I Recently Became An Audiophile.

[N0rt0n]

And tube audio fans will swear that different tubes will produce different sound. It's similar to determining what audio cables to use. Just another rabbit hole within the audio world.

Tube Rolling is all part of the fun and at the same time a Rabbit Hole. And I have to respectfully disagree with you because different Tubes of the same number will sound and perform differently. Some MFGs of Tube Gear explicitly state not to use a specific brand(s) with their gear. Reference point- Kevin Hayes of VAC told me on the phone to never use Sovtek tubes in his gear. I have also heard a great change in sound at a demo of the Lampizator Pacific DAC when they rolled tubes.

 

[Yeeterkeeter]

Some people prefer the 2nd order distortion that comes with tubes. Some don't. All this depends on What Tube unit you are talking about and the speakers you choose to drive them with. Not all speakers mate well with every amp(type)

I have/had both. I eventually upgraded recently and went with a Solid State Integrated but still am holding on to a Tube Pre.

Alright, good to know, I will save up for some speakers (audiophile grade ones) and move on to an amp (maybe) from there.

 

[N0rt0n]

Alright, good to know, I will save up for some speakers (audiophile grade ones) and move on to an amp (maybe) from there.

Take your time, do your research. It is easy to be hasty and make costly mistakes. Here are just a few quick links I found with a simple search. Good Luck and Have Fun

DHTRob - Tubefriendly loudspeakers?

Efficient speakers for tube amp | Stereophile.com

Hi everyone. I'm currently waiting for my recent purchase of a Musical Paradise mp301 mk3 integrated tube amp. The amp supplies 6.5 watts and requires speakers of at least 89db sensitivity if I remember right. Knowing this I just gave away my old low efficiency Pioneer bs-21 speakers to my...

www.stereophile.com

 

[jayvis]

Tube Rolling is all part of the fun and at the same time a Rabbit Hole. And I have to respectfully disagree with you because different Tubes of the same number will sound and perform differently. Some MFGs of Tube Gear explicitly state not to use a specific brand(s) with their gear. Reference point- Kevin Hayes of VAC told me on the phone to never use Sovtek tubes in his gear. I have also heard a great change in sound at a demo of the Lampizator Pacific DAC when they rolled tubes.

Not sure what you're disagreeing with.

 

[Yeeterkeeter]

Take your time, do your research. It is easy to be hasty and make costly mistakes. Here are just a few quick links I found with a simple search. Good Luck and Have Fun

DHTRob - Tubefriendly loudspeakers?

Efficient speakers for tube amp | Stereophile.com

Hi everyone. I'm currently waiting for my recent purchase of a Musical Paradise mp301 mk3 integrated tube amp. The amp supplies 6.5 watts and requires speakers of at least 89db sensitivity if I remember right. Knowing this I just gave away my old low efficiency Pioneer bs-21 speakers to my...

www.stereophile.com

I've been surfing the Dynaco website for about 30 minutes, and this seems like a long term project to me lol

 

[N0rt0n]

Not sure what you're disagreeing with.

Sorry, I misunderstood your post. I read it as if you were claiming Tube differences were just in ones head.

 

[jayvis]

I've been surfing the Dynaco website for about 30 minutes, and this seems like a long term project to me lol

Dynaco has a web site? Thought they were liquidated in 1980.

 

[Lavane]

I wonder how expensive it would be to build my own? Thats a thought*...

*distant pipedream

It will depend on the kit and power output you want. Or you can build from scratch using a schematic, but that can be more difficult depending on your skill level. For my living room I like amps with 10wpc or more since it's a larger room. In a small bedroom where I have my bench I have smaller amps setup from 3.5wpc to 10wpc. But that's pretty much near field listening.
Maybe look at push pull amp kits using EL-84's for around 15wpc, or EL-34's for 30 to 35wpc. Tubes4HiFi and Dynakit sells some nice kits with good instructions.

 

[Yeeterkeeter]

Dynaco has a web site? Thought they were liquidated in 1980.

Getdynaco.com

 

[Nyjblbob]

89 db efficient Speakers. ARE NOT suitable
for a 6.5 Watt amp
For my 2a3 3 watt, and 300b 7-8 watts SET amps,
my 99db Altec 604's, and 103 db Crites Cornscala D's
are Barely efficient enough.
And they are Quite huge!

 

[jayvis]

Getdynaco.com

Ahh. Didn't know someone had started building them again.

 

[Mr Boochie]

Tubes will require more care and maintenance.

Not always. A well-engineered unit with quality tubes can be very dependable.

Sometimes, problems can be owner-induced. Rolling tubes all the time (you can't really roll solid-state devices). And doing questionable mods, which tend to be easier on tubed units.

 

[gadget73]

despite my strong desire to rattle off a very snarky response just to break up the serious replies a bit, the best advice I can offer is to see if you can listen to one first before you consider spending any money. Its not for everyone, and not all amps are a good match to all speakers.


I mess with it because I greatly prefer working on tube gear to solid state gear, and once solid state moved into the digital and surface mount realm it became not something I was able or interested in working on.

 

[Yeeterkeeter]

This might be an unanswerable question, but do certain music mediums sound better through a tube amp vs. a regular amp? I'm guessing that mediums like CD's or tape won't have any difference, but will vinyl sound better?

 

[Yeeterkeeter]

despite my strong desire to rattle off a very snarky response just to break up the serious replies a bit, the best advice I can offer is to see if you can listen to one first before you consider spending any money. Its not for everyone, and not all amps are a good match to all speakers.

Thats good advice for a lot of things in life.

 

[Mr Boochie]

despite my strong desire to rattle off a very snarky response just to break up the serious replies a bit, the best advice I can offer is to see if you can listen to one first before you consider spending any money. Its not for everyone, and not all amps are a good match to all speakers.

So sad, that so many mortar-&-brick HI-Fi stores that we all got hooked on tubes --- when we were kids --- are gone. I used to ride my bike down to the Record Shop to buy 45s and LPs. There was this great little Hi-Fi shop next door. Tubed Macs and JBL Olympus and even a Paragon on display. The guys would play our records, sometimes.

Stereos and formative years... sigh.

 

[Mr Boochie]

This might be an unanswerable question, but do certain music mediums sound better through a tube amp vs. a regular amp? I'm guessing that mediums like CD's or tape won't have any difference, but will vinyl sound better?

This is system and ear dependent.

 

[N0rt0n]

A well recorded Album, Disk, or Digital file will all sound good with competent gear. A crappy recording will sound like crap on all gear.

This might be an unanswerable question, but do certain music mediums sound better through a tube amp vs. a regular amp? I'm guessing that mediums like CD's or tape won't have any difference, but will vinyl sound better?

 

[Pio1980]

Nostalgia is a factor for me and others.
An amp with scheduled expendable components, which change-out can alone easily exceed the cost of an as-good or better amp that doesn't use them, is pretty hard to rationalize.
One reason to chose one that uses just a few commonly used tubes produced by more than one or two sources if going that way.

 

[Selmerdave]

When you say you "became an audiophile", I assume that means you became interested in quality sound. What aspects of sound would you say interest you most?

Would you consider yourself handy? That can affect budget a fair bit, not because tube amps are unreliable (they shouldn't be) but because with some capability and knowledge you can get high quality at relatively low cost.