I'm not so concerned how a amp/line stage pre amp sounds. No not really, MY main concern is how ~~reliable~~ it is. To me, all tube amps sound pretty close the same. The most single factor of importance is ~~The Reliablilty Factor~~. Repairs as you know are expensive, not to forget the suffering involved. = Pure hell. I own a Jadis Defy 7, no repairs running 7k+ hrs,(20+ yr old amp) Knock on wood.
I had a Cayin CD17 tube player, 8 yrs useage, no repairs,. This is what I am talking about. I want a amp that will perform day in, day out, month after month year after year, decade after decade, with no repairs. Quality of build is everything in a amp, Far less imporatance how it sounds. How it sounds is not a relaiable factor, as each of us has a different set of hearing. I think most topics here are concerned about sound, and less about The Reliability Factor.
Can't it sound good and be reliable. I have STUFF that hasn't been touched in 60 years. Cleaned yes, repaired NO. They still sound pretty darn good..
I have one piece I wouldn't dare touch it has such a special sound.. I've never heard one like it and owned at least 8 different ones and heard many more. MX110Z, just one in a million thing I guess. When it gives up with a puff of smoke I'll look.. Until then I'll leave well enough alone.
Generally speaking, gear that has been built in the last 20-30yrs is overall very robust. To place that criteria above sound quality is truly missing the boat.
If it breaks I toss it and buy another...what's the big deal? Never have I had anything needing repair though...maybe I'm the lucky one...there are class A Sugdens still going strong after 30 years or more, untouched.
Reliability should play an important role, perhaps even the overriding consideration in choosing any equipment. Unless you buy two of everything your down time these days seems to only be growing.
We have fewer qualified techs each year.
I think buying from a domestic maker is smart, albeit more costly. I chose Pass Labs as their service is great and in an adjoining state.
If China moves on Taiwan, which they have openly promised to do someday, owning anything Chinese will be shameful. But in the meantime buy it and enjoy it but don't feel too smug. Your day of reckoning may be closer than you think.
all had a different signature, some had deeper bass, bone crunching midrange, treble,....from ear splitting searing painful molar grinding tripe, to relaxed, accurate treble, which was fatigue free!
The comment all tubes are silimar sounding, is just not true, do your ears hear everything the same?
I remember a looong time ago, hearing many different amps at my (now defunct) shop mod squad, adcom, Carver, onkyo, with klipsch, paradigm, b and w, definitive tech, and much more.
I do remember the carver silver 7’s, mod squad, sounding the most natural, relaxed.
The adcom monos were with the klipsch corner horns, it was painful, and I had to leave the room. I mentioned all this in a previous message. Came back the following weekend, the silver 7’s were driving the corner horns, night and day diff. Mod squad stuff similar, but with deeper bass, and more relaxed treble.
Don’t get the tubes all sound same,,,,,.
A dingbat shop by me sells Mac, I demo’d my Sunfire 600(brought in) their Mac I think it was only a receiver in 1 room, then the 600W monos on another room with the Cremona speakers.
Had my lil hey still in stroller, crabby,....started playing the Mac monos through I think was the cremora, or Cremona speakers (sonus Faber). After Floyd’s the wall cd, after the first few songs, mother, blue sky, empty spaces, the lil guy was out, as I nearly was. Such a mellow, relaxed, detailed sound! Cd was the music hall CD player. It put me in a trance. I have now what still gives me goosebumps, the McCormack amps, McCormack UDP-1 /pio Elite dv-79avi , and speakers which I absolutely love for their warm detailed sound. Could I have afforded the Mac/sonus pair, yes. I have done better with what I have now for my ears. Anyway, tube amps are all different. The Carver tube stuff and older Mac gear is leaps above most anything else!
I’m very happy with my gear. Mccormack sunfire pio elite. Sherwood bic venturi sanders onkyo b and k Energy yamaha receiver Furman some other ods n sods
still here!
gone rotel Rb-1090 many speakers carvin dcm 1500’s cv altec Lansing m-510’s emotiva xpa-1s’ here but in storage sunfire 300 ( loaner) bought 600 after lots receivers 5-7 cd players
When I switched the original Sovtec tubes in the ARC pre for Golden Lions the change was way more and better than expected from the very first note. No issues in 25 years.
McIntosh, that’s why I switched over to them a long time ago. I was sick of buying new stuff every couple of years. My MC 500 amp is from 98-99, and it will run for my lifetime. Also if you do have a problem they will be there like they have for the last 70 plus years to help. The same people, people who have been working there for 20 to 30 years, hand crafting each piece in the USA. What more could you ask for. Just my opinion, reliable, rock solid, and awesome sounding gear!
wolfie62214 posts09-11-2021 11:15amI’m still playing my dads HH Scott tube StereoMaster receiver. Only thing I’ve changed are the tubes. No maintenance since new in 1962.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some of the old designs were built to last forever. Dyanco Allen Organ amps I see Macintosh has some votes as extremely reliable. As someone mentioned, some cities are slim for locating good repair shops. So this is why I brought up this topic. If a city has only 1 shop, the tech , if not so fair, knows he's the only kid on the block and can charge whatever he wishes. Someone also mentioned tube reliability is extremely important to keep repairs at a bare minimum.
