I'm going back to tubes... a question for y'all

RW,

Good call! Paul is the man! BTW, I just got my mod'd unit on Thursday and it is very good after only about 5 hours of burn-in. Can't wait to reach the 30 hour mark as Paul suggested. Man, this thing sounds BIG and WIDE. It fills my room like no other amp I've ever had in my system.

I think you are in for a treat!

BTW, where Y'all from?

Enjoy,

TIC

Wife, Son and I live in Reno,Nevada.
I was initially concerned the wattage output of the ta-30 being a fairly low 30 watts may not be enough to drive the Dynaudio 52s. I am using an extremely nice (powered)sub to fill in the bottom end.

The most recent amp I've been auditioning has 80watts into 8 and 160 into 4 ohms. It is indeed powerful, detailed and clean, but lacks character at the lower listening levels I would just assume be listening at.

It will be interesting to see how this tube unit compares.

What other amps have you tried in your system? and in what respects did the ta-30 kick their butts out the door?

RW

Look for Vintage Lafayette KT-550, HK Citation II and Dynaco MK III (7027a, 6550, and 6550) These out output at least 60 Watts to 70 Watts or tube power. If you have more $$$, Mac MC275 is also another high power stuff.
For modern amp, you can look for Music Reference RM-9 but the tubes will cost you a bundle.

RW,

Do they say "Y'all" in Reno? :~) I thought ya might be from Caintucky or Tennessee...

I've owned lots of budget integrated and power amps Including Antique Sound Labs AQ-1003DT, Anthem Integrated One, Anthem Integrated Two, Anthem Amp 1, Bryston B-60r, Monarchy Audio SM-70 (stereo and mono-blocked), Arcam Alpha 9 and Alpha 10, Plinius 8200 and BottleHead Paramours and I'm sure more that I've forgotten. Some might do some things better, but I think I'm going to enjoy the Cayin at least as much and possibly more than all of the others overall. It has a very musical and inviting sound. It wants to help you listen to music, not your hi-fi system!

Only issue for my system at the moment is that I don't have a great CD source. I'm currently using the TAS recommended JVC XV-SA602SL DVD/DVD-A/CD player that I bought for $125 here on A-goN. Honestly, it is very good, but it is no match for the Resolution Audio Opus 21 CD player that I recently sold. Even with this CRAP source, this amp sounds big and open, really filling my room with sound, unlike any amp I've owned. My speakers are Reference 3A MM DeCapos and might be a better match for the amp than you speakers, but who knows.

I'm borrowing a high-end CD player from a friend this weekend, so I should get an indication of what this amp can really do. Oh yeah, I only have about 10 hours on it, so it's not even broken in yet!

Enjoy,

TIC

Reubent,
I had considered the Anthem Int 2 and the Plinius 8200. Can you tell me what you thought of those in relation to the ta-30? I had also considered the Unico. We live in an audio desert... there are no upper level/specialty shops here unless I go to Sacramento or San Fran.