Round 2: Tubes amps, no ss discussion

Just had an interesting discussion with someone in St Louis belonging to an audio internet DIY club. Someone claims to have taken apart a 47 Labs amp to find cheap parts. The group was able to price out these parts and found the retail cost of the amp should be less than half of what it is. This is based on parts/labor ratio and getting the product to market.

Vertical bi-amping sounds like a viable alternative (see Cary Audio website for description) unless the c-j is a soft sounding amp. If so, two of them will not remove what's designed into them. By the way,do you have Spendor speakers?

You also might look into Transcendent Sounds OTLs starting at 25wts for stereo version and going up substantially in power from there. Sold only over the internet. You can try them out for a couple of weeks and will only cost the shipping charges.

Seek ye out an Aleph 3, 4, or 5 before you buy.

Both will retain almost all of the tube virtues you like but offer what you miss. They are the best of the SS breed.

Since your already into tubes you ain't looking for ground moving amps. Just more accent on the music.

It may be what your looking for. The Aleph 3 has only 30 watts but is the best sounding of the bunch.

good luck,

jeff

I'd recommend stepping up the CJ line: get into some Premier monoblocks... all the virtues of the MV60 and then some. Of course, I am a bit biased as I have CJ Premier 5's (EL-34, 2 x 200wpc in UL, 2 x 100wpc or so in Triode mode). IMNSHO, some of the best amps CJ's ever made. The only thing even close is Premier 8XS @ $17,000/pr. With adjustment of various NOS tubes, you can tailor the sound of the Prem. 5's quite a bit. I had a 47 Lab gaincard for a while - a nice amp certainly ,but not at the power level of the CJ stuff. A whole different ball game really. Probably not enough power for 85db speakers. I am needing to sell the Premier 5's, they are listed here on A'gon and are within your budget range. Email me if you are interested.

-Ed Sawyer

I haven't yet, destroyed anyone's marriage but MINE! Twice! And i think i am well on the way to do the same thing with this (current) one. Anyway, i thought you went with Kestrels? Or you are still using the older monitors? If you are using passive pre, low gain will result in some lose of dynamics, if speakers aren't easy to drive. I believe, that should be an answer instead replacing the amp. CJ makes some of the best pre amps, and compatibility with your amp won't be an issue. Good Luck!

3 possibilities I can think of:
1-change to a more aggressive tube, ie GE vs mullard
2-go to a powered sub/crossover running between the pre and amps. This will give a ton more power and shouldn't be an audible difference crossed below 100hz. According to the owner of Janis (subs, crossovers and sub amps), if you cross over the system at 100hz, you will effectively triple the output power available to your speakers!
3-Get a more detailed cable-I love nordost