To Tube or not to Tube, that is the question
I've been building a collection of hifi equipment with an ear to sampling the major families of tech and their characteristic sounds. One thing I don't have is a tube amp, unless you count my Rogue Sphinx. I like DIY if the final product is of good quality and design. I'm not averse to used either. Budget range is $1000-2000.
Can anyone suggest a tube amp, either power or integrated that would bring a nice sound flavor to my sandbox and not break the bank. OR do you think the Sphinx and the Pass amps pretty well serve up most of what is to be had in terms of tubey goodness and maybe this is not a worthwhile venture?
Here is what I have got in the way of speakers to play with:
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KEF LS50 |
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Tangent RS4 |
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Klipsch RP-160 |
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DIY Lii F6/Caintuck |
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DIY Lii F15 (under construction) |
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AR 2ax |
And here is the current line up of amps:
Rogue Sphinx
ClassD Audio Mini Gan 5
DIY Firstwatt F6
DIY Pass ACA (2)
Onkyo TX-6000 Receiver
Thanks in advance for your opinion.
@atmasphere This seems to be a typo, did you mean theST35 is a linear triode? BTW I read your article on amp design paradigms this morning. Good Stuff! I think your thoughts are along the similar lines as Nelson Pass's on this subject, no? Meaning that his Firswatt designs are an exercise in creating tube sound with solid state components. I really respect when creator's like yourself willingly and openly share thoughts on design and function. It helps keep this hobby from being a total marketing exercise. |
@bruce19 No. The feedback is taken from the speaker terminals and then applied to an early point in the amplifier circuit; in this case the cathode of the input tube. In the original ST35 circuit, the input tube was a 7247, which is a dual triode 9-pin signal tube with one section being that of a 12AX7 (the input voltage amplifier) and the other being that of a 12AU7 (for driving the power tubes). By contrast the ST70 uses a tube that has a pentode input section, which isn't as linear. They were able to get away with using the 7247 in the ST35 since the EL84 power tubes are so much easier to drive than the larger EL34s of the ST70, so less gain was needed. Clear as mud??
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