2. amps-preamps
  3. 1103816815

Tube Newbie

I have been running a fairly beautiful 5.1 surround set-up over the last few years, and have grown a bit weary of my 2-channel quality. While I love the quality of surround sources (DVD, HDTV, ProLogic II), I tend to get listening fatigue with dynamic music. My goal is to warm-up 2-channel, making it more itimate witout wiping out the detail and punch in my 5.1 sources.

A good friend has suggested a CD player with a tubed output stage, like the Ah line carried by Upscale Audio. I am also considering a VTL 2-channel amp (around $2K) to drive the L/Rs of my system.

I am wondering how difficult it is to deal with tubes. I have read about "biasing" tube-based amps and have no idea what that intails.

My current system consists of: Gallo Reference 3s L/R, 7 channels of amplification from Parasound Halo (A52/A23), Def Tech SuperCube II sub, Gallo Dues for the surrounds and a soon-to-be-upgraded B&W LCR600 for the center channel. The Gallo Reference 3s have the second coil of the woofer bi-amped via an Outlaw Audio ICBM (hence the 7-channels of amplification). Processing is via an older Rotel RSX-1055 (using the pre-amp outs) while I figure out what pre/pro to get. The DVD/CD player is an Integra 5.3 using the analog outs for 2-channel.

Thanks,
Ted
128x128teonyc
portlandlay
62 posts
 
Teonyc,

When I started playing around with this stufff a few years ago I bought VTL's tiny triode monoblocks and the TL2.5 tube preamp. The little amps did not have the slam an extension of some of the huge solid state amps but they were much better balanced and sounded so much better.
I still have the set and still love them.

As far as biasing it is really easy. A 5 minute job once in a blue moon.
c123666
871 posts
 
I would suggest a DAC with a tube output stage in conjunction with a player/transport. I used Sony DVP-S7000 is an excellent used value at 125 to 200 for a transport as is the dvp-s7700. The Cal Audio Labs Sigma and Alpha DACS are nice sounding and reasonably priced on the used market; company is out of business so beware on that account. Used Audio Note DACs are excellent values for the lower range models such as the DAC 1, 1 Signature, and 2/2 Signature.

If you have a CD player with a coaxial output get the DAC first and try it. You may decide to keep the CD player you have an use it only as a transport.
jw94055
125 posts
 
"Scott Nixon Tube DAC", put that into Google and see what people are saying. It may be an inexpensive, yet successful, solution.
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