Tube amps that can be hooked up to TVs?

Ocupatto

Ocupatto

Active Member
Does anyone know if there are Tube Amps or receivers that can be hooked up to TV's, Tivo, CD players, turntables, etc?

I am interested in tubes, but I use my speakers for everything and dont want to purchase additional speakers just for tube use.

Thank you for any of your help, it is greatly appreciated.

Can I hook up tubes to an existing receiver?

Sorry, I am new to the tube thing.



-Storm.
 
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Storm, you have a tube power amp??

Perhaps if you told us what you have, we can recommend how to wire it up.

Regards,
Jerry
 
All I have now is a Harman Kardon AV 3380 two channel receiver. How do I go about using tubes in a setup that I can hookup all my stuff to? I heard that Valencias do much better with tubes and I want to shift into that, but dont want to have to get more speakers or have to only listen to music in another part of the house to accomplish this goal. Thank you.
 
You'd need to replace your receiver with the tube amp...there are push-pull designs out there that have 30-40 watts of output and aren't as finicky as a single ended triode amp with only 8 watts or less would be. Then, you'd need RCA cables to go from the TV, CD, whatever...a turntable would require a seperate phono preamplifier before going into the line level input.

How much are you willing to spend? There are several good options for pre-built tube stuff out there, but if you're used to Best Buy or Circuit City prices, be prepared for a bit of a shock...
 
Give me an idea of prices and where to shop.

I am not wanting to spend an arm and a leg - just wanting to upgrade to some tubes and find out what all the fuss is about them.

-Storm.
 
I'd look on Ebay for vintage stuff...Fisher, Scott, Heathkit, Eico, etc...

Often times, "upgrading to tubes" involves changing the way your system is structured...unless you're running boatlods of power, you can't just slap any old speakers on there and expect things to work well.
 
I don't know your particular receiver. But if it has "preamp-out" and "power-in" jacks on its back, then a tube amp could be connected to the preamp output without rearranging your entire system.

Tube amps are expensive though, and this sort of upgrade will not come cheaply. An easy way to get a taste for what tubes have to offer is by trying a device such as the Musical Fidelity X-10. This is just a tube buffer, but it could easily be interted between your preamp and amp to give you a little bit of "tube sound".
 
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