Pros and cons of valve amps

[farflungstar]

I meant the majority lol. Personally if I ever returned to SS it would have to be class A.

Adey

In perpetual pursuit.

[Gazjam]

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

S.

Freudian Alert, quick nurse....the Screens!

[walpurgis]

Freudian Alert, quick nurse....the Screens!

I'm afraid Shane is beyond help.

[southall-1998]

I'm afraid Shane is beyond help.

Tiz true! Coz I did it, whilst you were in the kitchen making my tea

S.

[walpurgis]

Tiz true! Coz I did it, whilst you were in the kitchen making my tea

S.

I believe it.

[plastic penguin]

Looked on the Cary Audio site and the SI-300.2d looks interesting. Do like the notion of a hybrid (Class A and A/B). There aren't prices listed but I can imagine they don't come cheap.

That's the issue I have with valve amps. Unless you go s/hand, they tend to be out of a lot of peoples budget -- including mine. But s/hand has its pitfalls...

More than happy with my current bundles: They do everything I need from a music set-up and some...

By the same token, it's always good to see whether the grass really is greener.

[farflungstar]

I got my 805c's second hand (still not cheap). Personally I wouldn't buy from Cary I'd buy from the original designer/builder of the 805's Dennis Had who is retired. He hand builds some cracking little amps in his retirement and sells them (about 6 a year) on eBay. They come in at around £900 but are very highly regarded stateside. User radioman731 - he also creates some lovely preamps. Most of the time he has nothing for sale so you need to keep checking as gear goes very quickly when he lists one. He's also a pleasure to deal with, a gentleman.

You could also speak to Nick Gorham of Longdog audio, and a fellow member. He can create something especially for you, within your budget and is a genius with valves. If and when I decide to upgrade he would be on my list of possible pathways to Nirvana.


Adey

In perpetual pursuit.

[nthall]

I've switched back and forth between solid state, and tubes quite a few times. I've been happy with different models of both. Class A solid state amps can throw off heat just as well as any tube amp I've ever used.

Second hand amps that are likely to hold their re-sale value are the route I would take if you're looking to try them out. You'll be able to get your money back if you don't like them.

Tube amps are absolutely dependant on the transformers the circuit was designed around. I've built the circuits with off the shelf parts, and they never compare to the originals. They might sound good, but they never sound the same. Changing the tubes in them can drastically change the tone as well. Sometimes for the better.

Solid state amps don't seem to be as picky about the transformers, but if you go cheap you'll probably hear it.

I've heard warm and fuzzy, and I'm not convinced it's better. It's different. That could be enjoyable, or annoying depending on your tastes. Every amp is going to have it's own qualities. I haven't found the perfect one for all situations yet. Searching is part of the fun for me.


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[Reffc]

Same here A valve amp certainly doesn't have to be lush sounding.. I've heard the odd one that sounds more "transistory" than most SS amps! In the case of SET's though they will intrinsically have around 5-10 times the distortion of a push pull amp and much of this even order (predominantly second in fact) and this will tend to give a "lush" "warm" effect to anything going through it. Also a valve amp can have superb bass but ultimately is held back here by the transformer. Not to say a valve amp with superb grip and punch cannot be as good as an average to good SS amp but ultimately the cards are all marked in favour of SS when it comes to bass

A bit of a generalisation there Jez don't you think?

Many valve amps have no trouble dipping as low as sub 10 Hz (not that you want that when playing vinyl) and valve amps using sufficient global negative feedback to get the output impedance down don't suffer from any lack of bass grip. The only "issue" here is whether the designer, when using negative feedback has a) used enough of it and b) implemented appropriate and competent time compensation. Some actually don't! I suspect that's why you see so many using 5 or 10dB GNF without compensation....makes you wonder if a lot of the circuit copy-cat merchants know how to implement compensation properly or at all.

The Radford STA 15 and STA25 are a point in question. They manage to deliver sub 0.18 Ohms output impedance so damping factor is superb, and there's no lack of bass or bass control. I've heard one of Anthony's Copper amps and that had no lack of control either.

[plastic penguin]

The Class A amp I have compared to my Leema was Sugden. Given it was twice the retail price of my amp wasn't impressed.

It is true the Sugden had deeper bass but the Leema counters easily by giving tauter, better defined LFs. Mind you, I've yet to hear any amp below £2500 that betters the Leema in the bass dept. (and I've heard quite a few incl. Roksan Monoblocs, entry-level Bryston...)

If and when I upgrade I think it'll be a very short list of Leema Tucana, Accuphase, Luxman and probably a hybrid valve amp of some description.