drjjpdc, you inquired about tube life - thats easy stuff. there are just too many varibles involved in answering your question re biasing of any particular tube absent a specific application and i am not a resource on the tube amp market.in my opinion you are much better served not being concerned with the life expectancy of tubes but by finding an amp which will sound good with your speakers. after going thru some arc and sonic frontiers amps i settled on a mesa baron - its a fairly powerful and neutral amp using 6L6's biased at 38ma. i have speakers by paragon which are full range and very neutral which are rated 86dba @1watt. using a power stage w/120wpc and a little neg feedback i get the kind of sound i want, however someone with speakers tilted up in the midrange, or high end, would hate it. this is not a testimonial to mesa - the point is you sould consider auditioning push/pull pentode based tube amps with your speakers to find the sould you like. once found you won't care how long the tubes last. cj, arc, vac, cary, sonic frontiers, are all good high end amps to try. if you want to start out on the cheap just to experience the tube sound there is much available and talked about in this and the audio asylum forums.
Tube reliability in amps
I am contemplating the purchase of a tube power amp. I already have an Audible Illusions pre-amp, which has given me virtually no problems tube wise. I would like to hear from a bunch of Audiogoners on how long power amp tubes last in the real world, do I have to keep matched pairs or sets around or can I just replace one? Also I have B&W matrix 804's and I have been told tube amps are not a match for them or that I need a lot of power (read expensive tube amp). Wavering between tube and SS, HELP.
PS. I listen to orchestral music and piano. Sometimes loud like about 90 db.
Thanks
PS. I listen to orchestral music and piano. Sometimes loud like about 90 db.
Thanks
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- 20 posts total
- 20 posts total