Flevoman

On request, I have made my own post for this question. My brother bought my Chorus 1 speakers. He would like to buy a good matching amplifier. As music he plays a lot of rock, pop, electric instruments, metal.. But also (to a lesser extent) folk, acoustic, some jazz.. Now he may also want to take over my Dynaco ST70 (El34), but I wonder if this amplifier is the best choice for him. A tube amp appeals to him, but perhaps an SS amp is the better choice given his music taste. So basically my first question is, given the music my brother likes to play., Do you recommend an SS amp or a tube amp. And question two is,if he is going to buy a tube amplifier, is my Dynaco ST70 a good choice or he better should buy another type of amplifier with, for example, the kt88 tube. I'd love to hear your opinion.

Sure, will do 👍🏻

Perhaps I can ask my question here as the Chorus was the replacement for the Cornwall. My brother bought my Chorus 1 speakers. He would like to buy a good matching amplifier. As music he plays a lot of rock, pop, electric instruments, metal.. But also (to a lesser extent) folk, acoustic, some jazz.. Now he may also want to take over my Dynaco ST70 (El34), but I wonder if this amplifier is the best choice for him. A tube amp appeals to him, but perhaps an SS amp is the better choice given his music taste. But if he is going to buy a tube amplifier, is my Dynaco ST70 a good choice or he better should buy another type of amplifier with, for example, the kt88 tube. I'd love to hear your opinion.

This is exactly the speaker I am using for the Melody MDA2 😉..the CW4.. In the beginning I found the sound a little too shrill. But now that the tubes have more break in time the amplifier sounds really fantastic. I have little experience with other amplifiers, but I find the build quality and appearance very good.

And thank you!! .. This topic drove me crazy and now I have an appointment next Sunday with someone to buy the Dynaco ST35 from him.... And this is no joke 😄, I read the post... Immediately looked at Marktplaats (sort of Ebay).. There just happened to be 1 for sale that (again, no joke) was offered for sale just 2 hours ago. I made an offer, and now I can pick it up next Sunday. Sooooooo.... Thank you so much for driving me crazy😉

OK, understood 👍🏻

Thanks for explaining this. In the manual they are talking about 30/35 for bias. How hot can I set the bias without causing harm? For example, is 40 really too much or can I try this in a safe way to hear what the audible difference is. And the same question for a cold bias. Can I safely set the bias to, for example, 20 to hear what the differences are?

As you describe it, I hear it myself. With a higher bias, the music sounds a bit fuller and more dynamic. As far as harshness is concerned, I don't hear much of a difference with a colder or hotter bias. But my preference clearly has a hotter bias I am now on 40 hours of break in time and the music seems to sound a little less sharp. The amp sounds very good and I can hear a lot of improvement compared to my other amp, this is only my second amp that I own and I had no idea what to expect. But an amplifier can clearly have a lot of influence on the sound.

By setting the bias colder or warmer, can you make the sound less shrill? If so. Should you change the bias more towards the cold side or towards the warm side.

Thank you. These are exactly the points that I have some difficulty with now. I hear more detail, more of a 3D sound, perfect.. but the sound as a whole seems to be lifted 1 step more to the bright side . As a result, the bass is thinner and the music can sound a bit shrill sometimes. But apparently this can still improve .

Hello, I just bought a (almost) new tube amp. The Melody MDA2 with the 2A3 tubes. So far it has played for about 20 hours. How many hours of break in time need these tubes do you think? And what can I expect in terms of sound that will change? (if there will be any changes at all) Cheers

So if I understand it correctly, Is it true when I say that a well-executed Class B amp has no distortion and is equivalent to a class A/B amp?

Np at all.. For me, everything is interesting information.

This is what they say on the official Melody site : "The Melody DPM80 integrated tube amplifier is the power house in our mid-range amplifiers. This tube amp offers an output power of 2x 75 watts strong Class B amplification. The DPM80 is our mid-range integrated amp and for this price range you can expect quite a punch. The amp is as such made for music lovers who love a tight bass." Or do I misunderstand things now

So this is kind of my problem now. 0 in knowledge.. 0 in experience...and I will have to make a choice based on a short listening demo where I will only hear the most noticeable differences so quickly. There for I appreciate all the info I get from you that I can take with me with the second demo 👍🏻 On the first demo I thought the Melody with the KT150 sounded the best. This information (that it is a B amp, and then the info I read about a B amp) is confusing

Thank you for this tip. I had the Dynaco modified to the kt88 tube before. I don't know why but I didn't like that sound at all. Recently I had everything built back to the EL34 and this sounds good again. Maybe it had nothing to do with the kt88 tube but the modification was not done properly. I don't have a clue. But the sound sounded dull with the kt88. But I can't just plug the kt77 tube into my amp I think. I think things have to be adjusted first.

