What tube monos for my Presence?


Looks like my speakers are staying with me so I am thinking about buying them some tube monos.

I would prefer balanced inputs, 20 to 50 watts, class A and S.E.T. What do you recommend for my Zus based on your own experience?
macrojack
Well I am happy to hear it is working out :-)
One correction the Stock Audio Mirror amps utilize much better than Solen caps stock, they have Sonicap Gen II caps.. Which are also excellent, very neutral, very smooth sounding caps..

However the Jantzens are in fact a step up, at a minimum 10 - 15% better across the board in all aspects of superlative audiophile terms pick and choose... soundstage, low freq., Air, liquid, warmth etc....And they just do everything right as rain.

The Russian tubes supplied are a little drier compared to the NOS tubes you can get for the Audio mirrors, but still excellent as well, so for the standard Audio mirror package are still a great rounded out design and deal over most others.

The Isoclean fuses do make the amps a bit more sparkley and faster.. However power cords and pick your flavor have some good effect as well.

And by the way reason your plate amps will react to the change is these tubes have a much lower damping factor and better frequency range over the esoteric congested, and constipated Solid state stuff you might have been using.

Fact is just like adding a Good Tube preamp thats more or less exactly like what your plate amp is seeing with the signal transfering from the amps now, they are feeding it a wider and bigger sounding less Damped bass sound just as if you had a preamp with a bass knob and cranked it up, but its not because obviously these are doing it purely on the original tone of the design and that they go much deeper and bigger sounding anyway... Again almost the same effect many find with tube preamps and why the like them with combination of solid state amps in front of them.

Also funny thing is these little S.E.T amps driving Full on Passive subwoofers or woofers are the best punchy, clean, No ONE note bass Monsters I have heard, they do it with shocking authority, we tried them out on 12" subs direct and they easily sounded more tonal fuller and scarier than some 500 watt digital amps! So believe it or not they do even better driving woofers direct sometimes than feeding a powered system in the bottom end.

I am not sure how deep the full range is tuned in the Zu presence but you could disconnect your sub plate amp and just drive the Zu passive FRD and tweeter and I don't doubt you will get a very full sound with bass notes that match the plate amp, however not with all that tuned and isolated output of the subs.

Good Luck
Bass is greatly improved which is a surprise to me since I am still using the onboard plate amps in the Presence. One would not expect there to be any influence exerted by the introduction of the Mirrors but there is. There is more snap and snarl to the bottom notes and more complexity in the churn of the lowest octave or so. Not only does it sound different but it feels different as well.
The midrange moved a little closer and gained a lot of color.
There is more flesh on its bones and more lilt in its tones.

You should know that these amps are not stock, however. I bought them from Undertow and he replaced all the stock Solen caps with Jantzen Superior and sourced NOS tubes. The outputs are RCA and the input tubes are Tungsol. Not sure what the driver tube is. He even included Isoclean fuses.

I'm very glad nobody bought my Presence speakers. Zu has a winner there and this combo seems like a perfect match.
Single ended triode and single driver is about as simple as you can get. I'm verypleased with this change. Most of what I have done lately has been rather lateral. This one is a clear step up. Thanks for asking.
Just checking in Macrojack. How are the Presences sounding with the Audio Mirror amps?

Can you briefly describe midrange and bass sound in your listening room.
No balanced inputs. They weren't in place on these used amps and I have been convinced that I don't need them in this application.

My system has 5 sources because it is in the living room and does everything.

Technics SL-1000 MK II with Denon DL-103

Kenwood KT-917 tuner

Panasonic plasma TV

Apple TV

Panasonic DVP-S7000 thru Red Wine Audio NOS battery powered DAC

Everything is routed through a Rowland Capri preamp w/phono.
Congrats on Audio Mirror amps and Zu Presences.

Looks like you have a winning system.

Did you get the balance inputs?

What is your source?
Atma-Sphere S-30 Mk.III.

Single chassis, 45WPC into 16 ohms, Class A, and best amp I've heard with Presence. Better than many SET.

Reasonable price as well.

M-60 if you want mono blocks although they are overkill with that speaker. However, you can remove output tubes to reduce power and heat without sonic degradation.

Support your local retailer.

Dealer disclaimer.
Audio Mirror SET 45; 45 watt SET monoblocs based on the Russian 6C33 tube. I no longer use Zu speakers, but they are wonderful with my Opera speakers at 90db senstivity. Very well made and beautiful as well. Can be ordered with balanced inputs (as I am using).
Keeping it retro. Kwel!

ArtAudio Adagio (High Power 50w KR T-100 output tubes)
Shindo Labs Western Electric 300B Single Ended MB

Joule VZN-100 Mk.III Monoblock OTL Amplifier
EAR 535 or EAR 890 Push-Pull Power Amps
McIntosh MC275 (you betcha)

Congrats on the Presences.

Spin the Yellowjackets.
Pierre