Dipping my toes into EL84 tubes
As I am researching amplifiers, it occurred to me I don’t have experience with el34 (though I have heard a Leben 600), el84 which people seem to like, 300b or any of the major tubes really.
so based on the seemingly overwhelming love people have for EL84, I’ve been looking for cheap but decent integrated or power amp based on EL84. Used is fine and under $1k USD. If you’ve heard it and thought it was pretty darn good for the money let’s hear it.
I have a repurposed Magnavox 9xxx series console amp. It was recaped etc., etc...... with proper RCAs, on/off switch and binding posts that accept spades or bananas, 15 watts/ channel. Drives my Snell E3s or Spica TC 60s just fine. Think it cost me $250 w/o tubes. Now , depending what tubes you buy.... and there you go.
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The Tubes4HiFi ST35 is my current amp in use. Clean, punchy, dynamic, and extremely musical. I built a kit decked out to the 9’s including massive choke in the power supply and painted a custom chassis root beer brown. So far I can tell, the toroidal OPT make for a clean and dynamic sound as this certainly isn’t your grandpa’s tube amp from the 60s. 10/10 would recommend. -Lloyd |
I’ve had the original Dynaco SCA-35 integrated amp with nos tubes to power Advent smalls and JBL L-26’s and very much liked it. As mentioned above the Dynaco ST-35 and Tubes For Hi-Fi reproduction are a good choice although I’ve never done a side by side comparison . At a budget of $1K you are pretty limited , plus you will probably end up tube rolling too. A really nice keeper but way above your listed spending is the Quicksilver integrated which paired with a high quality high efficiency speaker can be a real keeper rig. There is a used one on EBay for $1700, that you might take a look at. Or a new one from Quicksilver. Happy Hunting , Mike B. https://www.audioconnect.com/products/quicksilver-integrated-amplifier |
