Pros and cons of valve amps

[walpurgis]

i was looking at rogers cadet 3 amps until the price went a bit silly.
Mike.

Don't bother. They are overrated and as you say, overpriced these days. I had several of them (lost count) when they were dirt cheap. The sound is not unpleasant, but nothing special and they don't pack much punch. For the difference in price, paying extra for a Leak Stereo 20 would be a far smarter move. The Leak sounds lovely, has surprising grip and can hold its own against some pretty serious amps and it works well with a cheap passive pre-amp.

[southall-1998]

In my experience yes valve amps can indeed sound warm

My 'warm' experiences with valve amps have been with an unmodified pair of Quad II's and with a Chinese Ming Da amp. Other than that the other valve amps I've had do not sound 'warm', just right to me

I will try to list the 'non warm' sounding valve amps I've owned, these are the ones that I can remember

1st was a Decware SE84
2nd was the Rogers E40a
3rd was a Chinese YAQIN MC-100B KT88 (not 'warm' sounding at all, quite 'sharp' and 'brittle' sounding to me)
4th was an Audio Note Conqueror 300b
5th is the Oto SE
6th is the Meishu

Colin has NVA monoblocls and NVA pre and whenever I listen to his system it sounds great, much punchier sounding and the bass it better than my own system but I still prefer my current SET amps sound

I can't imagine that I will ever go back to ss as I have become so accustomed to the sound of my SET amps and find them the most pleasing sounding to me

When I do listen to ss amps they seem to miss the 'character' and 'feeling' of good valve amps however that might be because I haven't listened to the 'right' ss amps

Many many years ago I heard a very expensive system which included some huge Mark Levinson monoblocks and I was completely underwhelmed by the sound and this was probably the most expensive system I have ever heard

However that is just my opinion and my experiences

The Meishu is a lovely sounding beast. So you rate it as warmer sounding than the Oto SE?

s.

[Ninanina]

Don't bother. They are overrated and as you say, overpriced these days. I had several of them (lost count) when they were dirt cheap. The sound is not unpleasant, but nothing special and they don't pack much punch. For the difference in price, paying extra for a Leak Stereo 20 would be a far smarter move. The Leak sounds lovely, has surprising grip and can hold its own against some pretty serious amps and it works well with a cheap passive pre-amp.

I heard a Leak Stereo 20 just the once and it was absolutely lovely...

[Ninanina]

The Meishu is a lovely sounding beast. So you rate it as warmer sounding than the Oto SE?

s.

I did not list the amps in order of 'warmness' but I guess yes the Meishu is slightly warmer than the Oto

[plastic penguin]

I agree with that last post - my Cary's certainly aren't warm and fuzzy and dont lack bass slam. For me there there's a musicality and purity with SE that SS just can't match. But the cons... All the above is dependent on design and valves used. But the biggest headache is the cost of retubing the things which can be ludicrously expensive if going the ELROG et al route. As someone said, you pays your money....

Adey

In perpetual pursuit.

How do you define "fuzzy"? Are you talking about harmonic distortion or something else? And does it have to be warm to be fuzzy? Perhaps I'm looking too deep into your phrasing....

I was half tempted, a few years ago, by Graaf valve amp but the fact the review said they got very warm after a relatively short playing time (and possible valve damage) put me off the notion.

[Ninanina]

How do you define "fuzzy"? Are you talking about harmonic distortion or something else? And does it have to be warm to be fuzzy? Perhaps I'm looking too deep into your phrasing....

I was half tempted, a few years ago, by Graaf valve amp but the fact the review said they got very warm after a relatively short playing time (and possible valve damage) put me off the notion.

Richard I think most valve amps get physically warm and certainly my SET amps get nice and toasty but it's nothing to worry about as that's the way they are...

[walpurgis]

How do you define "fuzzy"? Are you talking about harmonic distortion or something else? And does it have to be warm to be fuzzy? Perhaps I'm looking too deep into your phrasing.....

You need to hear a valve amp clipping to picture the type of sound.

Valve quitar amps are often designed to do it deliberately.

[farflungstar]

Read fuzzy as soft. But it really does depend on the amp and valves. An excellent example of either type can be incredibly musically engaging as well as sonically good in all departments. The Cary's were originally reviewed alongside the latest Krell class A monster amp - both were rated equally as state of the art with the reviewer unable to choose between them. I agree with arkless that SS suffers a disadvantage of not being pure class A. I've owned class A SS and the difference is obvious - more liquid and a load of other adjectives normally associated with valves.


In perpetual pursuit.

[walpurgis]

I agree with arkless that SS suffers a disadvantage of not being pure class A.

Yes it is.

[southall-1998]

Yes it is.

The amount of times I placed my naked foot on your fuzzy Monarchy

S.