are clipping...or are close enough (I can tell when an amp is approaching clipping).

Thanks for more info on the 3db thing.

[EC8010]

It is not legitimate to describe an amplifier's power by attempting to define how "loud" it goes with a particular loudspeaker. Loudspeakers are complex loads and although they look vaguely like a resistor, they are all different in different ways. It would be perfectly possible to design an amplifier optimised for a particular loudspeaker. Any sensible designer of amplifiers for active crossovers does this. The only "fair" load is a resistive load, even though it isn't terribly representative.

Obviously, the 3dB thing is subjective. Nevertheless, my impression has always been that a valve amplifier can go just as loud as a transistor ampifier of twice the power (3dB). Now, as to your "zero strain at all" requirement, clearly, that implies no clipping. Now we're down to subjective tolerances. I'm extremely intolerant of upper bass blurring, midrange harshness and treble "tinsel". I feel that very few transistor amplifiers avoid those problems. The tricky thing with contemporary valve amplifiers is to achieve modern clarity without including the previous problems.

[Spiritzly]

Originally posted by EC8010
It is not legitimate to describe an amplifier's power by attempting to define how "loud" it goes with a particular loudspeaker. Loudspeakers are complex loads and although they look vaguely like a resistor, they are all different in different ways. It would be perfectly possible to design an amplifier optimised for a particular loudspeaker. Any sensible designer of amplifiers for active crossovers does this. The only "fair" load is a resistive load, even though it isn't terribly representative.

Obviously, the 3dB thing is subjective. Nevertheless, my impression has always been that a valve amplifier can go just as loud as a transistor ampifier of twice the power (3dB). Now, as to your "zero strain at all" requirement, clearly, that implies no clipping. Now we're down to subjective tolerances. I'm extremely intolerant of upper bass blurring, midrange harshness and treble "tinsel". I feel that very few transistor amplifiers avoid those problems. The tricky thing with contemporary valve amplifiers is to achieve modern clarity without including the previous problems.

I think you said it perfectly. I have a person that has been working for almost 3 years to nail down a transistor based design. Another 4-6 months to go...but this is an approximation that continues to go on. I've heard his 5 watt transistor amp compared to his 5 watt dual monos (tubes) and the tube amp seemed to have a slightly lifted soundstage while the SS amp had a more abundunt bass. Tonality/speed/imaging/etc. were all the same. These two things mentioned were also so insignificant that I would never know the difference between the two (no a/b testing...just swap one in for the other). I heard nothing wrong with either amp and they are "unfortunately" the best amps I have heard. I say unfortunately because my speakers need about 100 valve watts and it's a shame there is no speaker aside from the rediculously expensive Tad stuff that I would care to use besides the speakers I have.

Thanks again for your writing. It is very good and helpful.

Regards!