What type of amps do you use? Tube? Solid State? Both? Hybrid?

What type of amp do you use?

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Feanor said:
(Don't think I've posted on this thread previously ...)

I've never had a tube power amp though I've had a couple of tube preamps. Presently for the latter I'm using a Sonic Frontiers Line 1 with 'SE+' upgrades by Parts ConneXion and, at this moment, Golden Lion tubes in the gain stage -- very nice but not especially "tubey".

I've had a fair number of power amps over 50+ years which have all been solid state; that has included several class D amps starting over 20 years ago. Nowadays it's a Purifi 1E400A-based stereo amp from VTV with VTV i/o buffers with Sparkos SS3602 op amps. It's my best amp so far, beating out my last class A/B which was a Pass Labs X150.5.
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What Speakers and Preamp are you using with the Class D amp ..?
 
HH Scott tube amps for me, first heard a demo of them against the mighty McIntosh 275 ( I forgot what the Mac pre was) but playing each one through to Klipsch Cornwall speakers I was flabbergasted to what I was hearing! Blew me away!
 

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in my experience, it doesn’t matter if the specific output device is tube or solid state, what matters most is the circuit topology.
 
What matters most to me is how it sounds with my cables, speakers and room. Further down the line of requirements, call it the second page, are price, reputation (of dealer and manufacturer), source of supply (private party, direct or dealer), build quality, appearance etc.
 
Dr Morbius said:
HH Scott tube amps for me, first heard a demo of them against the mighty McIntosh 275 ( I forgot what the Mac pre was) but playing each one through to Klipsch Cornwall speakers I was flabbergasted to what I was hearing! Blew me away!
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Scott knew what they were doing. Their head engineer when your stuff was built was Daniel von Recklinghausen, who is famous for his insight "If it measures good and sounds bad, — it is bad. If it sounds good and measures bad, — you've measured the wrong thing." You can imagine he was careful to also listen to the designs..

The tricky bit these days is getting any older gear like that properly refurbished.
 
Jadis JA800 - 40 +tubes
Bought solely based on sound
Great to be back on this site. I’ve made significant improvements and need to share them with someone.
 

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There’s been a change since the above picture was posted. I now am selling my outstanding Cornscala’s, ( it’s sad to see them go, they were so good!) but the speakers I always wanted are now in the corners.
 

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Listening to music thru tube amplification back when I was young.. Early 1950's and the music being everything from Rock and Roll to classical. I got a decent education listening to music. My parents were into good audio gear and both enjoyed music. .

I went from SS to tube and back thru the 60's and early 70's. My best Amplifier was a Sansui AU 111 for well over ten years. several TT's and RtR's and a set of the RS Nova 8B speakers that I really enjoyed. this was my main sys until 1980 when the Sansui let the magic smoke out. the So called tech I took it to ruined it. So it sat in my closet for years.

I later gave it to a good friend and he had it completly rebuilt and never told me. Until I was at his house and showed me the rebuilt Sansui. He never said what it cost and I never asked. I did ask could I have it back and he said no.

Today, I'm into the early 70's Kenwood amplifiers (71-74) and I've taken a liking to the early 80's Sansui A series Amplifiers. The Classique A-900 DC Servo and a very recently purchased A-80 DC servo amplifier. I use tube preamps with these. A P.J.M. preamp and a couple of the TFSA6.0 preamps. I think this setup makes a very good listening experiance.

So how many here use a SS amplifier and a Tube preamp? and what are your thoughts as to the sound?
 
I have for the last 22 years have had(and still do) HH Scott tube amps redone by NOS Valves and they sound every bit as good as the best out there. I even dabbled with a Scott 299T (solid state) which is very nice, but not quite as nice as their tube amps. I’ll probably look to sell the 299T soon anyway.
 

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MacLessig said:
So how many here use a SS amplifier and a Tube preamp? and what are your thoughts as to the sound?
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I have had a system running like this in one form or another for over 30 years. My current 2nd system uses a VAC CLA1 MKII Tube Pre and an Odyssey Stratos Plus amp driving Dynaudio 82s. I have always loved the sound of this combo ever since I had a Sound Valves 101i.
 
A update on the Sansui A-80. It arrived this morning. After unpacking it and checking it. I found it needed a serious Deoxing and a good cleaning. after that was all done it was time to see how well it works. 6 hours play time, no issues, pops scratching noises. A low hum at first powerup but it went away and has not come back. there is no telling how long the amplifier has sat unused.

It is now setup on my front room system with a TFSA6.0 tube preamp. Patched thru the Aux input, bass/treble flat. Loudness control set at 1. Volume set at 3. Preamp set at the same. no bass/treble controls on it. Playing thru Polk Audio R150 book shelf speakers. Tascam 112R cassette deck for tapes and a Tascam CDR-750 playing CD's or recording them.

The front room is where I spend my time online and playing the few games I like to play. I find the Polk Audio R150's work very well for this as its not a large room. I listen to spotify when I'm net surfing and the music is good (premium spotify). the Sansui replaced a very much loved Kenwood KA 405.

Aside from the very inexpenseve case build and a few of the controls that look a bit scary as to build quality. for me the A-80 bows down to no one. If one can overlook the cheap case and if the amp is not broken. It can be a very good buy. Its not the AU 111 I once had for years and its not a cheap clunker either
 

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MacLessig said:
A low hum at first powerup but it went away and has not come back. there is no telling how long the amplifier has sat unused.
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If you've not had the filter capacitors in the power supply replaced, consider doing so. The hum you got was a warning they are not happy. It may be back with a vengeance; if they fail they could take the power transformer with them. The smell of a power transformer burning in the morning isn't as nice as burning napalm...
 
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