Empirical Audio
Industry Expert
I have efficient speakers, but probably not as high as yours. The Due Volte SET monoblocks give you 35W to each speaker. More than enough power to break windows.
I am sick of failing amplifiers
- Thread starter Kingrex
- Start date
I have efficient speakers, but probably not as high as yours. The Due Volte SET monoblocks give you 35W to each speaker. More than enough power to break windows.
Empirical Audio
Industry Expert
I had my problems with tubes and tube amps. Very frustrating.
I finally found a ss amp to compliment my high sensitivity horns (107db) which allowed me to happily say goodby to tube amps. As you have fairly sensitive speakers (97db?), you might want to consider the Bakoon 13r at 25 watts/channel. It does not "sound solid state." It's a current based circuit, 0 feedback design. The build quality looks to be excellent.
http://www.bakoon.com/product/amp-13r/
My second choice would be one the low powered Pass amps.
Another very interesting concept I had not heard of before is powering high efficiency speakers from your DAC. @ray-dude has written about this on Audiophile Style in his review of the Extreme Server. He is connecting RCA from his Chord Dave DAC to his speakers.
So, there's one elegant way to solve your amp problems-- no amp! This would be a good thread topic on its own.
I finally found a ss amp to compliment my high sensitivity horns (107db) which allowed me to happily say goodby to tube amps. As you have fairly sensitive speakers (97db?), you might want to consider the Bakoon 13r at 25 watts/channel. It does not "sound solid state." It's a current based circuit, 0 feedback design. The build quality looks to be excellent.
http://www.bakoon.com/product/amp-13r/
My second choice would be one the low powered Pass amps.
Another very interesting concept I had not heard of before is powering high efficiency speakers from your DAC. @ray-dude has written about this on Audiophile Style in his review of the Extreme Server. He is connecting RCA from his Chord Dave DAC to his speakers.
So, there's one elegant way to solve your amp problems-- no amp! This would be a good thread topic on its own.
I only buy high quality used equipment or have completely custom equipment, because my intention is always to have it modified with better electrical components. Always. I have never heard a piece of stock equipment, from any manufacturer, that I was satisfied with. Nearly all equipment (except for the top manufacturers on an unlimited budget) you can buy will be using cheap capacitors, wiring, clocks etc. because they are designing for a specific price point. The best value for money I have found is in purchasing the top Musical Fidelity equipment, and then having a local technician (who is also a friend of mine) upgrade it with better components. I also have a custom designed tube phono stage with quality components, and the sum total of my system's sound is incredible. I don't comment on the money people spend on continuously selling and purchasing expensive equipment because its their business, not mine. But there is no doubt in my mind that modifying used quality gear is the highest value for money you can get. I try to use Mundorf Silver/Gold/Oil capacitors as much as possible, and they've never let me down.
Empirical Audio
Industry Expert
I modded equipment for 10 years before designing my own product line. 40 different components. Never encountered a piece that I could not improve. I don't do that anymore, but I agree with you that it's hard to find anything on the market that cannot be improved with mods. All of it needs it IMO. Finding a competent modder is another thing...
My most reliable tube amps so far have been VTL and Wavac. Even one of the three Wavacs required some interventions (replacement of power supply diodes). The VTL MB 450 over many years only had rare tube failures, they were as solid as a rock.
Tubes forced me to become more of a DIY interventionist than I wanted. Dynaco tube amps required interventions on a regular basis, the output chokes failed a lot. Melos 519 hi current tube amps required soldering of drain resistors pretty often, and had blow ups that I could mostly do myself replacing components.
The flea powered SET amps that I have been playing with to great delight currently on BG75 midrange ribbons both had problems that i could rectify by replacing components with better quality parts. They aren't too difficult to deal with due to fairly straight forward circuits.
Solid state repairs are more elusive because the circuits can be complicated and usually need more measuring equipment than a volt meter.
Tubes forced me to become more of a DIY interventionist than I wanted. Dynaco tube amps required interventions on a regular basis, the output chokes failed a lot. Melos 519 hi current tube amps required soldering of drain resistors pretty often, and had blow ups that I could mostly do myself replacing components.
The flea powered SET amps that I have been playing with to great delight currently on BG75 midrange ribbons both had problems that i could rectify by replacing components with better quality parts. They aren't too difficult to deal with due to fairly straight forward circuits.
Solid state repairs are more elusive because the circuits can be complicated and usually need more measuring equipment than a volt meter.
A bit like cars - buy a cottage industry one (TVR, Jensen, etc) and you'll love the looks and performance, but you'll have to expect breakdowns. Look for BMW or Audi for trouble free, but perhaps marginally less exciting motoring. And big brands keep their value better too.
Wil said "Another very interesting concept I had not heard of before is powering high efficiency speakers from your DAC."
