2. amps-preamps
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Moving away from tubes. Is this a good idea?

I need a new amp for my Totem Sttafs and REALLY considered tubes. My final thought is that if you don't have a certain pile of money you are only kissing your sister. Have you ever seen my sister? Besides there is a Devel's Tower of a learning curve for me to climb around tubes and I'm really anxious to just sit down and listen without any anxiety (if you know what I mean).

I have an opportunity to pick up a JungSon JA 88-D class A integrated amp. Just one piece of electronics to move onto the rack (but what a BIG piece:-)

I have a relatively med/small room (16'x17'x8'). The speakers are rated 8hm, 88dB, and 100 W max. program.

The amp is rated at 80 wpc, class A, RMS 8ohms.

From what I read the JungSon is about as close to a tube sound via ss as I can get without breaking into the kids xmas fund. I just want a rich full room of acoustical/vocal/instrumental music.

Could you give me your opinion if you think the Sttafs will be underpowered or unmatched.

Thanks.
djh
jig
160 posts
 
I have a Jungon JA-88D in my second system. My room is very similiar in size to yours. Since purchasing this integrated, my modded Sonic Frontiers Line One (tube preamp) and Golden Tube Se-40 (80wpc tube monoblocks) have been getting dusty and garnering little attention. I also tried several solid state amps including Luxman and this unit was significantly better than all. I am basically a tube guy, but this integrated gives you a very musical sound somewhere between the two camps. Also, this unit will impress all of your non audiophile friends and they will ask you if it is a Mcintosh.
I also agree with Aball that a decent sub would probably do more for you in the near term than a component switch.
pauly
456 posts
 
Hi Djh. I have generally found on this forum that the term “tube sound” really refers to the exaggerated harmonic distortion produced by a tube amp and speaker mismatch. So be careful what you wish for.

If you are looking for a natural, life like sound I would recommend you look at one of the Pass Lab offerings. As I am unfamiliar with the characteristics of your sttaffs, I am reluctant to advise a tube amplifier. From the specs, I believe you could be safe with almost any 35 plus wpc push pull tube amplifier.

I suggest while you are testing the waters, buy on the used market so you can recover you funds if you need to change direction a little later on.

Good luck
Paul
vman71
218 posts
 
I'm going to second Lak's recommendation of Plinius to get that tube-like sound. I owned a Plinius 8100 and loved the warm, smooth sound.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Good ideas above. The mention of Cayin not autobiasing is a very good catch.

My hunch is that if Djh does not try a tube amp, he will always wonder "what if?".

Therefore, I suggest buying a used PrimaLuna Prologue 2 when one becomes available. Give it a try. If it doesn't work (I'll bet it will...), then sell it and buy one of the solid state amps suggested above.

I suspect Pass Labs will be out of Djh's price range based on his mention of the Jungson as a possibility.
rlawry
414 posts
 
It has been my experience over using tubes for the past 15 years that using small signal tubes (12AX7, 12AU7, 6922, 5751, etc) has been no problem at all. However, I have had problems with output tubes from time to time, and like you, grew tired of all the problems and maintenance. If you think about it, using tubes for what they excel at, voltage amplification, is generally non-problematic, while using them for what they are not good at, current amplification, places the tubes at risk. I love the sound of tubes, so I have a tube preamp that uses tubes for voltage gain. You could also use them in the output stage of CD players and in the voltage gain stages of power amps, and still get some of that tube magic without the inherent reliability problems with tubes.
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