How much does it cost to get into tube hi fi?

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If you have the stomach for it, DIY is always a good way to go. I just built this simple 5 watt amp for a friend. The trannies from Edcor (new) were $150 and the 3 tubes are about $50 new (1 x 12AX7 and 2 x 6V6). Another $100 or so on miscellaneous parts.
I've only built el84 amps thus far, how did the 6v6 amp sound? I have a couple 6v6 tubes laying around, thinking about building the lacewood amp.
 
If you are just curious, find someone in your area who has some tube equipment to listen to. How much you like the sound will depend on several factors. What are you listening to now? If you have a high quality solid state amp with appropriate matched system, that sounds good, you may go...meh...when you first hear tube sound. For me, it was the early 80s and I was listening to those awful first compact discs, with just so so solid state gear. I had lost all interest in music at that point. Found some tube amps, dove in and rebuilt them, and my music enjoyment came back. Later found that the small power tubes seem more musical than the larger power tubes (6bq5/EL84 family). It is hard to find a bad sounding 6bq5 amp, as they say, and I agree. If you need more power, EL34 and 6550 can also sound good, maybe not as "sweet" though. I have many amps including Dynacos, and have heard the newer kit versions, I think they sound every bit as good as the old, and will be reliable, being new. Why not get a kit, and you can learn all about em. Do a nice job, and your amp will retain its value and you can always pass it on, if you decide to. tubes4hifi has great kits.Dynakitparts has an ST-35 (EL84 based) kit.
 
I'm about 3 months into the tube game, with a Chi-Fi 6550 being my first foray into this exciting universe. Fantastic sound for the $600 (shipped) that I spent, but I found myself wanting to step back in time, so I have a Scott 299b on the way. It's been restored, so I'm excited about the notion of plug & play...At least for now. Inevitably, I'll begin swapping out tubes to see how it impacts the performance, and it's that customization, that user interaction, is what completely separates tube audio from the stuff found in the SS and IC worlds.

That being said, I have a restored Sansui 4000 that would pass for a tube amp in a blind test. And I'll go to my grave with it!
 
I am currently running a KW-55 receiver with p-p EL84 output tubes that has been completely rebuilt driving a pair of FMI 100 speakers which are not highly efficient. I took a chance and bought it as found at auction for about $125 shipped. I spent another $300+ having a tech restore it so for a little less than $500 I am into tubes with a vintage "midfi" receiver. It sounds great.

Also in central Illinois, slightly further south in Mattoon.
 
I picked up a couple Magnavox Mono blocks that I sent to fellow AK'er GordonW To "work his magic" and build me a fantastic stereo 6L6 Integrated. Even with shipping costs I'm maybe just a tad over 500 clams invested and it sounds Beeyootiful!

Mike
 
I picked up a couple Magnavox Mono blocks that I sent to fellow AK'er GordonW To "work his magic" and build me a fantastic stereo 6L6 Integrated. Even with shipping costs I'm maybe just a tad over 500 clams invested and it sounds Beeyootiful!

Mike
I like many others started with a magnavox tube amp, I see them come up so often it makes me want to take a poll on how many of us started with a maggie.
 
I’d say it depends on how many Estate Sales you go to; sell what you buy to cover the cost of what you want to keep. That way you only have to deal with restoration costs....
 
Have you invested any of your time in a basic google search???

Well, you can spend a lot of time with research and still not get the low down. It may even be biased. I thought I'd poll the group. This is a discussion forum...right?
 
You can buy kits or start with really good PCB's for a nice affordable diy amp, which will teach you a lot. Restoring something vintage will also teach you much as you go along!

Just depends on the efficiency of your speakers & room size to determine the size of amp needed , and smaller SE & PP (like EL84 or 6V6 output tubes) can sound great for not much $ compared to the big amps!

You might try and listen to SE & PP to see the difference if you can.

Kits! I was looking through the old mag ads and kits were a big deal back in the day. Heathkit and it looks like many of the big names offered kits.

I'd like to listen to them to compare, but nothing around here that I know of. It looks like from the pictures the 'glowing tubes' area big part of the tube mystic, but just guessing.
 
I've built a number of tube integrated amps- and of those, ones that output 20-30w/ch (enough for most any decent speakers) tended to run between $600-900 or so.

If you can use 10-15 w/ch, the integrated amps I built in that power range usually ran about $450-600. You want a speaker with at least 90dB sensitivity, minimum, for that to work well.

I have built smaller ones- 4 to 5 watts per channel, single ended- those were in the $300 range. With those, you want speakers with about 94dB sensitivity or higher, to have adequate output level.

Regards,
Gordon.

Beautiful equipment Gordon!
 
Thanks, I'll
One thing to keep in mind is that @weegee is most likely looking to buy tube gear, not rebuild or refurbish anything vintage. Plus, buying "old" tube gear is a huge unknown, unless the seller is someone here on AK who can be trusted who has also already gone through and taken care of any of the issues that older electronics have, or is a reputable, proven business that rebuilds and resells vintage gear. I would also think this tends to mean an integrated amp, or a receiver (in the case of vintage).

