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Help - Tempted by Ebay


mrquery

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Hi,

 

I just move here 6 months ago and been slowly building my 2 channel audio setup.

 

I have uploaded a demo of my setup as a baseline of what I am hearing and have now, here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x-w8Bum4iY

 

In my own words, I would describe the sound of this video to be warm (somewhat bassy), full and able to fill the room but is lacking LUSH and WETNESS.

 

I have decided to a lot $500 for tube amplifier and would like get some feedback on which tube amplifier is best suited what is lacking in my current setup.

 

Appreciate sharing your vast knowledge and looking forward for your feedback.

 

- cris

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I have decided to a lot $500 for tube amplifier and would like get some feedback

 

-HA!- that is what I thought too, about $500-$600 for a tube amp, you know, to get my feet wet.  I am so far down the rabbit hole now, zero visibility.  Be very very careful!  The hole is DEEP, DARK and SLIPPERY :ph34r: 

 

Matt ♪ ♫ ♪

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Cris,

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

From your listening/recording position, both speakers are off axis. This will affect higher frequencies more than lower ones. If you simply toe them in, you will get crisper highs and better stereo separation from your LP. Even tilting them back would point them more at your ears. I would estimate you are hearing a 6db difference between the lowest and highest frequencies from your position simply due to how the speakers are toed in.

 

A note on your adjectives. "Lush" is what I think of when I see my front yard in the spring. I have no thoughts on what that would mean in audio. You need to be a bit more descriptive. "Wetness" brings a lot of things to mind also, and none of them have to do with sound.

 

What I am going on is what I hear and see from the recording you published and your good descriptors of warm and somewhat bassy. I get that. As for tube amps, I will let others chime in. I kinda like the big watt receiver you have there. Gotta love those old Marantz.

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Welcome Cris!  Can you please start a new post about this in the "Talkin' Tubes" section of the forum along with a detailed description of your room size, the distance from your listening position to the speakers, all the types of music you listen to, and how loudly you listen.  With that information I, and others, can give you good advice about a suitable tube amplifier.  Also, what state to you live in?

 

Maynard

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Cris,

 

It looks like you already have a tube amp on the 1st shelf on the left. If you are looking for more power, then try an integrated PP.

 

Maynard brings up many good points as does Mustang Guy.

 

I recently got into tubes myself a little over a year ago, and started out with a little Chinese Class A SET,which would push those,and then upgraded the caps,wiring, and resistors-all under $500.00, then purchased a used Yaqin MC-10L Integrated for under $500.00.That pushes 42 wpc.I upgraded the tubes with NOS. I have a custom built SEP amp which is done up as a dual channel mono amp in one platform which pushes my speakers with no problems and would also do yours.

 

Speaker placement and sitting position will play a big role in your SQ. The more tuned in it is, the better sound you'll get.

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I have decided to a lot $500 for tube amplifier and would like get some feedback

 

-HA!- that is what I thought too, about $500-$600 for a tube amp, you know, to get my feet wet.  I am so far down the rabbit hole now, zero visibility.  Be very very careful!  The hole is DEEP, DARK and SLIPPERY :ph34r: 

 

Matt ♪ ♫ ♪

 

Matt, this got me laughing. I somewhat know the rabbit hole is deep but adding dark and slippery scares me. In reality it scares me that my pocket would not match how deep the hole is. Then adding darkness and slippery there scares me due to the unknown. But yes, I do agree hence I am posting here so I may (in a way) maximize my budget to find what I am looking for.

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both speakers are off axis
 

 

Thanks, my klipsch here is about 10 to 20 degrees toed in.  And I'm no expert but you would be surprised that the singers voice is SPOT ON the center. This is how I measure toe in by the way. Also apologies for the CAPS as I can't profoundly express by writing as I would like to (e.g. LUSH and WET).

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both speakers are off axis
 

 

Thanks, my klipsch here is about 10 to 20 degrees toed in.  And I'm no expert but you would be surprised that the singers voice is SPOT ON the center. This is how I measure toe in by the way. Also apologies for the CAPS as I can't profoundly express by writing as I would like to (e.g. LUSH and WET).

 

But hey, how would my novice ears know this  :mellow:

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Welcome Cris!  Can you please start a new post about this in the "Talkin' Tubes" section of the forum along with a detailed description of your room size, the distance from your listening position to the speakers, all the types of music you listen to, and how loudly you listen.  With that information I, and others, can give you good advice about a suitable tube amplifier.  Also, what state to you live in?

 

Maynard

Hey Maynard, thanks for pointing me to the right direction. Replying all the responses and will start a new thread there  :)

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you already have a tube amp on the 1st shelf on the left. If you are looking for more power

 

Jim, thank you for pointing this out. I have a video comparison of this uploading soon into youtube (if that helps). That tube amp is actually a chinese SET amp, while it did WOW me for a while, my somewhat picky ears out grown it. That is because comparing to my marantz (not much lush / sweetness there), it is lacking let say 100hz to 500hz pronunciation of Ayako's voice (which my marantz doesn't). 

 

Actually, I am not looking for power (that is beyond my arms and limb budget). I am looking for sonic signature MIDBASS BLOOM, LUSH (sweet) and WET (I can't further describe but read it somewhere and it make sense). I am not looking for MUCH on presence, ambiance, 3D holographic, etc IMHO that does not make the music.

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by upgrading your speakers

 

roger, I've been upgrading my speaker for sometime now and have decided to invest on the KG4. I have plan to move to the cornwall but is limited by funds as of now. Are you suggesting cornwall (or alike) with the budget I have? thanks. 

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The tube amp will need awhile to break in and SET amps do not have the same boomy bass. They are more for mids and highs. The tubes in them are entry level also and you may or may not be able to get a different sound with different tubes.

 

The tube sound is going to be different than SS sound, it's not going to be as tight (in the $500.00 range) with bass as SS, but you'll need to listen for awhile in order for your ears to acclimate to the changing of the sound coming out of the speakers.

 

I can tell you on the PP Integrated,it sounds different as well and goes louder,which may open things up for the speakers. The SEP amp will do the same and will go lower in the bass response than the SET. Try triangulating your seating position with the distance from the width of the speakers and the amp should give you an almost 3D imaging. Try that for about a week or so while you look more inot the sound you describe and look for a different amp. One other thing you can look at is an Aphex 204 Aural Exciter. They are used in the recording industry and act as a "boost button" and you can adjust the highs, mids, and lows. I have that in my system as well.

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The Cornwalls could also be the problem as they are good for Rock music, but others say they lack in the mids and highs vs other speakers.I've read they tend to get a little muddy on the sound.

 

The KG 4 is a good speaker. I use Klipsch Forte II, KG 4.2 with the Chinese Class A SET and have no issues with them.

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