Valve amps - Advice wanted

[lucifer-chops]

I am a novice when it comes to valve amplification - or 'tubes' as you guys across the pond seem to call them! Anyhow, from what I've been reading on this forum over the past year or so I figure I need to get a tube stage into my system if I ever want to hear what the 'breath of life' really sounds like on my first press stereo tube cut -1 copy of Beatles for Sale!

Here in the UK the vintage manufacturers that seem to be widely available in the second hand shops are Quad, Rogers and Leak. Does anyone have any recommendations they could give me as to what would be a good starting point? For example should I get a tube pre-amp and continue using my audiolab 8000a as the power stage, or do I need a tube power amp too?

Any advice will be welcomed!

Thanks

Luke

[Cafe Jeff]

Hi Luke,
Rogers, Leak and Quad are all great stuff. They have very high input sensitivities, so you can usually get away with just a passive pre-amp if you are using a tuner or cd player. For a turntable, you will need a separate phono-preamp. The rule of thumb is that the vintage power amps are superior to the vintage pre-amps. Moreover, some of the vintage pre-amps require the power amp to supply the power. Jeff

[Dave]

Luke,

I'm sort of in the same boat as you. Running total SS right now. The advice that was given to me was "if you want the tubey sound get the amp. first." I'm not an expert on the manufacturers you describe so I'll let the more experienced "tubers" comment on that.

Hope this helps somewhat.:)

[lucifer-chops]

Originally posted by Cafe Jeff
For a turntable, you will need a separate phono-preamp

Good point. When I get a tube stage I want to be able to listen to CD as well as vinyl through it, but for financial and space reasons I would want to limit my outlay to a single unit at this point. So, can you get tube pre-amps with built in phono stages or is the phono stage always separate? In which case maybe I need to go down the power amp route. As you can tell, I'm new to this game ...

[Cafe Jeff]

Lucifer,

I'd go for a power amp first so as to experience the full flavour of tubes. A tube pre-amp will only season the sound slightly. Tube power amps, particularly vintage, often are cheaper than newer tube pre-amps with or without a phono-stage. See my article at:


http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/viewpoint/0203/vintagehifi.htm

For why I like Vintage Hi Fi. If you're in England, I'd even check out the Hi Fi World Integrated kits. Jeff

[LeeS]

I also suggest starting with a power amp. Audio Research can be had both used and new in London and that's my favorite brand. Been using different preamps and amps for 12 years from this superb company.

[indy mike]

If older equipment is readily available, chances are pretty good that a phono stage was part of most, if not all preamps from the good old days. If you're looking to go with a preamp first and play vinyl, try to find one that uses 12AX7's in the phono stage - then pay out the ol' wazoo for some genuine Telefunkens and stand back!

[Cafe Jeff]

As you are in Britain, there seems to be a dearth of quality vintage recievers sold there. Most older UK set up were of seperates, with seperate power and pre-amps, with the pre-amp using the poweramps power supply.
If you bought a pair of Leak TL12+s or a Stereo 20, you wouldn't go wrong. These should set you back around UKP200-300. Jeff

[lucifer-chops]

Thanks for the recommendations Jeff - I'll have a look around and see what's out there. My intention is to score something vintage as opposed to new or nearly new - mainly for reasons of price. Are there any obvious things to look out for that might help me avoid ending up with a lemon??

Regards

Luke

[ze-ant]

I went through the same stage a while back and aked a very experienced local tube guru for some advice. He recommended me to get an integrated tube amp and to go for a pre-amp when I was sure that I liked the 'tube' sound, thereby using the integrated amp as a power amp. I took his advice and never looked back.

[Gary]

Originally posted by lucifer-chops
. Are there any obvious things to look out for that might help me avoid ending up with a lemon??



Make sure the tubes glow? :D

Sorry, Luke. Just kidding..... I have a weird sense of humour.

Consider finding a tube amp repair person / place first. This place may be able to recommend a particular amp or know of some for sale. If you confirm with this place that they can repair a particular model, this may help guide you in what you purchase. Consider dropping the amp off at the repair depot right after you buy it - for a thorough check over. Who knows - a bad amp could damage other components of your stereo (speakers?)

Before you buy it, try running it for a long time under load and see what happens. Bad tubes glow a bright red (or not at all). Maybe bad capacitors start to smell funny. Sckott could probably tell us more.

Good luck!

I envy you - I think British equipment sounds pretty yummy! :)

[Gary]

Oh - one more thing. This (to be found) repair place can also give you the "low down" on what goes wrong with a particular model - and if it's repairable! Know what I mean?

[Alan T]

I’m in the process of repairing a Dyanco ST-70 tube power amp. I figured since it was a kit it would be easy to repair and there is a wealth of information about them on the net. Since I will be doing the repairs myself, it has been quite a learning curve.