Narrowing my amp choices

[tromprof]

After receiving a lot of good advice regarding tube amps to pair with my Klipschorns and some further research on my part I have come to the conclusion that I cannot afford most of what was recommended. I cannot spend more than $1000.00 max and much of what was recommeded far exceeded that. I'm sure it sounds great but its not going to happen. My wife will not be pleased with any money I spend on this and like me is a professional musician. She is a violinist and can hear if I have made it sould better or am just spending money. I currently have an Adcom GFA-555 and matching preamp which I will be selling off to help fund this venture. The Adcom equiment has been very reliable but sounds a bit bright and harsh with the K-horns. I was using a pair of Tannoys previously which were not bright with the Adcom stuff. After further reading I am considering a better solid state amp as well. The three choices that seem to fall in my price range are:

1. Monachy Audio SM-70, $719.00. A class A 25 watt ss amp.

2. A Chinese tube amp from Pacific Valve and Electric Compnay in Illinois. It is a "Shuguang Blue S8" rated at 50 watts, price $999.00. http://www.pacificvalve.us/ShuguangBlueS8.html

3. An old Scott 299. Cost to get and get working correctly, $400 and up (and up and up?). There seem to be a lot of them floating around on Ebay but I a very wary of this option as I am a novice in the land of tubes and to not want something that is cranky and needs to be worked on and tweaked all the time.

Any advive on the above would be appreciated, especially on the Pacific Valve amp and the Monarchy amp.

Thanks

[Hifi jim]

Hi tromprof, I am selling two Scott tube amps. I have a Scott 222 that is all original including tubes that I will be listing in the Garage forum soon. It worked fine when I purchased it, but now needs work as the right channel is hardly working. I know it's not the tubes as I've switched with other working tubes. I also have a Scott 299 that I bought not working with intentions of sending it to Craig at NOS Valves. It trips a fuse at turn on and I have no idea why, and is missing one knob. Both could be reworked by Craig at NOS Valves, or another reputable repair shop and be ready for another 50 years use. I think you'd be quite happy with the sound and it would be a noticeable improvement in my opinion over the Adcom gear which I used briefly years ago on my kg4's. I'd love to keep the 222 but I must sell lots of gear to make room for some I've bought recently, and some more I plan to buy soon... namely Cornwalls. I'll sell the 299 for $185 shipped to the lower 48 (insurance and PayPal fee inc.) The 222 is in really fine condition, and looks as if it had very little use judging by the original tubes, $425 shipped. Either will need a small investment, but it is within your budget. Just an option. I have pictures if interested, and I will be listing them soon in the Garage forum.

[jpm]

REGA amp, preamp & cdp. $3000 for all three and very warm and tube-like in sound, but with the punch that SS brings. Made in the UK. Mine are stellar with my LS's and Hsu sub.

http://www.rega.co.uk/index2.htm

[seti]

Check out this Wright $999 It is on audiogon but the seller has good feedback.$1700 new.

http://www.wright-sound.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=23

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?intatube&1226885531&/Wright-Sound-WIA-1515

I have owned his gear. Made in America.

[Dennie]

I picked up a Hafler DH 200 by accident. The guy who sold me his turntable brought it with him and said, give me $50 for it! So I did. I think he was the original owner and took very good care of it.

I too was using a Adcom GFA 555. I have only been using the Hafler for two days now with my La Scala'a, but it is a fine sounding amp. I actually think it has helped with the "brightness" and sounds much fuller at lower volumes than the adcom did. Might have been the best $50 I have spent. It is an old amp though and from what I have read about them, you take your chances with older gear.

There is one on Ebay right now, here is the LINK!

Just my .02 cents.

Dennie

[CIGARBUM]

Have you given thought to either tube or SS used McIntosh stuff, they may fall into your price range.

They sound great with Cornwall's

[sheltie dave]

Tromprof, the two solid state amps I would recommend would be either a Mark Deneen modified Crown amp that would come with a good warranty program thru Mark(and sound great on KHorns,) or the Monarchys. The SM70 is a solid amp.

If you want to save some money, I have a pair of Monarchy SM70 Pros that you can pick up for $850. They are a step up in quality over the conventional SM 70s, and are living room ready as far as looks. I am running them on my KHorns in a triamp configuration right now.

[tromprof]

Sheltie Dave,

I am definitely intersted in your Monarchy amps. Please get in touch.

Thanks

[bliss53]

I have cayin A50T that does a great job with my cornwalls, quartets and heresys. Rolled the tubes to Mullards and got a very sweet sound. Best bang for the buck in tubes ($1200) imho. I am going to try a pair of scott mono's soon. I have tried primiluna tube, creek ss, adcom ss, vintage onkyo ss, and vintage pioneer. The cayin is better than all of them. I would like to compare to mcintosh tubes someday.