NOSValves Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 Colin, Nice list but you may have just overwhelmed anyone thinking of vintage. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 No doubt. What the hell you trying to do Colin -- scare the life out of this guy? Easyeyes, all of your friends probably don't use horns do they? The real advantage of horns is that you don't HAVE to use solid state or anything high power at all! I have th Klipsch RF7's which are rated the same as your KLF-30's in efficiency. I'm using 9 tube watts a channel -- and I can hit very high volume levels in my modest sized listening area. Unless your room is the size of Albert Hall -- you should have no problem with 20 watts -- which will easily drive you out of the room. Quit thinking in "watts" -- it's almost completely meaningless. Where overseas are you? The amps in the price range you are looking usually have an autobiasing feature, or the bias is preset and you just leave it the way it is. Even if you had to do it yourself, it's ridiculously simple. If you don't want to go 'vintage', I still think the Anthem Amp1 and Anthem Pre1L sound very good for the prices they are going for now. Both amp and preamp together could be had for around $900. Not bad considering the two together went for $2500 5 years ago. However, a Scott in fine condition will probably best it in sound. Going with tubes will totally transform your KLF's, and I'm sure your friends will have a good laugh at your expense -- that is, until they hear your system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edster00 Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 JCturboT, I didn't find the Jolida deficient in bass at all, it just had much more power than I wanted and it didn't sound very "refined" especially in the highs. I was (and still am) of the opinion that to get the best out of an amp you need to be operating it in the power range where it's specs are best. I wanted to match the "power curve" of my amp to the efficiency of my speakers. I think that if a SS amp is rated at .005% distortion the distortion is probably measured at ~75% or greater of it's max power output. I was looking for the best sounding 1st watt because of the efficiency of the larger Klipsch speakers. I sold the Jolida and bought a pair of VTL Tiny Triodes putting out 25 wpc in triode mode and 45wpc in pentode mode. These are really sweet sounding little EL-84 based amps but they still had more power than I was looking for, even in triode mode. I then tried a Monarchy SM-70 25wpc SS amp and I still own one of them. I will use the Monarchy if and when I have to take the Moondogs out of my system for whatever reason (I eventually got a 2nd Monarchy and ran them mono blocked but they are 70wpc mono blocked and I sold the 2nd one). Next came the "Signature" Zen Triode mono blocks (model SV83M), Decware's top of the line. The Zen's were the best sounding amps I had heard up to that time. The Zen's were rated at 3.5 wpc but they ran out of steam in the low to mid 90dB's and that just wasn't loud enough for me. I want to be able to crank it louder from time to time and I wanted more headroom. Next up was an Antique Sound Labs MG SI 15 DT/S which is 5 wpc in triode mode and 15 wpc in pentode mode. This little amp also ran out of steam in the low 90dB range in triode mode. I kept using the Monarchy between the tube amp trials. I eventually got the Moondogs nearly a year ago and I haven't looked back since. I haven't purchased an amp for my 2 channel rig since I got the Moondogs, but I will probably try a 45 tube based amp and/or a 300b based amp in the future, just so I will have a taste of them. I did buy a Scott 299A this summer that Craig fixed up for me and I have it in a 2nd system driving a pair of Heresy's, it is a great little unit...at some point in time I will hook the Scott on my K-horns (I promise Craig!). I also have an Eico HF-81 that works and sounds nice but it hasn't been checked out and brought up to snuff yet. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 So having said all that, I bought Dynaco ST70s for $40 for the pair decades ago, used them for decades. Never touched them: never did anything to them, never replaced a tube (never noticed the tubes getting cherry red, though the knobs were getting scratchy). Sold them (fast) for $120; big mistake. Bought a pair of Bottlehead 2A3 Paramours ($700) two years ago. Never did anything to them. Love them. Prefer them over my SS amplifier, SS receivers, except the exceptional smooth and powerful Pass X250, but they give even that incredible beast a run for its money. My friend bought the charming little $99 ASL Wave 8s, which I had for many weeks. Ran those for weeks. Never touched them. He has them now for months. Hasnt touched them. Uses them with delightful little high-sensitivity Axiom M3Tis, though they sounded much better on my Cornwalls. Now have the hefty little nOrh integrated SE9, 35 pounds, new for only $499. Hellva amplifier for the price. Plug in the loudspeakers, nothing to touch yet. Let you know what I think in a month or so of comparisons. Hard to go wrong at that price. Would have to have serious deficiencies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 Edster, That last paragraph saved you there I still can't believe you haven't hooked that up to your Khorns Heresy are nice but they just don't do these amps justice . It would blow yours , mine and everyones mind here if you thought it was near the sound of your Moondoggies. Please take the time to do this and report back your honest opinion. All my hard labor tweaking that amp and you treat the thing like this Are you feeling guilty yet ??? Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 Of course, in spite of Kelly's love affair with the Eicos -- the Moondoggies are still in place. Nice post Colin, much better:) The nOrh is intriquing -- I'm looking forward toward your thoughts on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfz28 Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 Edster, Hook that scott 299a up to your k-horns and let us know how it sounds.My 299a sounds great on my k-horns, it sounds way better than my ss amp.I dont have any other tube amps to compare the scott to thow, but you sure do.The scott has plenty of power to fill my room up with sound, so far the most I had it turned up to was halfway for a short time and wow what clean room filling sound.I didnt believe a 17 WPC tube amp could push my k-horns to the volume level I was looking far, but it easily does so with no problem.I have to say Im hooked on tubes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edster00 Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 The biggest hassle with hooking up the Scott is I that have big fat spades on the amp end of my speaker cables, nearly impossible to get them hooked up to the Scott. Also...3.5 watts fills up my room with sound quite nicely! But I will hook the Scott up, I just gotta get in the proper mood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 Ed, I believe the operative word there was NEARLY lol !!!!!!!!! Where there's a will there's a way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyeyes Posted November 20, 2002 Author Share Posted November 20, 2002 Dean, right now I'm living in the UK. This is making it difficult to try equipment before purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyeyes Posted November 20, 2002 Author Share Posted November 20, 2002 Dean, I did not answer your other question - I have two friends who have the 30s like me but they are in the HT arena right now. The other friend has some $20,000 SS set up that does not include horns, he's the one giving it to me. I've listened to his system and it sounds really nice, but that's too much money for me to invest. He's always talking about his friend in Colorado who has a pair of K-horns connected to some quick silvers. Colin, after reading your response I felt some what over stimulated, but that's good. What I can understand I'll take it, and the other I'll ask questions about it. EE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCturboT Posted November 29, 2002 Share Posted November 29, 2002 Anyone else have any suggestions in the tube amp deparment either integrated or otherwise for us tube newbies? Jeff PS:Really wanna audition an Jolida 801A in my home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted November 30, 2002 Share Posted November 30, 2002 The new ASL Tulip 2A3 stereo/mono SET power amplifier with step up transformer in put stage is 3.5-watts/channel stereo, 10 Watt bridged to mono. $899.00 USD For a cheap solution, S-5 Electronics out of Chandler Arizona (480-895-2521) offers a 8 watt integrated amp for $170 with tubes I have never heard of, the 11MS8s. Other amplifiers that I seen good things about here are the: Quicksilver Mini Mites, Quicksilver 8417's, Wright AU-15's PP 2A3's, Wright WPA 3.5 2A3 SET, Prototype Quicksilver 300B's (with Western Electric Tubes). With about $1500 to spend the ones I would want to hear the most with ultra-efficient big old horns are the Wright or the Wellbourne 2A3s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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