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Never Owned a Tube Amp and Want Advice

Hi All, 

I have never owned a tube amplifier before and am planning to purchase one with a minimum of 50 watts per channel to mate with 8 ohm 88 dbl speakers.

My hope is experienced audiogoners will share their expertise regarding how to approach this. While I realize listening is the best way to learn about sound and compatibility; I want to learn a better understanding about brands with less maintenance and longer tube life, how to decide between mono or stereo,can a newbie play with bias or is auto biasing a better first choice, etc.

I would also appreciate what to look for in selecting a used tube amp to identify one that might be in need of repair. For example, with solid state depending on the brand, capacitor replacement can be more of a concern. Any advice on what to look out for or ask about with used tube amps would be appreciated.

A big question I have is how to understand the relationship between power tubes like E34's, 120.s, etc. and, I guess the driver? tubes like 12au7's and 12at7's. That  is to ask which is more critical to the overall sound of the amp? FWIW, I routinely tube roll with my preamps.  

I 've read through a number of threads but maybe someone can point me to good ones I may have missed. 

Thanks for listening,

Dsper
dsper

Showing 4 responses by jjss49

jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,605 posts
 
you are asking a question that takes a short book to properly answer

i suggest you do a search for something like ’hifi tube amp basics’ on youtube, and watch several entries that pop up - you will educate yourself faster than reading peoples' snippets here
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,605 posts
 
you can even pull power tubes out while its playing and the amp acts as if nothing happened

NOT RECOMMENDED... seriously

might be true for ralph's amps but this is something that is best NEVER to do
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,605 posts
 
congrats on a good choice and a good result

c-j gear is simply beyond reproach in build quality and sound quality and there is certainly an expected, lovely synergy between the 17LS2 and the LP66...

my premier 16LS2 and ET5 are forever pieces - they may be equalled by others but ever surpassed for the listening pleasure they bring

enjoy!
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,605 posts
 
my comments on some of the recent threads below:

1) linear tube audio’s zotl technology by berning does generate heat from output tubes, albeit less than typical transformer coupled tube amps of the same output that drive the tubes harder/hotter

2) power output of a tube amp matters, it matters greatly, esp. in light of the op’s 88 db/w/m speaker efficiency - unless you are in a very small room listening nearfield that speaker efficiency rules out many low wattage tube amps

3) yes most amps that employ the russian 6c33c tube will generate quite a lot of heat

4) ss and tube amps can both be low or high distortion, though tube amp's characteristic distortion tends to be more listenable and less harsh, even euphonic - as always, the specifics of the amp, its design, the tubes employed, and the speaker driven are key to the distortion produced and how it will affect the sound
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