Tube Amp Vs Solid State Amps

[SuhasG]

...........the reason why people buy tube amps is because they're very musical. its a matter of personal preference. its a matter of also what mood you're in. and what music you listen to. if you like rock, big hard hitting bass i dont think the tube is the way to go. if you like soft music / classical / bit of jazz / etc etc that you like to sit at home and relax with not too much noise and enjoy the music then you should audition a tube. ........

Spot on.............

 

[sgmane]

the reason why people buy tube amps is because they're very musical. its a matter of personal preference. its a matter of also what mood you're in. and what music you listen to. if you like rock, big hard hitting bass i dont think the tube is the way to go. if you like soft music / classical / bit of jazz / etc etc that you like to sit at home and relax with not too much noise and enjoy the music then you should audition a tube. but like i said in my previous post. dont worry whether its a tube or an ss. i went through that phase as well.

Oh!! yes... soft music.. that's my cup of tea. Well iam not into rock!!! My preferences old/latest tamil, malayalam, hindi, kannada and old telugu apart from pops of english not to leave alone our indian classical (instrumental only), couple of gazals. Then i suppose one more feather added to my basket, to buy the tube amp over the SS amps!
There i suppose is our indian products ( i think its lyrita audio - i saw this somewhere in this forum) for the tube amps they manufacture.
Let me try to take an audition!

 

[afj]

Classic

Shanling

if you do decide on the tube route, check these products out. i've done quite a bit of research on chinese amps now and the consistent thing that i hear from every user is a) they've got extremely good build quality and b) they are way better than anything twice their price and definitely close in performance to products 3-4 times their price

click on the uk flag next to the products for further details of them

 

[afj]

whats the rest of your setup sgmane

 

[reignofchaos]

its a matter of also what mood you're in. and what music you listen to. if you like rock, big hard hitting bass i dont think the tube is the way to go. if you like soft music / classical / bit of jazz / etc etc that you like to sit at home and relax with not too much noise and enjoy the music then you should audition a tube. but like i said in my previous post.

Don't quite agree to this fact. Great tube amps are equally good in dynamics as any solid state and have equally tight or even tighter bass than the best of solid state amps. I suggest you listen to the Leben CS600 and you'd be absolutely amazed as to how hard hitting and big a tiny 32 watt tube amp can sound. It absolutely eats my 125W McCormack and a 150W Odyssey alive in terms of accuracy. Its all about synergy. Give the amp the right speaker to drive and it'll be absolutely brilliant.

 

[sgmane]

reignofchaos - thanks for the input. Where i can audition tube amps in bangalore and/or chennai? Any contacts? (There is one dealer in bangalore who has informed me about the Roth Audio Cocoon MC4) I suppose you do have the lyrita tube amp. How much did you buy for? How about the maintenance? (In one of the site, they have mentioned about long lasting when compared to SS amps! Is it true?). What speakers does your comb have? Will tube amps blend with wharfedale diamond 9.1? Oops! Too many questions bombarding on you. Well, iam just trying to clarify myself, before i actually go for tube amps!

afj - iam in the process of my setup. Taking out a list of probable buys and no-buys of the gears!! So trying to get all information from all you audiophiles which is useful for my setup!

 

[reignofchaos]

reignofchaos - thanks for the input. Where i can audition tube amps in bangalore and/or chennai? Any contacts? (There is one dealer in bangalore who has informed me about the Roth Audio Cocoon MC4) I suppose you do have the lyrita tube amp. How much did you buy for? How about the maintenance? (In one of the site, they have mentioned about long lasting when compared to SS amps! Is it true?). What speakers does your comb have? Will tube amps blend with wharfedale diamond 9.1? Oops! Too many questions bombarding on you. Well, iam just trying to clarify myself, before i actually go for tube amps!

afj - iam in the process of my setup. Taking out a list of probable buys and no-buys of the gears!! So trying to get all information from all you audiophiles which is useful for my setup!

The Diamond 9.1 is not worth mating with tube amps. Its not a speaker which is resolving enough to show significant differences. Plus it is pretty low sensitivity which means they are hard to drive. Lyrita makes some push/pull tube amps and they are quite nice for the price. I'm not sure if they'd drive your speaker though.

I only use a tube preamplifier as of now for which I paid 20 odd. However I spent quite a bit upgrading key parts in it and also replaced the tubes with vintage sylvanias. My next amp is going to be an all tube amp.

Power tubes last around 1000-1500 hours. Preamp and small signal tubes last a lot longer. So longevity is not really a problem.

