Tube amps for classical music FU29 vs EL34

Aroc's post further confirms to stay on course with the Jadis DA30/KT88's. You see most of classical collection 400+ cds are not DDD/modern recordings. Some are from the 50's, some are Naxos, and others just don't have much dynamics. But still want to get all the music on a solid foundation = bass. I realize from listening to my friends 300B, big bass rolloff, that w/o a bass foundation, classical sounds flat. But as I say, listening to jazz vocals, the sound was "super-natural", but the slight bark in the male vocal threw me off. First time I heard a liquid smooth mid, but for those who like a "kick" in bass, will have fatique of a 300B amp. Another friend has a pr of old Conrad Johnson tube monos with Martin Logans, I believe Arius, again too flat. I'm really hoping the Seas Thor sounds alot better than these old smoky sounding Philips, I'm ready for a new experience. And then to take that experice even one step up to the DA30. My final system. I'll keep everyone posted as to the new Thor's. I use to post here a few yrs ago under the name tweekerman. I promised everyone I'd have new Thors,...well I'm finally close, good chance in July.

Personally, I wouldn't get too anal about the supposed differences between EL34's and KT90's (or 88's, or 6550's). IMHO its far more about the design of the amplifier these tubes are used in. One of the limiting factor of EL34's is that they produce roughly half the power of a KT90. Typically, an amp with 4 KT90's per channel will produce about 150 watts +/- and one with 4 EL34's will produce 75 watts +/-. Once you have picked an amp which will drive your speakers properly you can fine tune its sound by tube selection, and you will find differences between the types being discussed. FWIW in an amp which is designed to accept both EL34's and KT88's, KT90's and 6550's, I would agree with the general statement that the EL34's will have the smoothest midrange and sound weakest in the bass. The 6550's the most neutral, the KT90's the more "detailed" and the KT88's (which I use) a tad warmer and more airy than the former. But it all depends on the amp and, to a great extent on the small tubes used as well in conjunction with the power tubes.

On second thought, I may want to go with the DA60, since it will be my "last" amp, the DA30 has 4 Kt90's, which is exactly what my Orch Reference has, so thats not a step up enough. The Da60 although 2X's the price of a 30, has 8! KT90's, thus giving me a lifetime of excitment.

Hi Bartokfan. I believe you can also run an el-34 in the Jadis da 30 as well as the kt-90, although you will certainly have to re-bias the output tubes to do this. Biasing any Jadis amplifier is a bit of an exercise as they are not the easiest amp to rebias.None the less, any Jadis amplifier is an incredibly musical instrument and most certainly a very expensive proposition to better.While I have never heard the Kalin in my own rig...I find it difficult to believe it would better the Jadis no matter what the tube choice may be. Best of luck.

Your speakers, simply put, are NOT tube friendly. 87db just doesn't cut it. If you want some strong, tight bass at reasonable volumes, you should consider at least 90db speakers if not more.
Your EL34 amp is probably 40 watts. To drive your speakers to 90db takes double the wattage. This really adds up:
1 watt = 87db
2 watts = 90db
4 watts = 93db
Your 40 watt amp on 87db speakers will net you approximately 103db. If you had a pair of 94db speakers, the same amps would produce approximately 110db. Rule of thumb is you double your "perceived" volume for every 10db increase.
Also, keep in mind that bass uses the bulk of the power. So, if bass is an issue, you should be looking at something like 100watt amps.