I'm not sure how to interpret the class of an amplifier. At first I wanted to buy a SET amp. This is a class A amp. However, there is a good chance that it will be a Melody amplifier where the DPM80 is a class B and the AN300B is class AB1. It gives me the feeling that with Class AB I by definition buy a less good amplifier, and that this is especially the case with a class B amplifier. Is there a grain of truth in this? Will a class B amplifier always be subordinate to a Class A amplifier Edit:What I can find information about class B amps doesn't sound very positive. I can't reconcile this information with a 6700 euro costing amplifier. "Class B amplifiers are much more efficient than Class A amps — 50% or so — but produce distortion as the two transistors switch on and off. This "crossover distortion" is so bad that very few if any manufacturers offer or produce an amplifier of pure Class B design."

Agree. I don't care that much for more output. Although it is welcome of course. I am purely focusing on the sound differences

What I have found in info about the 300b is that this is a very musical tube that shows a lot of detail. A more warm and laid back sound. Everyone is very enthusiastic about this tube. Musically and more detail appeals to me. But I found the 300b a bit too warm (too much hummmm in my opinion) and the sound could have had a bit more punch and dynamics. And this is what I could hear in the kt150

Thank you for this information. Have you also compared the kt150 with the 300b perhaps? Is there a point where the EL34 outperforms the KT150 in your experience?

If I may comment regarding the preamp. I had recently shared the same opinion as @henry4841. Listen to the music as it is presented and keep the signal as pure as possible. I also once started a topic here about why I would use a preamp at all if I can also use the volume control of my media streamer to keep my audio signal pure as possible. However, when testing what suited me better, with or without a preamp, I chose with a preamp. Although I could not clearly name what difference I heard which made me more comfortable with the preamp. At that time I had a different preamplifier by the way, the Perraux SA2 without any tone control. In this periode i got a lot of help from @EpicKlipschFan and I adopted his vision of using tone control when needed, and frankly I liked it. Some songs can have benefited from a little more bass for example, due to a somewhat poorer recording. So now I have the NAD1000s. Most of the time I by pass the tone controle.. But with some songs, or when I'm in the mood for some more bass, then i increase the bass with +1 or +2 These are the Amps I have listened with the demo. Probable it will be one of the 2 Melody's https://www.line-magnetic.eu/en/products-line-magnetic-en/integrated-tube-amplifier-line-magnetic-en/lm-845-premium-amplificateur-intégré-single-ended-845-2x30w-detail https://melodyhifi.eu/product/melody-dpm80/ https://melodyhifi.eu/product/melody-an300b-max/ https://stereo-magazine.com/article/cayin-introduces-new-tube-amplifier-cs-805a (This amplifier was the most striking in terms of sound difference , and with the first impression I liked this a lot. A lot of dynamics, very clear and clean sound, but i heard a lot of sharp edges on some songs. )

That's a long and informative answer. Thank you very much for this. I've read it with interest, and although this is quite technical for me, a side I really know nothing about, I found it very interesting to read it. However, I will only use the preamp with this amplifier, the Dynaco. The new amplifier has a built-in preamplifier. I will keep the NAD and Dynaco. First, because I get too little in return. But also because I like being able to make changes in my setup. But for upcoming amp I will never use the NAD. Still an interesting comment 👍🏻

I know I am the only one to decide. I also don't ask which tube I should Choose. The reason I'd like to know how each tube sounds and how they differ from each other is to be a little more confident with the following listening demo. I can then focus better on the possible differences, and when in doubt between amplifiers, I can better convince myself, on the basis of the knowledge, that what I think I am hearing is correct or not.

I use a preamp indead. The NAD 1000s.. Although I bypass this, I have this in use for possible tone control when needed. And the pots are for manual gain adjustment.

I had a first demo at the hifi dealer And I've heard some amps. But I find it extremely difficult to hear the differences properly and doubt myself whether I hear it correctly. I didn't heard the punch in the 300b tubes to be honest.. It was very detailed, Warm and easy listening. The KT150 seemed a bit brighter, more punch and dynamics. I had the feeling I liked the kt150 the best. But I doubt very much whether I hear these differences correctly.