The NAD M32's DirectDigital amp is claimed to be effectively a "DAC with gain" according to a white paper I read in the NAD archives. Interesting that it's being replaced with a Purifi module in its replacement, the NAD M33. I think the M32 is a remarkable amp for its price and, if the M33 is better and includes its other benefits (Dirac, streamer, etc), it promises to be an even bigger bargain. Peter
The NAD M32's DirectDigital amp is claimed to be effectively a "DAC with gain" according to a white paper I read in the NAD archives. Interesting that it's being replaced with a Purifi module in its replacement, the NAD M33. I think the M32 is a remarkable amp for its price and, if the M33 is better and includes its other benefits (Dirac, streamer, etc), it promises to be an even bigger bargain. Peter
You're not kidding, a highly skilled technician can even repair the screw ups people make trying to mod their own equipment when they don't know what they're doing!
Convergent audio jl 2 sign tube amp .
Never had a problem in 6 years time.
I bought it second hand with new tubes, its a 12 year old amplifier.
Bias changes a bit which is normal as tubes get older .
The Cat pre needs a new tube every year or so somewhere as one gets noisy.
I use KT 120 s i might swap to 6550 s in a couple of years just for fun.
With tube power amps i think its better if you connect them to an easy speaker .
If they constantly have to play on the limits of power my gut feeling is there is more chance of failure , plus the risk of higher distortion
I have no prove of that its just a feeling , plus the design has to be good in the first place .
To be honest i never had a problem with high end gear .
One tube that failed on me was of a Graaf gm 200 Otl and they run hot
Never had a problem in 6 years time.
I bought it second hand with new tubes, its a 12 year old amplifier.
Bias changes a bit which is normal as tubes get older .
The Cat pre needs a new tube every year or so somewhere as one gets noisy.
I use KT 120 s i might swap to 6550 s in a couple of years just for fun.
With tube power amps i think its better if you connect them to an easy speaker .
If they constantly have to play on the limits of power my gut feeling is there is more chance of failure , plus the risk of higher distortion
I have no prove of that its just a feeling , plus the design has to be good in the first place .
To be honest i never had a problem with high end gear .
One tube that failed on me was of a Graaf gm 200 Otl and they run hot
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Never have speakerproblems too .
Besides 2 occasions from many years ago (10)
I blew up 2 thiell - accuton 20 mm diamond tweeters , 3600 euro a pair /whole sale price .
You ll never see me using them again, according to thiel accuton it was my fault , to much power .
In my view they just cant handle power.
Other time i put DC on a speaker by mistake and fried a voicecoil.
Last 9-10 years or so i never had an issue and i switched quite a few amps , but all good quality well known gear.
Besides 2 occasions from many years ago (10)
I blew up 2 thiell - accuton 20 mm diamond tweeters , 3600 euro a pair /whole sale price .
You ll never see me using them again, according to thiel accuton it was my fault , to much power .
In my view they just cant handle power.
Other time i put DC on a speaker by mistake and fried a voicecoil.
Last 9-10 years or so i never had an issue and i switched quite a few amps , but all good quality well known gear.
Here's the White Paper about NAD's DirectDigital "DAC with gain" concept, if anyone interested.
https://nadelectronics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/DirectDigital_WhitePaper.pdf
Been reading about the Boulder 1160 or 1161. There is a 1060 for $8k. But yea, my snobbery says the 1060 is not musical enough and I have to hold out for 6 years till a 1260 is produced, and the 1160 is afforded. But hey, by then 1160 will no longer be musical enough. Maybe the 1460 will change things.
15yrs ago I did this with a Grace designs dac. Worked ok. Anyways I doubt the PAP open baffle woofers are easy enough to try this with imho...
I grew weary of the transformer hum and various noise associated with tube amps myself. I migrated to a Pass XA30.8 paired with a VAC line stage with NOS 6922's and have been really happy for the past 18 months. In my view I'm getting even better sonics top to bottom yet with a black background and no maintenance headaches. Knock on wood....
I think its the other way around. My Cayman S is tight, lively, exhilarating ride. More tube to me. SS would be one of those Mercedes AMG rides.
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My Porsche has been rock solid. No issues other than my wife drilling the front fender into a high curb in her parking garage, Twice.I do believe he was referring to reliability
Have you asked your wife if she has been the one dinging your amps? Just kidding
Valvet A4IIs for your PAP Trios comes to mind. Just the right amount of power w headroom, Pure Class A, 0 neg feedback, SS, Rock Solid, made by a horn builder, won't break bank, plays best with tube pre's which all its stablemates are.
Just kidding Valvet A4IIs for your PAP Trios comes to mind. Just the right amount of power w headroom, Pure Class A, 0 neg feedback, SS, Rock Solid, made by a horn builder, won't break bank, plays best with tube pre's which all its stablemates are.
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