I need some tube amp advice. 100watt around $2k driving 72se

bhd812 · « **on:** 4 Oct 2005, 11:38 am »

I need some tube amp advice (100watt mono under or around $2,000)

Well Hello and before I say anything else I would like to thank you for the reading of my post and hopefully the help.

rite Now I am running Dodd 50 watt mono blocks with my Dynaudio 72se speakers in my bedroom of 25x15x7 size. I can show you pics of the setup if you like so just ask.

As many of you would say off the bat that the dynaudio 72 SE's are not tube friendly speakers and shouldn't be driven by tubes. I have tried a few smaller amps on these and I feel these speakers work well with tube amps and from what Dynaudio says themselves the SE was made to be driven alittle easier with its crossover then most Dynaudio's out there, I feel this is partly true.

To me rite now its not the need for more power but more for a need of a lower end reach out of these speakers, the Dodd's are perfect to my ears but when I play low bass tracks (20hz) they seem to give but not give enough. people have told me to replace the capacitor in them to allow them to power the lower punch? I have not talked to Dodd about this yet (he seems like a busy man) but I would rather then bother Gary to talk to you all first.

The listening levels I play at and the power of these amps are perfect, but there's something there not in the low end of the sound. should I demo other amps solid state form first before I look into another amp?

other amps I have thought of...

Cary slm-100 used
Dodd audio 100 watt mono's
Bizybee audio 100watt mono's (but after recent visits to the site and seeing him sell Quil power cords I bought for $8. for $30 kind of steers me away from him..no offense)

any other amps out there in this range? used is ok...

Scott F. · « **Reply #1 on:** 4 Oct 2005, 12:02 pm »

Since you say your listening levels are just fine, I'd look in the a set of autoformers. A couple of the guys here are driving Maggies with tube amps. Between the two they are using the Zero by Paul Speltz (at least I think its his unit). They really do make one heck of a difference especially in the bass range and should do the same thing for your Dyns. Heres the link.

http://www.zeroimpedance.com/

If you are dead set on new amps, these same guys are running VTL's, Rogues to drive their Maggies and Sturgus is driving Merlins with Aronov's. All three are very good sounding amps.

JohnR · « **Reply #2 on:** 4 Oct 2005, 12:57 pm »

Quote from: bhd812

To me rite now its not the need for more power but more for a need of a lower end reach out of these speakers

Hi there, Gary might be able to send you another set of coupling capacitors of the same type, which any competent electronics person could solder in parallel with the existing ones. Gary would be the person to ask as to whether this would make any real difference, though, as it depends on the circuit details.

However, from what you say, I wonder whether what you are wanting would be better met with a subwoofer, probably sealed. RAD Home Theater, ACI, RAW Acoustics, and Selah Audio offer compact sealed subs, and all have circles on this site

GHM · « **Reply #3 on:** 4 Oct 2005, 04:53 pm »

The Music Reference RM9 MK2 is under your price range. It puts out 120 wpc and the tubes are interchangable. This amplifier has serious and I mean serious bass for a tube amp! It is a very high voltage design..I think aroung 250 volts. There's only a couple hundred around. The other version is the MK1 it's 100 wpc. It weighs just under 60lbs..so it ain't no baby!

Bemopti123 · « **Reply #4 on:** 4 Oct 2005, 05:24 pm »

I once had a SF Power 2, which while not being Mono, it did output out a good 110 watts per channel. A massive beast, weighting 115 pounds. The sound was excellent running my Gershman X-1s and SW-1 subs with authority and plenty of volume. Nevertheless, I felt that as with other tubed amps, there was an issue with the bass being a bit loose.

in clear contrast, I had the Nakamichi PA-7 MKI, which outputed out 200 watts. Which this amp, the bass was outstanding with immense sense of slamm, much better control.

If you are worried about bass, then, I am afraid you are looking in the wrong tree to get some satisfaction. From real life experience, I say get a slamming SS amp. You will never, ever look back. For tube flavor, you can get an excellent tubed preamp. This is the best compromise I can find.

