Forum audiophiles. Valve (tube) amplifiers, who has one.

[WhiteRX]

I am looking at purchasing a valve amplifier, for the front stage of my home theatre. Mainly for use when listening to 2 channel stereo music, not for normal tv or movies.

What is everyones experience. I have been looking at everything from mcintosh valve amps, to the suppo el34 amplifier.

What are your experiences, and what do you have?

cheers

Tom

[BALISTC]

I have this awesome tube amp but it got completely waterlogged in the recent storms and the valves are now full of water.

But of course that doesn't affect its performance at all.

[WhiteRX]

Originally Posted by BALISTC

I have this awesome tube amp but it got completely waterlogged in the recent storms and the valves are now full of water.

But of course that doesn't affect its performance at all.

Haha, i dont know if you are serious or not. I know tube amps are old technology, but they are used in a lot of the best audio set ups, most way out of my price range though.

Surround sounds in nedlands has a few on display.

Cheers

Tom

[wrx oh oh]

Tom The question reminds me of the Yes Minister when the politician toured the hospital and was only interested in
'the machine that went ping'
Valve (or vacuum tube) amplifiers are like that - they give a nice warm orange glow. Some old timers -ok me at least- may have a soft spot for that technology, but if you want performance -life, low energy use, reliability- you use solid state devices. . .

[foxey]

I've got a set of Quad II's hooked up to a Linn LP12. If you have a good selection of vinyl then do it, even CD's will sound different, but I always stop short of using the term better, as it's such a subjective and touchy subject. A set of full range horn loaded fostex drivers is a nice addition also......

I don't have specific experience with McIntosh equipment, but their reputation suggests its top gear.

[bugeye69]

Hi Tom
I have been into hifi and home theater for a number of years although never been able to afford what I really wanted (wife, kids etc
I bought a Ming Da valve amp from Coem audio in QLD which was $850, I have it connected to a Rega Planet cd player and Quad 33L's not a bad sounding amp for the money and I will soon upgrade the valves at a cost of around $120 by Synergy Audio in Perth.
Hope that helps
Pete

[WhiteRX]

Cheers guys,

The main purpose isnt the warm glow of the tubes
Both of those amps look like something i am looking for. I am just starting out in this, with tube amps.
I have no vinyl, too young for any music on that stuff, but defiantly cd's
What speakers do you guys run with these, and how much maintenance do they require?

cheers

[bugeye69]

Hi Tom
I have not had to do anything to mine, I just keep it switched off and then 5 mins for it to warm up and looks great and sounds great for the money. It replaced a Rega Mira amp which I bought for $1800 a few years ago and this sounds much better.
I used Quad 33L speakers bought on special for $1400 from Douglas hifi, they are usually around $3k and wasn't looking for speakers at the time but just saw the bargain and had to have them.
The service and knowledge from Coem Audio is first class.
good luck
Pete

[WhiteRX]

well, last night i listened to a mingda mc34ab amplifier, and it sounded fantastic. Even with my type of music (im young, so things like fall out boy, panic at the disco, even some old stuff too) it sounded fantastic. So smooth compared to my yamaha.

Pete, What model is your mingda? how many watts is your amp?

cheers

Tom

[rubberbudgie]

OK I'll attempt to answer this without writing an essay:

Unless you are using Vinyl as your audio source then valve (tube) amps are probably not what you are after, unless it's just to say you have a valve amp in which case the sky's your limit. Vinyl will always sound the "best" out of the 3 (main) audiophile sources you have to choose from as long as you only ever play fresh (ie brand new never been played before) vinyl because once that stylus hits the vinyl (literally) then each playing reduces the sound quality.

The other 2 sources are DVD-AUDIO and Super Audio Compact Disc or SACD. Without getting into too much technical stuff, they both are essentially the same except that there are heaps more titles available on SACD than on DVD-A. Both formats compared to regular CD sound quality-wise are like the difference between colour and black and white. Both formats are digital formats meaning that what you need for optimum sound quality is a digital amplifier (and not just a regular amp with digital controls but an actual digital amp).

In short, the longer the digital bitstream remains digital the better the final sound. The best you can ask for is a SACD player with I-Link (or just released HDMI) connection to a digital amp that will decode DSD natively then through a system that has one digital to audio converter (DAC) and amplification processor per channel (for a total of 6 for multichannel surround or 2 for stereo) then into some mega crazy speakers with super-tweeters capable of reproducing the range that SACD can produce (up to 90+ khz).

Oh well, I tried not to write an essay and trust me I short-cutted heaps of info here - if you wanna hear a reasonably good SACD setup give me a yell and come and check out mine and my mates setup to give you an example of how things can start to sound. (Might even give us a reason to go and upgrade a few pieces of our systems now that Sony are starting to breathe new life into the format )