Valve Amps

[Infiniteloop]

The thing I’ve found is that it’s the valves themselves that have a dramatic effect on how the music through a Valve Amp sounds. It’s really interesting to play with various makes of preamp tubes to see what difference they make. Still available ‘New Old Stock’ examples are best. Siemens and Telefunken sound very neutral and clear, these approach SS amps in this but without losing the ‘liquid’ midrange. Mazda will give you more bass and Mullard are very warm and euphonic without sounding woolly or in any way muffled. What this means is that you can fine tune the sound to match the genre you’re listening to.

 

[Rethep]

Rethep, speakers are more important than amplifiers when it comes to bass slam.

So that my 2 watt SET through my EV Patricians has more slam than my 300 watt solid state through my EV Sentry III's, Sansui SP5500's, Linn Isobariks, Linn Saras, Heybrook HB1's.

The difference in slam between the SET and the solid state is neglible through the Patricians. There's a difference in the bass tightness that I'd describe as audible in an A/B demo but not a deal breaker with those speakers.

I really had to trade some bass tightness for ultimate soundstage but did that with pleasure. Speakers are open baffle which means no exaggarated bass whatsoever, but still very deep bassnotes. The sound is very 'free' from any boxiness.

I had an 'Audio Innovations' which was my 1st valve-amp.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

It's the same with Leema: There's not much love towards their products. Same reason: Limited outlets.

Hi pp

Well we took on Leema Acoustics recently and boy it was worth the wait. Love the Tucana MK2 Anniversary *smile* Hydra MK2 Anniversary will be fired up next. Already feeling somewhat scared particularly using bridged mono *biggrin*

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[jimmy1]

You can warm a sausage roll up on a valve amp too *lol*

 

[chebby]

You can warm a sausage roll up on a valve amp too *lol*

Valve rolling?

 

[jimmy1]

haha happy new year all

 

[jimmy1]

I've Actually warmed a steak bake up on a tivo box before so i was'nt totally joking

 

[newlash09]

But as posted in my previous thread titled ' why hifi costs so much', I had heard the B&W 800 series diamond floor standers with a ayon tubed pre-amp. And i have never heard treble like that before. And that coming from me is big, becuase i cant really hear differences even between dacs. And i thought it was the diamond tweeters, till my other listening friend told me it was becsause of the tubes.

So was my friend right. Was it the speakers or the tube pre-amp. And can i get a tube buffer in my setup to get the same rich sound sound and the smooth treble.

 

[Infiniteloop]

But as posted in my previous thread titled ' why hifi costs so much', I had heard the B&W 800 series diamond floor standers with a ayon tubed pre-amp. And i have never heard treble like that before. And that coming from me is big, becuase i cant really hear differences even between dacs. And i thought it was the diamond tweeters, till my other listening friend told me it was becsause of the tubes.

So was my friend right. Was it the speakers or the tube pre-amp. And can i get a tube buffer in my setup to get the same rich sound sound and the smooth treble.

Looks like you’ve been bitten by the Tube sound. Welcome.

IMO the only way to fully scratch that itch is to go fully Tube. A ‘Tube buffer’, whatever that means, will only make you hungry for more.

There are certain sound qualities that only Tubes will give you. That natural treble that you heard is one of them. It makes strings, percussion and voices have an ‘in the room’ realness that almost all SS Amps cannot quite pull off. My Devialet comes close, but isn’t quite as 3 dimensional as my S8.

 

[gregory]

Valves are magical, all the music most people have listened to has been recorded with, valve amps, valve microphones and then played through valve stereos or valve amps of some kind, even now, a lot of contemporary artist's use valve technology of some kind, is it better than solid state, who knows but if music sends a shiver up your spine or gives you goose bumps i bet it's through valves.

 

[newlash09]

But as posted in my previous thread titled ' why hifi costs so much', I had heard the B&W 800 series diamond floor standers with a ayon tubed pre-amp. And i have never heard treble like that before. And that coming from me is big, becuase i cant really hear differences even between dacs. And i thought it was the diamond tweeters, till my other listening friend told me it was becsause of the tubes.

So was my friend right. Was it the speakers or the tube pre-amp. And can i get a tube buffer in my setup to get the same rich sound sound and the smooth treble.

Though I didnt mention that here, apart from the way the treble and strings sounded, female vocals felt so real, it was like the singer was in the room. I never experienced that before, but read it only in reviews.

But unfortunately tubes are very expensive, and most reading also seems to indicate that they need more care and service like a car

So was thinking that adding a tube pre-amp or tube buffer will be an cheaper option, if it works

Looks like you’ve been bitten by the Tube sound. Welcome.

IMO the only way to fully scratch that itch is to go fully Tube. A ‘Tube buffer’, whatever that means, will only make you hungry for more.

There are certain sound qualities that only Tubes will give you. That natural treble that you heard is one of them. It makes strings, percussion and voices have an ‘in the room’ realness that almost all SS Amps cannot quite pull off. My Devialet comes close, but isn’t quite as 3 dimensional as my S8.

 

[Gazzip]

But as posted in my previous thread titled ' why hifi costs so much', I had heard the B&W 800 series diamond floor standers with a ayon tubed pre-amp. And i have never heard treble like that before. And that coming from me is big, becuase i cant really hear differences even between dacs. And i thought it was the diamond tweeters, till my other listening friend told me it was becsause of the tubes.

So was my friend right. Was it the speakers or the tube pre-amp. And can i get a tube buffer in my setup to get the same rich sound sound and the smooth treble.

Though I didnt mention that here, apart from the way the treble and strings sounded, female vocals felt so real, it was like the singer was in the room. I never experienced that before, but read it only in reviews.

But unfortunately tubes are very expensive, and most reading also seems to indicate that they need more care and service like a car

So was thinking that adding a tube pre-amp or tube buffer will be an cheaper option, if it works

Looks like you’ve been bitten by the Tube sound. Welcome.

IMO the only way to fully scratch that itch is to go fully Tube. A ‘Tube buffer’, whatever that means, will only make you hungry for more.

There are certain sound qualities that only Tubes will give you. That natural treble that you heard is one of them. It makes strings, percussion and voices have an ‘in the room’ realness that almost all SS Amps cannot quite pull off. My Devialet comes close, but isn’t quite as 3 dimensional as my S8.

Have you considered using a valve preamplifier in combination with solid state power amplification? This is a great way of getting a foot on the tube ladder on a tighter budget.