PS: I have long ago sold the PA-7 and the Sonic Frontiers Power 2, and I am presently running a tubed preamp+small SS amp mono set up. I still remember the sound of the PA-7 fondly. One honey of a SS amp, with great voicing and slamm.

Parnelli777 · « **Reply #5 on:** 6 Oct 2005, 12:38 pm »

Here's a pair of 300 watt VTL Deluxe 300 on Audiogon right now.

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstube&1133136322[/url]

acfan · « **Reply #6 on:** 6 Oct 2005, 01:52 pm »

The 72SE is kinda power hungry and requires high damping factor. The Kavent S-11/P-1100 tube/fet combo should work well.

JLM · « **Reply #7 on:** 8 Oct 2005, 10:52 am »

IMO a decent 100 wpc tube amp would be too expensive for these speakers (based on their cost/sound quality).

gld · « **Reply #8 on:** 8 Oct 2005, 02:09 pm »

Ok, lets analyze this problem. You have Dynaudio 72SE's in a relatively large room (25x15). They are a 4 ohm load nominally to the amps. The amps are the 50 watt mono's. You say you have the volume level you are looking for, but on certain low frequency information there is not enough bass. Someone said by adding capacitance to the power supplies in the maps would work. It won't change anything. another said paralleling coupling caps might bring down the botton end. NOPE, that won't work either. What is going on is that when the speakers go low, I would guess that the impedance is also dipping at the frequency extremes and the amps just cannot deliver the power required to produce those frequencies at that volume level. Tube amps cannot deliver more power at low impedance loads like SS amps can. I'm not syaing go out and buy a SS amp at all. You really have 2 good options here. Get a good subwoofer to compliment the bottom end and remove the hard work form the amps. ( you said you loved the sound of the amps), or buy the bigger 120 watt mono's they will drive virtually any speakers and they have the power and headroom to do it well. If you are interested in upgrading to the newer amps from me, PM me and I'll make you a deal.
Gary

gld · « **Reply #9 on:** 8 Oct 2005, 02:10 pm »

Ok, lets analyze this problem. You have Dynaudio 72SE's in a relatively large room (25x15). They are a 4 ohm load nominally to the amps. The amps are the 50 watt mono's. You say you have the volume level you are looking for, but on certain low frequency information there is not enough bass. Someone said by adding capacitance to the power supplies in the amps would work. It won't change anything. another said paralleling coupling caps might bring down the botton end. NOPE, that won't work either. What is going on is that when the speakers go low, I would guess that the impedance is also dipping at the frequency extremes and the amps just cannot deliver the power required to produce those frequencies at that volume level. Tube amps cannot deliver more power at low impedance loads like SS amps can. I'm not syaing go out and buy a SS amp at all. You really have 2 good options here. Get a good subwoofer to compliment the bottom end and remove the hard work form the amps. ( you said you loved the sound of the amps), or buy the bigger 120 watt mono's they will drive virtually any speakers and they have the power and headroom to do it well. If you are interested in upgrading to the newer amps from me, PM me and I'll make you a deal.
Gary

gld · « **Reply #10 on:** 8 Oct 2005, 02:15 pm »

Sorry I posted it twice
Gary

bhd812 · « **Reply #11 on:** 11 Oct 2005, 06:50 am »

Well First off thank you for all your replys, it will take me some time to try out some of the ideas that were listed here.

And I tried to call you last week Gary, man I really love these amps..I dont wanna let them go...lol

I will call you this week...

thank you all

Robespierre · « **Reply #12 on:** 5 Feb 2006, 12:52 am »

The recommendation for a Music Reference RM-9 is probably the best you're going get if you're determined to stick with tubes. You might want to consider a solid state amp. In the sub $2000 price range an ARC 100.2 would be a my recommendation. They don't turn up that often used but if you keep your eyes open you should be able to find one in the $1600 - $1800 range. It has much of the warmth, smoothness and imaging of tube amps with far more drive and low end authority. The newer ARC switching amps are far less tube like.