Tube or ss for vinyl?

by **bigron865** » 19 Apr 2012 02:46

Hey all,
I have Pioneer PL 15 DII tt,Adcom GFA545 II amp, a Stromberg Carlson 6v6 35 wpc tube amp w/7199's, Nad 1600 pre and a new set of Klipsch RB61II that are super efficient. Love the tube amp! Blows away the Adcom. Thinking about a Dynaco ST 70 . Want better thump in the bass with my vinyl. Also looking at the Adcom GFA 555 200wpc ss amp. What do your ears reccomend for my set up??? Or do I have "Upgrade-itis"?
Bigron =D>

by **Joe in Seattle** » 19 Apr 2012 03:27

For my ears tubes do best with vinyl. Some modern tube designs have killer bass. Mine is Rogue Audio Cronus.

by **Brandon25373** » 21 Apr 2012 08:04

Hello,
I have been in your very situation and found that the most cost effective method would be to trade in your Adcom for a nice 200 wpc B&K or Acurus A200. I have owned both of these including a GFA-545 and have settled for the Acurus. It has a much larger transformer and HUGE capacitors which provide tube-like headroom with rich bass and smooth highs. The biggest improvement was when I added a Musical Fidelity X10-D (Tube Buffer) between my amp and preamp. These sell for around $200 and will run your signal through a couple of preamp tubes to achieve that warm, mellow tone that you are likely looking for. I found that the Adcoms have somewhat of a hollow tone and the smaller caps pull a lot of AC into your signal path which tends to mud the low end. If you are looking to just go for a tube amp and call it good, the famous Dynaco ST70 is by all means the way to go!!! Good Luck and let us know how it turns out!

by **rewfew** » 05 May 2012 19:23

I use both tube, ss amps and efficient speakers also. And I prefer the sound of tubes. Just switched over from tube to my Hafler amp because it's getting warm now and the tube amp, Transcendent Sound, puts out a bit of heat. Sixteen output tubes. But I'm tempted to plug it back in the system. Listening last night just wasn't the same, or satisfying. Two hundred fifty watts of power does not denote better bass, just more capability. I think the tube amp, all 40 watts produces very good bass and everything above, it's no contest.

by **jorgelopez11** » 06 May 2012 16:59

Many people like tube sound due to its euphonic characteristics... but there's no substitute for raw power.

I own a PrimaLuna Dialogue 3 tube preamp which until a month ago was paired up to a Pass Labs X250.5 SS amplifier. The combination was incredible. I still have to listen to anything as good as this system. :shock:

But unfortunalety I had to sell my Pass amp and replaced it with a beautiful PrimaLuna Dialogue 5 tube amplifier.

The combo is incredible... up to a point I cranck up the volume. I like the sound of course, but it is pretty evident tube amps do not have the guts to properly handle deep bass sounds in certain music passages.

Tube amps have improved a lot. Most current amps are more accurate and the sound is not as coloured as it happened with old tube desigsn. But when you need power to obtain deep, controllend bass sounds, tube amps are no match for SS amps. :wink:

by **Threshold** » 13 Jul 2012 02:30

Running a Audio Research SP-16 w/a pair of modified Threshold T-50's. The amps were originally owned by a VP at Threshold who had them modified while he was working there. Name on the back of the amps is Michael Bladelius. They are rated a 100wpc in class a. The TT is a Linn and the speakers are Aerial 6's.

by **Jim Leach** » 13 Jul 2012 22:55

I choose both!

Back before the turn of the century I was shopping for an amp (or perhaps a pair of mono blocks) and went to a store that did a very well regarded modification to the B&K mono block amps. This was late 80's/early 90's time frame I guess.

Anyway, they knew I was coming so they had the B&K's all warmed up and singing. They did sound a whole lot better than my Hafler DH200 by a long shot.

But, "what's that on the bottom of the rack?" I asked. "It's a Counterpoint SA220. It hasn't been on for a few weeks, but if you'd like to hear it, we could fie it up for you." "Why not!" I said. I'm here and was unfamiliar with Counterpoint at the time, so I decided to have a listen.

Holy cow. This single amp blew the proverbial doors off the modded mono blocks in every way. More power, ease, depth width- just good sounding- (especially vocal) from an ice cold amp. Wow. Tubes in front and mosfets out back. And it is easy to roll tubes if you want. (I use the suggested Sovtek tubes and I'm happy)

Now I own two of them, one for each channel, but I run it push-pull balanced rather than as a bridged mono block. (They are a bit fragile and bridging only makes them more fragile.)

I have spoken with the designer on the phone and via e-mail several times over the years (he told me about running them the way I do now by the way). Great guy who is happy to help. He also severely mods these amps (old mosfets are no longer available) and supposedly they are leaps and bounds better. If I win the lottery (or break one of these) I may have to do that...

Sweet.

Preamp is a Perreaux SM1 (class-A solid state) fed by an Aragon 47k and Planar3 with a Benz Micro silver. CD is from a Theta Data Basic via an Aragon D2A. Speakers are Thiel CS2.2.

Life is good.

by **Hanuman** » 14 Jul 2012 14:09

I had tube or hybrid (Audio Research stuff) end-to-end for years but the most dramatic upgrade I think I've ever done was switching to a solid-state phono stage a couple of years ago. I'm definitely a tube man but if there's ever a place for silicon, that's it.

by **PeterW.** » 14 Aug 2012 17:39

Hanuman wrote:I had tube or hybrid (Audio Research stuff) end-to-end for years but the most dramatic upgrade I think I've ever done was switching to a solid-state phono stage a couple of years ago. I'm definitely a tube man but if there's ever a place for silicon, that's it.

BINGO!!

Tubes is best from the power backwards. I would rank as follows:

Power amp
Tuner
Pre-amp
Lastly,....... and if a gun is held to your head - phono/head amp.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

by **beacher6** » 24 Sep 2012 14:27

Your question was "Want better thump in the bass with my vinyl". I also have a GFA 545 II amp in my Adcom system which is connected to a Denon DP-51F table. I should also add I currently have 2 Pilot consoles, 1 Stromberg console, and a tube PACO SA-40 which is very under rated. For more "thump" I have a older version of a HSU VTF-2 sub-woofer which can be connected in-between your source SS or Tube to your speakers.

by **MadPom** » 04 Dec 2012 08:50

I'm in the process of building a pair of Carfrae little big horns speakers intended for Hybrid use:
http://www.creationaudio.com.au/Carfrae.html

The back loaded horn is good for 105db per watt and 20khz down to a crossover point of about 80hz. Seven watts of triode power will drive the horn. A Seas subwoofer passive radiator combination will fill in the bottom end down to 20hz. The subs each have a dedicated 170 watt Hypex class D amp to drive them.
It's been weeks of gluing sanding and sealing but reviews of the originals are pretty spectacular. I'll be ordering the Lowther main drivers soon but there's a few weaks before I know if my effort and hard earned cash has been worthwhile.

The kit is licensed by Jim Carfrae and the internal geometry of the horn is identical to the originals.