[Brad]

Posting this for a friend of mine.

He is going to be using this to drive a pair of Hawthorne SI Coaxes in OB. (96-97db)
Needs 2 or more inputs and he would also like a headphone stage.  No need for phono or remote.
Tubes might be nice.

Almarro A205, Onix SP3, ASL Orchid, EE minimax integrated, maybe something like my Arcam A65+  ?????

[Goosepond]

Hi Brad,

This is a little more than the dollar amount you stated but other than that, it meets all of your other stated req.

Moth si2A3 3 watt integrated with a great headphone stage.

Just in case you're interested. 

Thanks,

Gene

[Brad]

Hi Gene,

Thanks for the tip.  Looks like a good match for requirements.
The budget can probably be expanded a little bit.
I've already save him some buying used...

I don't see any for sale - where to buy? 
Do you have an extra one? 

[Goosepond]

Hi Brad,

If I understand you correctly, I'm the one that has this amp for sale. 

Gene

[Brad]

Gene,

PM sent.
Yes - I was looking to see what people might ready for sale

[Brad]

Still looking.
Post here or PM if you have something that might fit.

[Angaria]

I've had the Onix and Arcam amps - the one I'm currently selling here/audiogon sounds distinctly better - opera consonance reference 6.6  If you're near 15217 you could come by for a listen.

[Russell Dawkins]

This is a fascinating little amp that fits the price ($480) and headphone criteria but perhaps not the inputs: 1 RCA and 1 USB:

http://www.glow-audio.com/glowstuff.html

[lonewolfny42]

Brad....
Here's two Sophia integrated amps on Audiogon that might fit the bill.
I do own a Sophia Baby....but its not for sale.

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstube&1207509039

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstube&1206981650

[Scott F.]

Hey Chris, if you upgrade the coupling caps it changes the character of the little Baby dramatically. We did that to Blackmore's Baby and it went from just being a nice sounding amp to something pretty darned special.

[lonewolfny42]

Hey Chris, if you upgrade the coupling caps it changes the character of the little Baby dramatically. We did that to Blackmore's Baby and it went from just being a nice sounding amp to something pretty darned special.

Yes Scott....I remember both you and Blackmore telling me about that.

[Angaria]

I've also had the sophia baby - haven't heard a better tube amp for the $

[carusoracer]

Great recommendations as always from the AC members

I really need to hear one of these Amps...anyone near OH that I can audition?
I'm looking for a good Bedroom Seductive Amp for my Gallo Ref 3's. Not worried about the power as I will be Bi Amping them.

Great thread.

[Wind Chaser]

A used Decware Zen would be among one of your best options.  Not exactly eye candy but very musical.

[doug s.]

sophia bebe is a nice amp.  but, you can buy them direct from china, usually for <$200 delivered, on ebay.   most likely brand is aria mini, but it's the same amp.  i owned one, & it is a nice amp.

now, if someone wants a nice single-ended triode amp, 4.5wpc, set up w/3 inputs & wolume control, (no headfone amp), i have an excellent home-brew amp made by a chinese engineer living in australia.  it has neg feedback settings of 0db, -2db, -4db.  and, it has taps for 8 ohm & 16 ohm speakers.  (builder added a second set of inputs for me, after pics were taken.)  i have the builder's copy of the schematics.  it's wery competitive w/my modded almarro a205a mkll.  $400 shipped (it's pretty solid) & it's yours.   








here's a recent ebay ad of another of this builder/designer's creations:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120218664127



doug s.

[doug s.]

A used Decware Zen would be among one of your best options.  Not exactly eye candy but very musical.

i owned a decware zen amp.  if your speakers are more than 8 ohms, i would look elsewhere.  8 ohms is on the margin for a decware amp, imo.

my almarro, the amp offered f/s above, my modded refurb'd wintage 6qa5 electrohome amp, my set mono's pulled from an akai tapedeck, my homebrew german set amp - they all outperformed the decware, driving my coincident wictory's...

if your speakers are rated at 4 ohms, you should be wery happy w/a decware amp; otherwise other amps will work better, imo - in spite of what steve deckert told me, his amps do not like speakers w/higher ohm ratings...

ymmv,

doug s.

[CSI]

I have a Sophia Baby amp I'm willing to sell to any AC member (or friend of) for a bit less than the going rate on Audiogon. If interested, send me a PM and I'll send price and pictures.

[Wind Chaser]

i owned a decware zen amp.  if your speakers are more than 8 ohms, i would look elsewhere.  8 ohms is on the margin for a decware amp, imo.

if your speakers are rated at 4 ohms, you should be wery happy w/a decware amp; otherwise other amps will work better, imo - in spite of what steve deckert told me, his amps do not like speakers w/higher ohm ratings...

That is only partially true.  They do offer other output transformers that "favor high impedance loads between 8 and 16 ohms..."

I did own one of their amps too, but I used the Spletz autoformers.  The Zen amp is more resolving than most amps 10 to 15 times more costly.

[doug s.]

i owned a decware zen amp.  if your speakers are more than 8 ohms, i would look elsewhere.  8 ohms is on the margin for a decware amp, imo.

if your speakers are rated at 4 ohms, you should be wery happy w/a decware amp; otherwise other amps will work better, imo - in spite of what steve deckert told me, his amps do not like speakers w/higher ohm ratings...

That is only partially true.  They do offer other output transformers that "favor high impedance loads between 8 and 16 ohms..."

then be sure you're buying one brand new, w/appropriate tranny; or a used one w/the special trannies.  i, for one, was extremely turned off by steve, who recommended to me that the used decware amp w/standard trannies i was considering, would be "great" with my coincident wictory's.   i specifically asked him about the impedance issue, as the wictory's are rated 14 ohms nominal, w/range from 10-18 ohms.  (i later had a conwersation w/srajan ebaen who similarly was confused by steve's comments to me, as he was fed the exact opposite info from steve - that the amps really work well w/4 ohm amps, not higher-ohm-rated amps.)

I did own one of their amps too, but I used the Spletz autoformers.  The Zen amp is more resolving than most amps 10 to 15 times more costly.

well, budget another few hundred dollars for the autoformers, then.  and, while the decware zen may be more resolving than "most" amps 10 to 15 times more costly, it's certainly no more resolving than any of the amps i mentioned above, which cost me from $80 (akai m8 monoblocks) to $560 (modded almarro a2o5a mkll).   

ymmv,

doug s.

[Wind Chaser]

ymmv

How true.

Now as for your conversation with Steve, did that happen in the twilight zone?  or was it immediately after one of your more intense pentecostal revival meetings?   Were you sober?  Were you straight?  Because your conversation with Steve smells a little fishy.  I'm willing to bet there was a communication gap in which somebody didn't hear someone else correct.  What Steve told Srajan, he's been telling everyone for years.

It's common knowledge and has been so for a long time that the Zen amp mates best with a low impedance load.  And the cost to swap output transformers is around $100.  Having done that, with a fairly sensitive speakers, you've 2 of the finest watts on the planet.