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Tube virgin looking for tube amp under $3k

I’ve never owned any tube amps or preamps and since I’ve got 95dB efficient speakers I thought why the heck not? And wow! What a rabbit hole I’ve gone down In the last week or so and my head is really spinning. For just about every amp or amp/preamp combo there’s someone who loves it and someone who says don’t bother. And then the more I dig, the more brands I find.

I’ve read about these products recently:

— Erhard Audio integrated amp 
—The various iterations of the ST-70 (Van Alstein, Bob Latino, Will Vincent, etc.)
—Music Reference RM10
—Cary (out of budget except used)
—Raven (at max budget for integrated)
—Dennis Had (hard to buy/find)
—Quicksilver Mid mono (need preamp)
—Decware (too long a wait for me at the moment but maybe one day)
—Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III (at max budget and do I really need 100WPC with my speakers in a small room?)

And probably a few others I’ve forgotten about already. 

I have to say that the Bob Latino ST-70 speaks to me for the price of entry (about $1400) and the fact that I could get away without a preamp and only use a passive input selector. That said, would an ST-70 be the best choice or only the cheapest? 

Any ideas for a tube newb who doesn’t have a stockpile of tubes to roll in and out of an amp?




larshepping
larshepping OP
34 posts
 
Cary SLI-80 sure is gorgeous to look at. Is 80WPC too much for 95dB sensitive speakers? Though it’s only 40WPC in triode mode so there’s that....
mofojo
2,161 posts
 
The Octave integrated I heard was really good. If I was looking for a tube integrated that's what I would probably buy.
If you change your speakers in the future to something less efficient the Octave will be up to the task. Ellington Hifi sometimes has lightly used ones for very good prices. Not really a classic tubey sound which if you want may not be the ticket for you. 
smrex13
645 posts
 
I'd also suggest Primaluna.  You can probably find a very good price on a used integrated.  For a first-time tube user, Primaluna is a great option.  It's easy to use (automatic tube biasing), sounds good, is built very well, and can take several different kinds of power tubes if you want to experiment down the line. 

Good luck!
Scott
brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
High efficiency is part of the equation.  You will also want to think about your speaker's impedance curve. Some high efficiency speakers with wild impedance swings can still be a problem for many tube amps.  Also, your music preference, listening volumes, and room size  all play a part in your thinking.   Some will tell you that SET designs, especially 300b base designs, render music with an unequalled beauty.  At ~3K, you are almost at the point of thinking about something like a Coincident Frankenstein used.   Is that or a similar amp going to do it for you?  If you listen to acoustic music with modest dynamics at low volumes in a small room, an amp like that could work for you.  If you listen to Wagner operas and Mahler symphonies in a 3600 cubic foot room at realistic volumes then such an amp is certainly not appropriate. 

Personally, I'd stay away from low budget amps.  Most tube amps can't really deliver the goods without high quality transformers, and those don't come cheap.   If you go OTL, like an Atma-Sphere  S-30, watch out for that impedance curve.  You should be able to pick up a used one easily for under 3K.   The M-60's, even used, are going to be out of your price range. 
bthemann
14 posts
 
Will you be listening to vinyl? If so, you'll want a phono stage built in, else you have to spring more for that unless you already have one. I have a Rogue Cronus Magnum III and I like it a lot. It drives Heresy IVs in a small, complex space and I feel like it gets the most out what the room limits can accommodate. For the price, it has a fine phono stage, it's good looking and it is made in Pennsylvania. I listened to the LM EL34 (I have a 508ia which is a dream machine) which sounded great but again I wanted the phono stage and opted to buy American. The little Leben is beautiful and very sweet sounding but no remote (which seems silly but it really is handy) and no phono. Never listened to any Cary. 
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