Tube Integrated Amps

I have been happy with the Sophia Electric EL45. Economical (+/- $600) used, and sweet sounding for Vocals, Jazz and acoustic. Puts out about 40 watts, push/pull. The one annoying fact is they label all of their amps SET which stand for Sophia Electric Technology. Has nothing to do with Single Ended Triode. It is a great starter amp, and has suited me well until I can find a modded Shanling to match my Shanling SACD.

Check out the LS-960I from Aronovaudio.com for self-biasing, carefree excellence in sound reproduction, including the low end control and slam usually associated with solid state designs.
The era when it was a requirement to have preamp and amp separate components is past. You are correct that some of the best sound today is available with the integrateds.

Very satisfied with my Consonance Cyber 10 Signature, 2A3 tubes, 12 watts a channel....inexpensive to boot!

There are many others that are great out there. The usually cost more. But the two you mentioned are up with the best in their respective price range. I love them too. I went from seperates solid state to a tube integrated and I don't want to upgrade. I have an extra cable and power cord to boot.

I am using a Jolida 502A tube integrated amp. I have been extremely happy with it. It's rated at 60 watts per channel but performs way beyond that with my Chapman speakers and their 4 ohm load.
I have upgraded the line stage tubes once and the power cord twice and now the amp is going to Bill Baker at Response Audio in New York for his Reference Modification upgrade. I think with the reputation of the Jolida amps, especially the ones that have been modified, they certainly have to be on the list of tube integrated amps...especially for those looking for bang for the buck components.

Audiomat Solfege

I have a VAC Avatar Super which is KT88 based and 80W per channel. Very nice integrated amp for build and sound.

VAC Avatar Super 80watts? How many tubes are there or is it an hybrid?

Hi C123666-Can you elaborate your Audiomat a little?

Robm321 I agree with you. Seperates theoretically should offer a better sound. But now I got to agree that Int Tube Amps can offer very good(even high-end)sound with much lesser price. SS do have many good Int amps but good ones are not cheap at all. I see quite a number of Chinese made amps listed here. I think ASL, Jolida and Consonace(made very good KT66) also made in China.

Forgot to mention Unison. I used the S2 EL34 SET int amp b4. Very sweet sounding and 12 watts, it drives JMLabs very well. Can some 845, 211 and 300B int amp owners share some of your stuffs also?

Blessed are you who loves tube int amps, for you'll enjoy endless supply of low price high quality stuffs from the east.

The Cary SLI-80 Signature with oil-filled caps is incredible. It's been nearly a year since I sold my Pass X2.5 Preamp and Pass X-250 and replaced them with the Cary. I continue to be amazed that an integrated can sound so good.

About 6550/KT88. I'm thinking of getting a quart of Winged "C" 6550 or EH KT88, anyone compared them?

VAC Avatar Super is not a hybrid and has 4 KT88s.

I WOULD HIGHLY SUGGEST HEARING THE DK MK3 OR SIGNATURE IF YOU HAVE A DEALER ANY WHERE CLOSE OR ASK LARRY AT DK IF HE HAS A RETURN POLICY OR NOT..I THINK THEY MIGHT AMAZE YOU ON HOW GOOD THEY SOUND.. LARRY'S E-MAIL ADDRESS IS: [email protected]
GOOD LUCK,
DAVE