Linear Tube Audio ZOTL40 Reference amplifier?

joeinid said:

...I’m looking for 20wpc to possibly 40wpc of sweet and easy (zero to low maintenance) tube goodness.

Click to expand...

ymmv but ... tube goodness = single-ended-triode amplification.

to get north of 20wpc in SET land one is looking at 211 and 845 output tubes. there is also the 6c33c tubes which are ~18wpc. however, fwiw: the manufacturer of my 97 dB speakers recommends:


absolutely no clue as to why the difference but it appears all wpc are not created equal. so, you might be able to relax your min wpc constraint, thereby, increasing the universe of output tubes to consider. worth checking out if you are going down this route.

also, the wpc you actually need is not only a factor of speaker sensitivity but also listening level, room size, etc, etc. according to one SET amp manufacturer i spoke with, the power needs of customers with the same sensitivity speakers can differ by a factor of 10 due to these other considerations.

in terms of low maintenance: auto biasing is definitely good for that ...and, the the fewer tubes the better. my almarro a318b is an integrated SET amp with only 4 tubes!! in addition to being more economical, this makes it quite easy to troubleshoot any tube issues should they occur.

enjoy!!

With your stated needs, Viva IMO....

I like the Viva suggestion. Thank you Jim.

Thank you aKnyght.

Yeah, if the LTA MZ2 wasn't sweet enough I'd go a different direction - Jadis comes to mind. It's like a ray of sunshine type sound. Excellent transformers for bass control. There is a 35 watt version that might be perfect.

In fact, if I try a tube amp again that's my likely path. I'm still kicking myself for not buying a friend's i50.

Air Tight ATM-1S

Joe, 845 tubes sound grade with Serblin. I’ve heard great things about Aeries Cerat. Viva might not be powerful enough. The MasterSound Evolution is around 60 wpc in parallel SET. I’m loving my MasterSound PF100’s, putting out 120 watts each of 845 PSET goodness.

I bet the MasterSound are insane. Always did want to try them but I seem to circle in and out of tubes. I wanted something as plug and play as possible but then realize it might not be the sound I’m looking for.

I need to be patient. My Luxman 595 could be here next week.

The Luxman seems like it would be perfect! Did your Accordo’s arrive?

Accordo are scheduled for sometime next month.

The ZOTL 40 is getting an upgrade. Now in BETA Testing with some users. Suppose to be quite a step up in performance according to one of the BETA testers on A-Gon.

This has to be a killer amp. Thinking of doing an in home demo some time for the last dance to my system.