[silvermesa]

I have been reading about the positive  reviews of pairing the ultravalve with the songtowers for two channel music. What about for home theater in a double duty set up? For example pairing the Ultra Valve for the front right and left channel and a AVA Insight 240-3 for the center and rear channels. What are others using to get the best possible result from their songtowers?

Do tube amps glow when powered up? Probably a dumb question but I have never been around one.


My set up is as follows:
4 songtowers
Songcenter
Parasound 2100 Pre Amp
AVA Vision EC DAC
Oppo BD 83 - Source

Onkyo 807 AVR
Anthem PVA 5 Amp

[Big Red Machine]

Yes, they glow.  Power-wise you would be fine.  It takes very little to drive the ST's in a HT environment if you are using the processor, and say, crossing over at 80 hz.

[avahifi]

Even without a subwoofer, the combination of Songtowers and the Ultravalve will play deep, solid and defined bass, better than you would expect from a tube amplifier.

That, combined with the 240/3 for all the other channels will work just fine.

Note that you will need to match levels with your HT processor as the Ultravalve has less voltage gain than the solid state Insight+ 240/3.

Note also that all AVA new equipment is on sale at 15% off until January 15th.

One more thing, the power tubes in the Ultravalve not only glow warmish red, but they get HOT, that is how tubes work.  Be sure to protect small children from access to the amp.

Best regards,

Frank Van Alstine

[Toka]

Note that you will need to match levels with your HT processor as the Ultravalve has less voltage gain than the solid state Insight+ 240/3.

Frank, is it correct that one could order the Insight 240/3 with lower gain to match the Ultravalve?

[avahifi]

In general, HT processors have the capability to match amplifier levels.  I am sure yours can do this.

We could lower the gain of a 240/3 amp, but that would mean changing the feedback and I cannot be sure if this would affect the sonic quality or not. We could try it, and we could get a close match to the gain of the Ultravalve, but probably not an exact match as the designs are very different.

We suggest you simply match levels with your processor.  It should be designed to do this.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstgine