If you put it on the floor you must get it up in the air. I had mono tube amps and the best thing I did was have a carpenter friend build me boxes filled with sand. Plus I then used Black Diamond cones to isolate the amps. Tubes need a stable platform.
Peter |
I have my Audio Aero Captiole on the floor on an amp stand.Besides the fact it weighs almost 100 pounds,the air circulation is much better than if it were to sit in a rack. With it sitting in the open is dissapates heat much better.The down side,is it becomes more prone to dust.Time to buy an ionizer. |
can your rack accomodate the vk-60 (~17"x24")? i've yet to find a non-custom "rack" large enough, although i have seen dedicated amp stands that worked well. also, the amp is pretty heavy for a top shelf. why are you opposed to having it on the floor?
another option: i have my vk-75 on the floor resting on BDR cones and pucks...allows adequate ventilation underneath and isolates the amp from vibrations. |
You should have a shelf/sand box of some kind under it. |
Get audio points and set the amp on those, and then put it on the floor. Try that then try just putting it on the ground, I don't notice a difference personally. FWIW I am friends with the owner/designer of a highly regarded tube amp company and he laughs at people who use spikes and such. His amps start at 30k and go up from there so I am sure he know a thing or two about what he is talking about. Just make sure you don't have it in a rack that doesn't allow the top of the amp to cool and heat what ever is above it, that would be a concern for me before the bottom cooling.
Tim
btw I have my VK-60 sitting on the floor between my speakers-nothing else between them. For the simple reason it looks cool and is very functional. |
Tube amps=floor and try to keep it as immune as possible from vibrations, see that the airflow around it is not impeeded and beware of thick carpets. That's at least what I learnt through the years. Cheers, |
Thanks for all the input. I don't have the luxury of a
dedicated listening room, so it doubles as the family
room. For that reason, my amp on the floor isn't really
safe. My rack will actually accomodate the VK-60, and
I would put it on the top shelf. It's an open design,
so air flow won't be a problem. It's either take my
chances on the floor or stow it safely on the rack, so
I'm trying to decide which way to go. |
You might want get some type of cage for that thing, if it doesn't have one. Kiddies and pets don't do well breaking tubes and burning themselves. (I don't know your situation). The only problem with "up high" is-it can fall that much farther, not to mention when the heaviest piece is on top it will create more instability should the rack get knocked. Keep it off the floor so it will need be ventilated. And a good amp stand will do that and provide some vibration immunity, of course as heavy as it is its own weight will help that. And some type of cage protection would help. |
I've got a mcintosh mc2102 mounted on the top rack of a schroers and schroers lamda, which is a simple steel frame with glass shelves. The spacing between the shelves is not adequate to accomodate the amp so I put it on the top shelf. Very family friendly and can support the nearly 100lbs of the amp, could be a problem if you're an analog type with a turntable though. This amp is so beautiful it just begs to be seen, as do most tube amps these days. |
I am sure that most will say that I am in the wrong here, but I can indeed clearly hear degredation from 1 meter of IC to 1.5 meters. I hear more losses running an extra half meter of IC than an extra 10 feet of zip cord speaker cable. I have tried this many times, and have found it consistent with each of my different cable combos throughout the years. When Mark Levinson (the man)started the fashion of sitting the mono ML-2 amplifier next to the HQD speaker, he insisted it was the better way to do it. Most salons and designers of distinction also feel this is the way to do it. They may in fact be correct, but to these ears,the shortest possible distance on the interconnect side, provides the least losses. (that is unless some insanely complex speaker wire is used that demands ultra short lengths).........Frank |
If it is a CAT JL1 @ 240LBS. PER SIDE then ALL you can do is to put it on the floor...anything else causes back injury.
Thank the Lord that I evaded a great purchase of said units.
Weight may be a value indicator, but there's something to be said for those flyweight SET amps. |
If the rack is VERY sturdy, you could put it on top. Otherwise keep it low. The rack I've got now is quite wide and deep, so it is very sturdy and supports over 600lbs of stuff and you could kick it without making it budge. |
It doesn't hurt anything to place the open chassis tube amp on the top shelf of your equipment stand. I've done this but of course my stand is a hefty unit and able to handle the weight. This is not the rocket science that some people make it out to be. |
