M6 Driver Posted December 3, 2001 Share Posted December 3, 2001 Folks, Can someone here give me some direction with the Tube Amp gig before I get in over my head! For starters what's the connection with the Tubes/Horn facination? What's the ideal wattage I figure no more then 12 watts Are Tube Amps either Stereo or Mono Do I need a Pre-Amp (I guess I would huh) Are they insanely expensive or do you get what you pay for? Thanks John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted December 3, 2001 Share Posted December 3, 2001 how far is Cleremont from West Palm? - come and play stereo with me and my tube amps, I will even try and get my reference SS amp, which I have not used since ZI got tubes, up and running again - breifly, the super-efficiency of horns makes the odd different harmonic distortation and zereo feedback possible you do not need much more than 8 watts, depending on the speaker - amps are either stereo or mono - you do need a pre-amp, CD player with volume control or a phone line amp - they can be too expensive for what you get, although I am findin little kits that can also be awfully crude and awfully cheap - what do you have for speaks? ------------------ Cornwalls & Klipsch subs; leather couch & feet up; lights out & tubes glowing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted December 3, 2001 Share Posted December 3, 2001 Basically the high efficiency of horn loudspeakers means they can make a hello of a loud sound without the need for a large signal input. Regardless of the underlying technology however a lousy signal into a horn speaker will result in a very loud output of lousy sound. I do not subscribe to the "Tubes are Good and Solid State is Bad Theology" but I will say that in most cases I do prefer the listening experience created by a good tube amplifier paired with a good horn loaded speaker system. There are many excellent tube based amplifiers available and on average they are more expensive than solid state amps of similar power. That said, horn loaded loudspeakers do not require a lot of power to generate very high sound pressure levels. Thus I can recommend tube amps to users of horn loaded speakers whereas I would hesitate to recommend most tube amps to owners of low efficiency speakers. That said excellent tube powered amplifiers are available at reasonable prices. My own amp is an Antique Sound Lab AQ1003DT,( Class A 30W/ch. integrated which sells for U$749.00) and I am aware of amplifiers available in the U.S. with similar specifications and at similar cost. ASL even offers a monoblock rated at 8 watts for 99.00 U.S. http://www.divertech.com/antiquesl.html Another line to look into for high end performance at a rock bottom price would be Jolida. There others out there as well. ------------------ It is meet to recall that the Great Green Heron rarely flies upside down in the moonlight - (Foo Ling ca. 1304 BCE) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M6 Driver Posted December 3, 2001 Author Share Posted December 3, 2001 Thanks for the replies Colin, Clermont (near Orlando) about 2 hours I guess via Turnpike or 95 I would like to take yo up on your offer looks like the only free time would be January for speakers as of now It's 4 KLF 30's and a C7. (apartment thus no subs) Looking for something in the Heritage line for my 2 channel quest so far Forte,Chorus,Heresy. that's what I'm leaning towards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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