Keep an eye on the integrated amp category at sites like US Audio Mart or Audiogon for listings or HiFi Shark (although I am wary of anything listed on eBay for a tube "newbie").


So...if I am done upgrading tube amps, and the tubes have a long life...does that mean I can go back to the "gentleman's club"? :D

Thanks, I'll check out both links. I was wondering where you buy gear from. Yes, you have my MO down, no interest in building or mods, just an end user.
 
If you are just curious, find someone in your area who has some tube equipment to listen to. How much you like the sound will depend on several factors. What are you listening to now? If you have a high quality solid state amp with appropriate matched system, that sounds good, you may go...meh...when you first hear tube sound. For me, it was the early 80s and I was listening to those awful first compact discs, with just so so solid state gear. I had lost all interest in music at that point. Found some tube amps, dove in and rebuilt them, and my music enjoyment came back. Later found that the small power tubes seem more musical than the larger power tubes (6bq5/EL84 family). It is hard to find a bad sounding 6bq5 amp, as they say, and I agree. If you need more power, EL34 and 6550 can also sound good, maybe not as "sweet" though. I have many amps including Dynacos, and have heard the newer kit versions, I think they sound every bit as good as the old, and will be reliable, being new. Why not get a kit, and you can learn all about em. Do a nice job, and your amp will retain its value and you can always pass it on, if you decide to. tubes4hifi has great kits.Dynakitparts has an ST-35 (EL84 based) kit.

I just have some Kenwood and Sony gear. About 20 years old. Just medium priced stuff from the box stores. I had never thought about tubes until I joined this group and saw some of them glowing. The I thought back to when I was a kid and we would take the tubes out of the back of the TV and go down to Thrifty's and we could test in the tube machine.
 
I have similar memories. I would go with my dad to Oscos to test the TV tubes on the machine there. When I was older, in the 80s, I was obsessed with speakers. I had subscriptions to several audio magazines, and was always reading about tube equipment sounding very good. Then I went to a church garage sale, found a couple Dynaco MK III amps that needed rebuilt, and I was hooked. The first tubes I used were 6550 Chinese tubes, and they sounded very good. They had thin glass, and as they warmed up, they would make "tink" noises, and they had a certain smell also that was a sort of industrial odor, that was not unpleasant.
 
Funny...when I was a kid, my grandmother got a new MGA color TV and we took her old black and white Maggotbox (which is what I called the Magnavox). It had tubes. Since it wasn't used much, I would remove and replace all of the tubes just for kicks. I amused easily. ;) I don't recall us going to the tube store but once or twice--the only thing we had by then was a monaural Admiral hi-fi in the basement (12AX7, two 6W6GT, and another I don't recall).
 
I'm about 3 months into the tube game, with a Chi-Fi 6550 being my first foray into this exciting universe. Fantastic sound for the $600 (shipped) that I spent, but I found myself wanting to step back in time, so I have a Scott 299b on the way. It's been restored, so I'm excited about the notion of plug & play...At least for now. Inevitably, I'll begin swapping out tubes to see how it impacts the performance, and it's that customization, that user interaction, is what completely separates tube audio from the stuff found in the SS and IC worlds.

That being said, I have a restored Sansui 4000 that would pass for a tube amp in a blind test. And I'll go to my grave with it!
Yep. Got a 6550 2nd hand with a load of new production tubes. Based on a UK design.
Sold two SS power amps so the nett cost was Zero !!.
Since old iron is not common around here I've put nos US tubes in it.
 
When I got into repairing my audio gear for something to do after I medically retired, my late wife would ask me "Why the hell are you always underfoot and working on this junk?" I asked her "Would you rather I was underfoot where you know where I am and what I'm doing, or out acting like a 19 year old Sailor on a 9 month West-PAC Cruise and pulling a 1st Liberty in Olongapo, Philippines or Bangkok Thailand after 3 months at sea, getting drunk off my ass, laid every block on the Main Drag, and coming back reeking of Beer, Vomit, and with the Asian Clap?" She conceded!!!
 
You can get plenty of good Chi-Fi amps in that price range. I've owned a Yaqin MC10T and now have the base model Oldchen EL34B SEP amp and the Oldchen K3.

The Oldchen K3 really shocked me with just how good it is for the price. Plenty of bass and treble compared to the Yaqin MC10T which is quite midrange focused whereas the K3 is extremely linear using KT120 power tubes. The same is true of the base model Oldchen using 6P3S-E coin base power tubes.
 
Not know what they sound like, I wanted to give tube audio a try. I looked up tube equipment on eBay and they seemed to run thousands of dollars per piece. Is that about what they cost?

Seems pretty costly to try tube audio. Is it even worth it or should I stick with modern equipment.

Thanks
There is plenty of tube gear available that is modern and currently in production. :smoke:
 
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