Recomend me a TUBE amp plz

The Mc275 comes to mind, would like some toughts on alternatives ... (horn driven speakers btw)

Originally Posted by speedster.8

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The Mc275 comes to mind, would like some toughts on alternatives ...

(horn driven speakers btw)

I'm a big fan of Audio Research and Conrad-Johnson. Lots of experience with both and I have Audio Research electronics currently.

Both brands are very dynamic, very quiet, very accurate on timbre, and extremely well built.

I like the Sun Audio 300b, but 300b's are love it or leave it.

What budget do you have?

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

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What budget do you have?
the mc 275 goes for 3000+$ in my market so in that area would be fine I see http://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/807ar/ the reference 110 @ 9995$ might be a litle stteep and would be tempted to change the speakers to ... not planing to end up with a 50-100K system my self

Originally Posted by speedster.8

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the mc 275 goes for 3000+$ in my market so in that area would be fine I see http://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/807ar/ the reference 110 @ 9995$ might be a litle stteep and would be tempted to change the speakers to ... not planing to end up with a 50-100K system my self
But I do like the review

Ok so the LP of the R110 puts it in tha same ballpark as the Accuphase A-65, which is an amp id like to listen to Anyone have experience with this forum? http://www.audiogon.com/index.html Thanks again

Originally Posted by speedster.8

Click to expand...

the mc 275 goes for 3000+$ in my market so in that area would be fine
I see http://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/807ar/ the reference 110 @ 9995$ might be a litle stteep and would be tempted to change the speakers to ... not planing to end up with a 50-100K system my self

Entry level ARC is best imho. I assume the horns are very sensitive in terms of db?

Originally Posted by speedster.8

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Ok so the LP of the R110 puts it in tha same ballpark as the Accuphase A-65, which is an amp id like to listen to

Anyone have experience with this forum?
http://www.audiogon.com/index.html

Thanks again

Audiogon is the best place to buy audio stuff. It gets better stuff than eBay. Of course, the standard precautions are in order.

but 300b's are love it or leave it.

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True...but horns are even more love-it-or-leave-it, and he obviously loves (or at least likes) horns, so SET 300B's may be right up his alley.


Horns present an excellent opportunity to get into SET, where they can perform well. In your budget, I would suggest an integrated, because playing around with matching preamps could be either expensive, less than ideal results, or both. Save your money for upgrading the tubes (if you like).

One suggestion is the Cayin A-300B... in your price range, well reviewed, widely available and not some obscure name.

Some ideas at our old magazine site here Personally, I love Audio Research. Some find them lean compared with some of the more 'colourful' tube amps (Italians, for example). But they are bulletproof and the company will be around in another 40 years. Have fun.

I'm sure it's been said already but you can spend as little or as much as you want.
If I had the money, the MC275 or two of them as monoblocks would be on my wish list. There are endless options! I went for the cheap and I'm not sorry yet.

As it stands now, I have two Dynakit MKIII monoblocks, using KT88s. They were used and I spent $600 for the pair. Pretty cheap. They put out roughly 60wpc which is more than enough if you have efficient speakers. In my case, old JBL monitors (4310).
I'm also using an older Sonographe SC-1 (Conrad Johnson) preamp which is solidstate but uses FET transistors which is supposed to sounds "tube-like".
The only new thing I have is a Music Hall turntable.
I love the way my system sounds and I didn't have to spend a mint.

Fair warning...one kiss is too many and a thousand, not enough. It's a slippery slope, my friend, set some dollar limits and stick to them!

Originally Posted by audiophilia

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Some ideas at our old magazine site here

Personally, I love Audio Research. Some find them lean compared with some of the more 'colourful' tube amps (Italians, for example). But they are bulletproof and the company will be around in another 40 years.

Have fun.

One man's "lean" is another man's "neutral".

don't valves emit ionizing radiation?-from high school physics..


Anyway I can't recommend anything to an audiophile like yourself, becuase i was thinking more along the lines of guitar amps lol.

I only have a modeling amp, a VOX VT15, which uses a valve pre-amp lol. Tube for the budget conscious.

Originally Posted by ginlimetonic

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don't valves emit ionizing radiation?-from high school physics..

Only if they're operating at multiple thousands of Volts. Audio tubes generally run under 1000 V.

--Andre