The VALVE THREAD reboot!

[SallyB]

Some of it is to do with the speakers you’re driving and of course the room. What speakers do you have out of interest? My 28w provides neighbour complaining levels from 9 o’clock and partner complaining levels from 8!😀

 

[Al ears]

Some of it is to do with the speakers you’re driving and of course the room. What speakers do you have out of interest? My 28w provides neighbour complaining levels from 9 o’clock and partner complaining levels from 8!😀

And what speakers are you using?

 

[Jasonovich]

Just got my valve power amplifier back from repair (new EL-34s, transformer, etc) and once I'd gotten over the size of the invoice, put it back into its rightful place and started listening. All subjective, but it feels a "warmer" sound than the Naim Uniti Lite that was previously on duty. I'm certainly enjoying it and already thinking "does it deserve better speakers". DANGER Will Robinson.

Also considering the WiiM Ultra when it is released or a Pro Plus given I'm not sure I need / want the screen. Probably more from a two boxes become one approach as opposed to thinking there will be a noticeable change in sound compared to the Mini into the Topping.

May also givel Tidal a spin with the 30-day trial to see whether I can notice any difference compared to Spotify.

As an aside, for those that might think valve amplifiers are underpowered, I am yet to turn the volume past 9, and start to think about the neighbours between 8-9.

That's the spirit, spoken like a true HiFi addict, hahaha

 

[SallyB]

And what speakers are you using?

Graham LS5/9s.

 

[Al ears]

Graham LS5/9s.

Nice, excellent choice.

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

Dali Oberon 5s for me. Am thinking of Rubicon 6s as they too come in white.

 

[Amormusic]

May also givel Tidal a spin with the 30-day trial to see whether I can notice any difference compared to Spotify.

As an aside, for those that might think valve amplifiers are underpowered, I am yet to turn the volume past 9, and start to think about the neighbours between 8-9.

Re Tidal compared to Spotify. There is a clear SQ jump IME of having done this a few years back, so you should notice the difference.

As to power, you really don't need very much at all. My Leak is 10W/pc and goes loud enough to melt my ears, should I choose.

I had some 250W/pc monoblocks for a while to compare against the Leak. The Leak made them sound small by comparison.

If you've reasonably efficient speakers a valve amp being underpowered is not a concern in reality.

 

[JDL]

My experience with valves and amplifiers amounts to ownership of an Orange AD200B bass amp. it had eight KT88 valves in the main section and two 12AX7 in the pre, I believe. (If my memory serves me right).
I used the amp every Friday night for anything up to eight hours, as we practiced away in our three piece instrumental jazz/rock fusion sessions. The amp was partnered with an orange 4 × 10 bass cab and an Orange 1 × 15 bass cab at the bottom of the stack.
It was a fine sounding beast of a set up, however, after about one year or so, one or two of the KT88s gave up the ghost and I didn't know what biasing meant, or if I had to buy matched pairs.
In addition, if I'm honest, to my ears my Kustom Groove Bass 1200, a 1200 watt class AB solid state amp, sounded better than the Orange.
It was deeper, smoother, more powerful, more versatile in it's abilities to create different sound signatures, more reliable, cheaper to buy and easier to shift about.
It didn't look as impressive but I really loved that amp, it could run at 2 Ohms with 4 × 8 Ohm cabs connected although I usually ran two 8 Ohm cabs, so running at 4 Ohms nominal usually.
For me then, I wouldn't consider having valves in my Hi-Fi set up.
My current integrated amp is a Marantz Model 30. This runs two modified Hypex NC500 class D units in the main section, and to me it is a beautiful sounding piece of kit. I honestly couldn't imagine upgrading it because it is absolutely the best integrated amp I've yet heard when compared with other integrated amplifiers I've listened to.
My apologies for going off track somewhat.

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

The Primaluna set-up that I have is purely due to the "story" behind it rather than a deep desire to run a valve based system. In fact, as my other posts illustrate, I'd actually go one-box such as Lyngdorf or Hegel were I to do it all over again. Peversely, my fiance loves the look of the valve system, so I'm somewhat on to a winner there and thus will stick with it.