Tube amplifier upgrade suggestions welcome.


I currently have a Musical Fidelity m2si and some Tekton Lore speakers and would like to buy a power amplifier to upgrade my system.  I'd like to keep the m2si in the system as a preamp.  I'd like more clarity, bass, and dynamics in my setup.  I have up to $2K to spend and thought I'd try out a tube amp since my speakers are supposed to be very tube-friendly.

I have considered something like a Parasound A23+ or Rotel 1582 amplifier -- what are the equivalent tube amplifiers to these?  I'm in an 11' x 12' room with horrible acoustics but I've treated it with 8 GIK 244 bass traps and have added an SVS-SB1000 to fill in the low end which helped a ton.  How should I proceed from here?
128x128shawn3997
Of course you can keep this thread going. I'll second Jolida, aka Black Ice as a possible amp for you.

I recommend you message the seller of the RM-10 and make inquiries, he's the original owner.  Ask to see more pics. I expect this amp to sell quickly, they don't come up for sale very often.
http://www.ramlabs-musicreference.com/rm10mk2.html

Will Vincent regularly posts his restored Dynaco's.


Thanks!  What would I be looking for in the pics?  I kinda know what to look for in a solid-state amp because my old Linn LK280 had major heat issues over it's lifetime, like the traces were coming off the PC board and caps were failing.  What do I look out for in a used tube amp?
shawn, the seller seems to have provided good CU pics of the amp. It’s very clean and he states it’s only 3 years old. Not much wear happens in that short amount of time except for tube life.

The questions I have are answered on the Music Reference website including:

Tube Complement:
2 Matched Pair 6BQ5/EL84;
2-12AX7

"Each unit is hand wired with point-to-point wiring."

EL84 is a very smooth, sweet sounding power tube. 12AX7’s are the input tubes and are widely used and not too expensive.
P to P wiring is preferred over using circuit boards.

I would ask how many hours are on the tubes, will they need replacing soon, is there a user manual, is there any transformer hum? (Some tube amps have a low-level hum that does not come through the speakers. It’s in their design). Ask if you can speak on the phone since it’s your first tube amp.
It’s a good price, probably because of the chip in the wood body. Definitely not a deal breaker.

I see your m2si has preamp outputs, so you're ok with just about any tube power amp.