Which is why my tech guy, made clear , only buy tubes with very high reputation, and from a shop that has excellent matching test equipment. He tends to prefer the russian tubes, as best selection. I note china has new labs , such as Psvane , a lab known to reject any tube that does not meet their highest specs. But for me, having a 12 tube amp, its too pricey. I have the gut feeling the Defy7, will be such a relaible amp. This confidence allows me to relax and enjoy the music with no fear of hiss and hum. The Defy had 20+ yrs, and tech found only 1 issue, the main cable(8 wires) from power trans to speaker out post, was corroded at 1 solder connection, and so we replaced with Navships Silver high tech 12 gague. Have all new Mundorf caps, and most resistors changed to Takman Rey metal.
Hello, My issue with this is some stuff made today is cheaper than it was vs back in the day. I have a friend who has a BAT that has 20 years on it. He just started to have some problems. I have heard it is not good to keep tubes in too long. I have to say if the component stoped working tomorrow that is amazing. Some stuff also got better. If you are going to buy new I would ask for peoples choices of brand and how long they have had it. VTL, BAT. Rogue, Raven, DecWare, and Cary. What Brands, model, tubes have lasted 5-10 years. I am just worried some companies have figured out where to cut corners.
I used to love NAD equipment but about a third of the pieces I owned (all purchased new) had to be repaired.
I know I'll probably work up a bunch of blood pressures to say this, but I've enjoyed several McIntosh pieces, not a single one needing repair. I currently enjoy a McIntosh tube preamp (tubes swapped out for Gold Lion's) and a solid state power amp, which mate well with my speakers.
I have also had really great service from the PS Audio pieces (I have also purchased new).
Also on the subject of tubed gear stuff that's point to point wired using classic circuits is going to tend to last and be very easy to repair/maintain.
I have heard it is not good to keep tubes in too long
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My tech is telling me to swa out my 4000++ hour power tubes Svetlana 6550;s as the Defy may get grouchy (= may break down) if one tube blows. I had 2 tubes go dark, , had 2 spares sitting on my shelf, lightly used, stuck those 2 in the spots,, Not sure if they matched the 3rd tube or not, Its a 12 tuber, 3 sets of trios. I think the Defy deserves better reputation that it has over the years, Runs likea champ and am rolling the dice on these worn tubes. I have no cash as I spent all in my Wide Band experiements. Now I am broke, No money for new tubes, Gonna run them til all burn out, 6k hrs or so. Wish the Defy good luck will ya Recommend 2k hors,, I plan to get 3x's the life.....
I have 2. One has a really special sound. I've never touch either. Remotes.. I love a remote. Gosh I'm getting lazy..
Say tomic601, how does the MC250 sound, I've never heard one of the old SS stereos Macs, but I did hear a set of Quads and a pair of mono blocks 50 or MC100 ?. That was an eye opener. The guy had a new MC2300. Those MC100 trounced the 2300 SQ wise.
He had a 1 6 foot tall bass column (MC2300) We though the guy was a genius. He was.. 1977 or 8. We called him, Two Mikes. Played a steel guitar..
Magic combo I always wanted in a room. 1/2 height Electrostatics and something..
In my first "nice" system which consists of a Pass Labs X0.2 3-box arrangement front end, and a pair of Aleph 1.2 mono's (200 wpc Class A), plus a Nakamichi Dragon CD Changer, which are all about 20 years old now; all of my equipment runs like a top and without any problems. I'm thinking that in 5 years or so, I'll need to send it all back to Pass Labs to have the capacitors all replaced. Caps like any electrical part has some sort of limited service life.
As far as you tubed gear running for 20 years without a hitch, that's impressive. As for buying tube gear, I don't know the wisdom of this, but I *just* bought a pair of completely rebuilt Sonic Frontiers' Power 3 monos from SF Owner/VP Chris Johnson; the core is some 20 years old now, but they're built to "21st Century" Special Edition *Plus* and the power supply along with rectifiers are modernized in conjunction with the grid heater ckt; Mundorf gold & silver audio grade caps are used throughout plus it's modded to run up to KT150s, but I chose a bit of more conservative tube path in using KT120 tubes to replace the original 6550C (or KT88 maybe?) bottles; KT120s are about half the cost of the KT150 bottle and with 16 of them in total, getting stuck with a $2,000 dollar or so tube cost doesn't exactly sound mouth watering to me... I've been waiting 20 years to buy these, and now that I have 2 nickels to rub together at this point in my life, I'll have them soon! I can't wait.
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