FloridaBoy

The 50's & 60's ? Enjoy! http://www.hifilit.com/

I have Heresy III's and am driving them with an Inspire amp and preamp. Bass is a good as it gets w/o a sub and I don't need or want one. Dennis Had, the retired founder and CEO of Cary Audio, builds these as a 'hobby' and sells them on the auction site. They are single ended pentodes and a great match for the Heresy...or any Klipsch Heritage speaker. Google Inspire amplifier. No affiliation, just a very satisfied owner.

(2) 27's, 1 6BX7GT (cathode follower) and an 80/5Y3 rectifier. The blue tubes are Arcturus balloon 27's. They are more about nostalgia than sonics. I usually use ST 27's. The amp can use many different tubes bit I am really liking 6V6's.

Directly heated rectifiers can be issue. You could install a standby switch or like me...just not worry about it. Replacing tubes just comes with the turf.

I recently got this preamp and amp from Dennis Had and am driving Heresy III's. Now that he is retired he builds for pleasure and sells on that auction site.

Yes, you could get a decent tube integrated for a grand or under. Check out the Canuck Audio Mart. There is a lot of used gear and most sellers are honest hobbyists. Generally, no worries.

Overall, I suspect that corporate goals caused the development of vacuum tube amplifiers to stagnate during the 1950s and eventually give way to solid state because the vacuum tube technology had reached a point of “good enough” for the consumer with no real financial reason to improve upon. Not really much different than consumer products today. I don't agree with this statement at all. The fifties actually heralded the era of terrific tube amps, with lots of advances coming through. One example, of course, is ultralinear and all the amps which employed that mode of operation. In addition, kit amps, such as Heathkits, offered excellent sound for the money and allowed those who were interested in high quality sound on a budget to actually be able to afford it. TV repair shops often generated extra revenue by assembling Heathkits (and other kits) for people lacking the skills to do it on their own. And, even with paying for the labor to have the kit professionally assembled, the cost was lower than commercially built equipment (in addition, some of my own bench time circa 1960 and later was spent fixing kit amps which people built but couldn't get to work). In terms of speakers, the options were vast with companies like Cabinart offering all kinds of solutions (including the Klipsch Rebel series). I had many customers who weren't audiophiles in the sense of the current definition, but who wanted high quality sound and had speakers which allowed it to be achieved. The changeover to solid state was ultimately one of economics (it was cheaper to produce). The early SS equipment wasn't wonderful sonically and I had many customers, and knew many people, who gave it a try only to go back to tubes for the sound quality they provided. http://www.itishifi.com/search/label/cabinart http://www.oestex.com/tubes/ul.html Maynard SS offered much higher power and less maintenance than tubes. Some of the early sand amps were capacitor coupled and sounded tube like. I have been in the low power tube amp HE speakers game for many years. Coupling capacitors do effect the voicing of an amplifier. *I*, like many others, like PIO's with tubes and Klipsch. There are some very good Russian Military surplus PIO caps and they are not expensive. I recently got an Inspire amp and preamp from Dennis Had. He used Russian K42-Y caps and after 100 hours or so I changed them to good old Vitamin Q PIO's. They work for me. Caps do sound different and preference depends on personal taste and the rest of your system. You don't need to spend a lot to get very good results and the only way to find out what works for you is to try a few different ones. Reviews are subjective and often amusing. I could care less about the science or engineering. Trust your ears and use what works for you. Let the flames begin!