 

[neo]

Hey! ROC why did you change the tubes in your pre? What was the diff in sound you observed? What is the model, price & availability of the sylvania tubes? What are the other mod's done & why?
Thanks
Cheers

 

[reignofchaos]

Hey! ROC why did you change the tubes in your pre? What was the diff in sound you observed? What is the model, price & availability of the sylvania tubes? What are the other mod's done & why?
Thanks
Cheers

The sylvanias are much more open, natural and extended than the stock raytheons the amp came with. The amp is a completely different animal with these. I also replaced the power supply caps with better quality ones, replaced the diodes recently with ultra fast soft recovery diodes, replaced the tube rectifier with a higher end EZ81 tube, dropped the overall gain of the amp to 12dB. All these changes have made a substantial difference to the sound of the amp.

I got the sylvanias from be3amplifiers.com. These are real 1945 vintage silver tops. Amazing tubes really.

 

[afj]

afj - iam in the process of my setup. Taking out a list of probable buys and no-buys of the gears!! So trying to get all information from all you audiophiles which is useful for my setup!

any budget in mind. you'd rather spend the extra money that youre budgeting for the tube amp and put it into better speakers than the 9.1s. am not sure how much you'd have to spend on a tube amp in india (or wherever youre buying it from) but from your music preference you wont go wrong in the monitor audio rs1 bookshelves paired with a nad c355bee or even a nad c325bee. the nads are warm and very musical

 

[sgmane]

afj - yes. My present consideration is NAD + wharfedale 9.1. Exploring other stuff - viz., tube amps, if that could give the VFM! As i said earlier Cocoon MC4 is offered for 30K.
Ofcourse iam looking into your consideration too for monitor RS1's.

 

[reignofchaos]

afj - yes. My present consideration is NAD + wharfedale 9.1. Exploring other stuff - viz., tube amps, if that could give the VFM! As i said earlier Cocoon MC4 is offered for 30K.
Ofcourse iam looking into your consideration too for monitor RS1's.

NAD + Wharfedale would be too warm and unnatural. You'd do better to pair cambridge audio with wharfedale.

 

[sgmane]

reignofchaos - Oh!! BTW, i think CA Azur 340A blends with wharfedale 9.1. (If tht is what you meant!) As you said, iam also looking into the budget options. Is NAD 315BEE is more in price than Azur 340A? I see NAD 315BEE is awarding winning product. Both NAD 315BEE and Azur 340A are budget players.
What's the price difference? I was quoted Rs 18,900 for NAD. Not sure about Azur.

 

[afj]

afj - yes. My present consideration is NAD + wharfedale 9.1. Exploring other stuff - viz., tube amps, if that could give the VFM! As i said earlier Cocoon MC4 is offered for 30K.
Ofcourse iam looking into your consideration too for monitor RS1's.

if you have the budget go for the rs1. you wont regret it. it's a huge step up from the wharfedales. if budget doesnt permit try the monitor audio bronze br2. or even the kefs. im not a big fan of the wharfedales

 

[reignofchaos]

Yup if you have not bought the speakers, I suggest Monitor Audio BR1 or BR2 depending on budget with a NAD or Marantz amp. Rotel/CA will be too bright for Monitor Audio.

 

[neo]

The sylvanias are much more open, natural and extended than the stock raytheons the amp came with. The amp is a completely different animal with these. I also replaced the power supply caps with better quality ones, replaced the diodes recently with ultra fast soft recovery diodes, replaced the tube rectifier with a higher end EZ81 tube, dropped the overall gain of the amp to 12dB. All these changes have made a substantial difference to the sound of the amp.

I got the sylvanias from be3amplifiers.com. These are real 1945 vintage silver tops. Amazing tubes really.

Seems like you changed almost everything. How much did you spend on the ugrade? A break up would be aprreciated.
Thanks again.

 

[neo]

You should also give tannoy custom f1 a listen. Should be arnd 18k
All the best.

 

[reignofchaos]

Seems like you changed almost everything. How much did you spend on the ugrade? A break up would be aprreciated.
Thanks again.

Not much... all the stuff would probably be around 5000 rupees.

 

[neo]

reignofchaos - Oh!! BTW, i think CA Azur 340A blends with wharfedale 9.1. (If tht is what you meant!) As you said, iam also looking into the budget options. Is NAD 315BEE is more in price than Azur 340A? I see NAD 315BEE is awarding winning product. Both NAD 315BEE and Azur 340A are budget players.
What's the price difference? I was quoted Rs 18,900 for NAD. Not sure about Azur.

Don't go by the awards only. Both have their strengths. Select a spk & than give it listen on bith the amps.
All the best.
Cheers