Tube amps... Info please...

[Jake12988]

Hi all,

What's the quality difference between tube amps and solid state amps with vinyls records?

Also looking at tube amps online, it never seems to state the output power? How would I know what would drive my MA bx'2s well?

 

[gregory]

I prefer valves to solid state for vinyl but thats just me, your speakers have a sensitivity of around 89 to 90db so a valve amp should not have to much trouble driving them. Impedence may play a part but most amps have switches to select the ohms, ie 4, 8 or 16 ohms, a 10 watt amp should be ok but it depends on your budget, i ran a leak stereo 20 with a croft micro pre with monitor audio br2's with no trouble, lovely sound but leaks are getting hard to find and are expensive, a good compromise is icon audio but you would have to include a phono stage which they also make, or try a valve phono from the likes of project, what is the rest of your system, what amp are you using now. If you go down the valve route like always have a demo, you may not like how they sound, like i said earlier i prefer the sound of valves over solid state and some vice versa but the right choice can be quite beguiling.

 

[Jake12988]

Thanks for info,

currently running through denon pma560, sounds very good, and authoritive,

my turntable is pro-ject debut carbon, I'm not looking to spend too much, but am interested in the pro ject you mentioned, what is the 'main' difference In sound from tubes? And thanks for the advice on power output!