[swb]

What type of tube amplifier would you people recommend to drive a small pair of British bookshelf speakers (88db)?  An EL34/6CA7 based amp or a 6550C/KT88 based amp, and how many watts?

Right now, I am playing around with a small, bedroom system.  It is probably about a 10' X 12' room with QUAD 12L2 speakers.  I may eventually want to use the new amp to drive the top half of my Von Schweikert VR-3.5 speakers (with VR-S/3 self-powered subwoofer)which are in a room about twice that size.

I would like to achieve smooth, liquid, transparent, and 3 dimensional midrange and highs with a huge soundstage, precise imaging, and dynamic bloom; along with deep and tight bass (that's all!!!).  (Or as close as I can realistically get to that with the aforementioned limitations

[clave]

You can find endless discussions of this topic in various audio board archives and elsewhere on the internet.  My personal experience is that EL34's will have a more liquid, mellow, three-dimensional sound, whereas 6550's have a more dyanamic, authoritative, sometimes aggressive sound.  Most 6550 based amps put out more watts than comparable EL34 amps.  There are plenty of exceptions to these "rules."  I've heard 6550 based amps that sound sweet and mellow and EL34 amps that don't.  There are many factors besides the power tube used.  Some amps allow you to use both tube types.  I would think 30 watts would do the trick with those speakers in a smallish room.  If it were me, I would look into the Cayin integrated amps, but there are enough options to keep you obsessing for years.

[dado5]

My opinion is that KT88's sound best wired as triodes and EL34's sound better Ultralinear or Pentode connected. However, in your case I'd go with Push Pull EL84's or 2A3's for the best sound.

88 db speakers in a your small room are not going to require much power. Allowing for room and stereo gain and assuming your about 6 feet away from the speakers, 10 watts will get you around 100 db and that is very loud.

[doak]

If you desire/require more than 20 watts I recommend considering the KT66 - kinda walks the line between EL34 musicality and KT88/6550 grunt.

Doak

[SET Man]

I would like to achieve smooth, liquid, transparent, and 3 dimensional midrange and highs with a huge soundstage, precise imaging, and dynamic bloom; along with deep and tight bass (that's all!!!).  (Or as close as I can realistically get to that with the aforementioned limitations

Hey!
   
   I see basically you are asking for a perfect amp

   As for EL34 vs KT88. The simple answer would be a KT88 will produce more power than an EL34. Two EL34 tubes in push-pull will produce about 35 to 40 watts, but two KT88 will get you about 85 to 100 watts. But if you are talking in SE mode than I would definitely go for KT88 for this.

   I've never own both type of amp or compared between the two type in my own system. But my first tube amp was an EL34 and I remembered it as smooth, great midrange and very dimensional sound.

   If you don't listen to music too loud in 10 x 12 room with your speaker than a good 35 watts EL34 amp might do. They are more EL34 amp out there than KT88/6550 amps. And maybe you could pick up a used EL34 amp to try out first and see.

   Anyway, good luck and keep us posted.

Take care,
Buddy
   

[yo2tup]

I would like to achieve smooth, liquid, transparent, and 3 dimensional midrange and highs with a huge soundstage, precise imaging, and dynamic bloom; along with deep and tight bass (that's all!!!).  (Or as close as I can realistically get to that with the aforementioned limitations

Hey!
   
   I see basically you are asking for a perfect amp
   

Exactly what I was thinking 

I have a Bella Extreme 3205 MKII that can use either KT88 or EL34's.  I tried a both (Penta KT-88's and SED EL34's) and here's what I noticed.

The EL34's has the liquid, 3 dimensional midrange and highs,  image bloomm and weight that you're looking for.

The KT88's has the transparency, precise imaging, deep tight bass, dynamics, and huge soundstage that you're looking for.

So have your pick 

 I perfer the EL34's, but I haven't tried the Gold Lion KT88 reissues which are suppose to be quite good.

[richidoo]

I have two amps, one 6550, one EL34. I like them both, but I like the 6550 sound better. My fav wish list amps, Audio Research Ref, uses 6550s. But my EL34 amps have a lot more power than my 6550 amp because they are monoblocks with 4 tubes/channel compared to the 6550 amp's stereo 2 tubes/channel.  I like the bigger power better than the slight tone differences....  Another slightly smoother EL34 tube choice than typical electric guitar tubes is KT77 by JJ. They can be noisy when new/cold but they are very smooth.

Pick an amp that will run both types, and eat your heart out! Cary SLI-80, primaluna, etc.
Rich