Low-heat-output amp for Devore O/96

the heating of the room in the summer with tube amps is real, I'm not the only person who has reported this. Not all of us blast the AC constantly, it's expensive and it's also noisy, and I don't like noise in my listening room.

We have a customer in Guatemala City with our largest amp, the MA-3. That's a class A triode amp that makes over 500 watts. Despite the number of tubes, because it is so much more efficient, it does not run a whole lot hotter than our MA-2s, but:

He does not like air conditioning, and doesn't have it.

Yet he can play the amps all day and night in his listening room at any time of the year and it stays comfortable. The room is really not that large; about 17 feet wide and 20 feet deep at the most (I've been there). With two fairly small ducts in the ceiling above the amps, connected by ductwork similar to what you would use with a clothes drier, he conducts the heat out of the room and out of the house. The sound of the single fan he uses for this is barely audible at the listening chair. He controls the fan with a light switch on the wall. It really does work!

The Pass XA25 is a spectacular amp worth looking into.  I run it with AZ Crescendo 2's, a 90 dB speaker, no complaints.  At 96 dB the Devores  would both rock the house and play low with finesse.  The XA is 240 W at idle while my 125 W (tubed) ARC REF3 preamp has noticeably more heat.  Go figure.  

Thanks wlutke. Pass amps are high on my list, if I can find one that doesn't put out a lot of heat. Sounds like the XA25 might be the way to go.

fsonicsmith, no apology necessary. I've had my share of snarky moments.

Thanks wlutke. Pass amps are high on my list, if I can find one that doesn't put out a lot of heat. Sounds like the XA25 might be the way to go.

While being some of the best solid state amps made, it would be incorrect to say that Pass amps don't make heat. A good number of them run class A, and class A operation makes heat- and often within 90% of the heat a class A tube amp makes of the same power, although generated at a lower temperature. But this is not to say they are not worthy of an audition!!