What's the Most You've Spent on an Amplifier?

[GCAdidas13 10+ year member]

$480 shipped for a PPI PC2350

$450 plus shipping, that is..

and i couldnt even use it

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

This was originally going to be a PM, but ran out of room...and thought other people might want to see it.

Ive always wondered, what makes these amps worth their value?

Sound quality is a very subjective thing, and not all people like the same kind of sound - keep that in mind.

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/faq/tubeprimer.html

That's a pretty in-depth technical discussion of the difference between vacuum tube amplifier stages and solid-state ones, but here's what it basically boils down to:

Single-Ended Triode: SET is the oldest (dating back to the 30's) form of audio amplification out there, and IMO, still the best sonically. It's full Class A, so there's only one output device per channel which stays on through the entire waveform. That makes it really inefficient compared to other classes of amps. However, these types of amps produce large amounts of 2nd harmonic distortion and very little 3rd order and higher distortion - for some reason that I'm not all too familiar with, even order harmonics sound more pleasing to human ears, and give tubes (especially SET's) the "warmth" that's often heard.

Push-Pull: PP tube amps, just like MOSFET amps, have two output devices per channel, each taking half the waveform. You can get a whole lot more power this way, but at a sonic price. Splitting the audio signal between two devices causes a drop in SQ.

There's another thing to think about...no matter if it's push-pull or single-ended, vacuum tube amps look different to the speaker than a transistor one. Solid-state amp stages, because of their output impedances, generally have very high damping factors. Tube output stages have very low DF's, which helps contribute to their sound. Having no negative feedback also makes a difference.

What sort of speakers do you use them on, or is it more of a show piece?

Show piece? Hardly...I'm a college student, you think I have money for stuff to sit around and do nothing //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/up2something.gif.dd110ecf3ae4b76050d87598f2f8de7c.gif Because you're only dealing with a few watts, you need very high efficiency and simple speakers. I'm going to be using Klipsch Forte II floorstanding speakers with my new amp - they're 96dB/watt and use a horn-loaded midrange driver and high frequency horn. There are even full range drivers that do very well without a crossover - thereby saving the power for producing audio instead of heating components. It's a shame - most people are so conditioned to low efficiency speakers, that they forget what only a handful of watts will do when coupled to the right system //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

Googling for vacuum tube audio links will net you a lot of resources. Most of the manufacturers marketing to the audiophile will charge way, way too much...but there are deals out there.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

SS > tubes, tubes = teh distortied crap
abhahahahahah! so true

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What have you listened to?

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[req 5,000+ posts]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif
What have you listened to?

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

friend of mine had a halfstack tube head (not sure of the make\model) with a fender cab. one 15, and two 10's in a bass reflex box.

anywho - i was just joking... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

tubes do have a high THD though, isnt it like 5% or somthing?

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

Tubes are crap. I've said it before I know, but Frosty keeps making me repeat myself //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

..and to answer this post's original question. $325 for my D7401, not bad for an amp that retailed for a ton more.

Though I will be killing that price soon as I plan to spend a bageezus load on an HT amp in the next month or so.

 

[noob with an RS 10+ year member]

holy crap there are speakers efficient enough to produce 96 decibels with one watt? how come we dont see speakers like those in-car?

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

They're expensive and unnecessary.

 

[rapfiend03 10+ year member]

$500 for me 2500D //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[pd298 10+ year member]

180 for my 600.1

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

They're expensive and unnecessary.

Wrong, and wrong. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Fostex FE127E's, which are 4.5" full range drivers, sell for 36 bucks each on Madisound. Unnecessary? Depends on the amp you're using with them //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Noob - 96db/W is only the starting point...there are corner horns out there with efficiencies going up in the 104db/W range. Those will make your ears bleed with only a watt or two.

The reason why you don't see them in cars is because most of that efficiency comes from the enclosure design. A car door is about the worst environment for a speaker to be in - you can't fit full size horns in a door or dash.

tubes do have a high THD though, isnt it like 5% or somthing?

Yes, although the exact values depend on the tube and what mode it's running in...but not all THD's are the same, like I said - the harmonics are different with tubes. Any amp driven into full clipping will sound like ass regardless of the output stage, but they're a whole lot more forgiving than solid state //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

$36 for a 4" paper cone piece of p00p Frosty. I can make a better speaker out of dog crap!

 

[Rattlebrain 10+ year member]

Hay Jack..

Look at my last post up there^^

 

[UndercoverPunk 5,000+ posts]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif
What have you listened to?

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Crate full stack sorry if I hurt your feeling, I was a-jus playin...

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

holy crap there are speakers efficient enough to produce 96 decibels with one watt? how come we dont see speakers like those in-car?

my image dynamics CD2 HLCD horns are 109db 1w\1m

and they are under my dashboard ... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif

but they are $900 retail?

 

[Abel 10+ year member]

250 for used MTX 1501

300 for New MTX 1501