2. amps-preamps
  3. 1085262279

help with tubes

I am putting together a simple two channel system, I have a birdland dac and gma europas. I want a tube amp under 1300$ dollars, the ones I am comparing are the cayin, consonance and antique sound lab amps. I know the cayin and consonance have outstanding build quality not sure about the asl. My question is for someone who has heard them and can tell me the difference's sonically. I am leaning towards the cayin as the price of the ta-30 is incredible! That being said, I would like something with some power to drive the europas to good levels with some weight in the bottom end. Thanks for your responses! If anybody has suggestions for another brand let me know, also, since the birdland has volume I don't have to have an integrated.
sean34

Showing 2 responses by newbee

newbee
4,751 posts
 
New or used? How much power do you need (we all don't have GMA's). Personally, I'd rather spend my $1300 on a used high quality amp than any of those you mentioned.
newbee
4,751 posts
 
Unclejeff's advise is excellent. Not knowing your sound preferences makes a recommendation difficult, however I looked at tube amps for sale and some that attracted my interest between $1150 and $1899 were a VAC PA100/100, a Sonic Frontiers Power II, two Quicksilver mono's a set of M80's and a set of M90's, and a Conrad Johnson Primeer 11A. Personally, I would look for either a Sonic Frontier Power 1, or the earlier model SFS80, both of which should be available from time to time well within your price goal. Both are built like tanks, easy to service the tubes at home, and will reflect the differences between the different tubes you elect to use. In general the SFS80 is a tad warmer, the SF Power 1 (and 2)are more neutral. I also noted a Mesa Baron for $1200 - this is an excellent amp but it is not warm (nor will tube changes ever make it so) and if it has the stock caps they really should be updated to at least Wima caps - makes a big difference. Properly set up it has a very smooth, very neutral tone, and punchy bass. It also has adjustible feedback and 4 stages of operation from full pentod to full triode. The power output changes from about 60 wts to 150wts depending on the output stage chosen. An interesting amp, all in all. Happy researching...........
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