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
To be perfectly clear, energy stored in the supply is how an amp can handle an orchestral crescendo that would cause it to exceed its continuous power rating, correct?
No. The extra energy is useful to reduce IMD at higher power levels. Essentially it allows the power supply to have less noise- and less noise in the power supply results in the lower IMD of the amp.
Since this is a conversation about having enough power, what about going for a larger tube amp like 100 wpc.
As you increase the power of most tube amps, the output transformer has to be able to handle that power and at the same time make bandwidth. The problem is this basically doesn't happen; with output transformers as you build progressively larger devices, bandwidth is increasingly more difficult to obtain. For decades, 60 watts was the 'sweet spot' for push-pull tube amps, where they could make the power and still have the bandwidth needed (5-100KHz). You may not think that bandwidth above 20KHz is important, but unless you have a great degree of feedback (above 35dB or so) that bandwidth is important to prevent phase shift which can cause issues with tonality and the soundstage presentation.


Another thing to think about is the simple fact that 100 watts is not a great deal of power over 60 watts insofar as the ear is concerned- its slightly less than 3dB which is barely louder to the ear. But a 100 watt amp might have other properties (assuming bandwidth isn't an issue) at lower power levels that could be in its favor. So its a mixed bag.

OTLs get around the bandwidth issue by getting rid of the output transformer, so that tradeoff does not exist in them when going to higher power levels- a 200 watt OTL can be as fast, dynamic and transparent as a smaller one.


A small tip that I didn't know coming from a SS background.

Don't run your new tube amp without a load attached as it can destroy the unit. You may be especially tempted to do so right when to get it as you would like to A/B it against your old SS equipment while keeping both at operating temperature.

Fortunately I got lucky and didn't destroy my Frankenstein 300bs when I did this many years ago.
Yes, tube amps are sort of the opposite of solid state when it comes to running with no load or accidentally shorting the speaker leads (big problem for solid state, no big deal with tube gear).  

Another helpful hint for someone auditioning with tubes for the first time:  If you turn off the tube amp to switch things up, wait a few minutes before turning it back on.  Quickly cycling from on to off to on again can cause some tube amps to misbehave.  I've heard some loud crackling and I have seen rectifiers put on a light show when that is done.

I have owned every type of tube amps out there 
key questions what are your speakers efficiency,
room size, kind of music , how loud spl level
as a Former Audiostore owner these are key .
SET is the most pure or direct signal then triode, pentode.
SET  typically is under 10 wpc, or under 20 in Parallel.
Class A triode ,pentode noticably more tactile and closer to live 
using No global feedback .vs ultralinear which uses feedback which = added distortion for best class A and deal IMO .
Ayon from Austria have several big advantages They are a pure 
class A design , their integrated amplifiers are excellent 
and USA tube  is offering great deals with things being slower then normal.I just bought another one.
the heart of a tube amp the transformers and Ayon use world class 
Lundahl , also no vibration distortion causing sheet metal,all machined aluminum , and trouble free most important tube biasing 
Ayon is the only one that uses a microprocessor to monitor voltage as well tube wear, if It finds a tube failure the amp blinks goes into mute and circuit disconnectsFor safety, In back screen will tell which tube to replace , shut down,   Replace tube, turn back on hold button in for 10 seconds it takes about 10 minutes and all tubes put in memory and running optimum ,once a month you recalibrate tubes,last longer and and optimum Sonic MA voltages. A bargain IMO
for all the precision vs  China specials ,ultralinear Cheap toroidal transformers ,and have the nerve to charge up to $5K.  C core transformers like Lundahl are recognized as the standard for a top
quality vacuum tube product.
IMO, the best quality of sound is from tube amp Single Ended 3-5 W with full range speakers more 92 dB , direct connected to outputs, without crossovers, that press the sound. I use 8 inch full range for 50-15000 Hz and 12 inch bass speaker for 30-50 Hz. I have also open buffle  with 12 inch full range Electro Voice, direct connected to my amp SE 2A3 RCA. The sound is with quality for a level higher than every Push Pull amp with big power, that never You will use. Stay away from EL34, 6L6, KT88, 6550....tubes with sharp sounding......that people uses for guitar amps. If You need more power, You can use SE GK71, GU 81 .....with power more 20-30 W.....