I can attest that Berning tube amps are very owner-friendly. They auto-bias, so no meter work is needed. The tube life is designed to be over 10 years without changes. They don't have alot of tubes so they don't get real hot. They don't take hours to warm up. They don't have output transformers, so they are not real big and heavy. They sound fantastic, drive most speaker loads without trouble, and they have one that is in the price and power range that you are looking for. The Berning ZH270. 70 watts per channel and about $4500 new. I have seen them for much lower than that used, here in the A'gon classifieds. This is about as "plug-and-play" as it gets with tube amps. They are also highly reliable, and did I mention, they sound GREAT.
Is a tube amp for me?
I've been an 'audiophile' for over 20 years. I've experimented with tubed preamps unsucessfully (I should add that later I found out the problem was a ground loop hum with my cable company, which didn't affect solid state preamps). I've been a SS guy for the rest of my audio life. Reliability is of utmost importance to me, and tube horror stories have scared me off. Sound quality is also very important, but not at the cost of chronic repairs. I currently am driving a pair of Vienna Acoustic Beethovens (4 ohms, 91 db sens) with a Threshold T400 amp (300 wpc into 4 ohms). I also have a Classe CP-60 and CDP-1.
I've listened to a BAT VK-60 and a Cary V-12 at a local dealer. The dealer would not let me bring the amps home, they sounded very good in his showroom. My question to you, my A-gon friends, is, is it worth the risk to try a tube amp? Or is it all hype? Should I just stick with my old, reliable Class A SS? What do ya say? Thanks for any input.
I should add that I couldn't afford to 'try' a tube amp without selling/trading my current amp (Threshold T-400). So it's not just a matter of trying a tube amp and keeping my SS amp in case things don't work out.
Regards,
John
I've listened to a BAT VK-60 and a Cary V-12 at a local dealer. The dealer would not let me bring the amps home, they sounded very good in his showroom. My question to you, my A-gon friends, is, is it worth the risk to try a tube amp? Or is it all hype? Should I just stick with my old, reliable Class A SS? What do ya say? Thanks for any input.
I should add that I couldn't afford to 'try' a tube amp without selling/trading my current amp (Threshold T-400). So it's not just a matter of trying a tube amp and keeping my SS amp in case things don't work out.
Regards,
John