[dealaddict]

How is Audio Mirror compared to other brand like Cary?  I am looking for a SET amp, and first learn about this brand in a Audiogon listing, but can't find much review.

Thanks.

[FullRangeMan]

AFAIK, the magic eye tube is a clipping indication meant to be used as a warning if you are pushing the amp too hard and risking damage to your speakers.

OK, thanks for this info, the Magic Eye is a very beautiful feature mainly in the dark.
Gustavo

[FullRangeMan]

How is Audio Mirror compared to other brand like Cary?  I am looking for a SET amp, and first learn about this brand in a Audiogon listing, but can't find much review.

Thanks.

Never listen this amp, but I prefer the old MagicEye version with 30 conservative Watts for long tube life, and two Power On toggle switches.
The new version on the AudioMirror site seems to me, had too much power(45Watts) for only two 6C33, surely the tubes will no last 5K hours, maybe it use Class A2.

The old version had two power on switches(tubes heating & operate), are a very important feature, cause all 6C33 tubes had a minimum cathode warm-up time of 2 minutes in military use (the Almarro brand use 2 minutes of cathode warm-up).

But the power emission capacity is 90 per cent after 600 seconds of heating, again in military use, in musical use the ideal cathode warm-up time looks 5 or more minutes, after it come in the B+ & Grid that run til 60 minutes, and the amp are ready to flow music.

6C33 times are according the tube datasheet. But most 6C33 amp manufacturers do not respect this times which result in short tube life.
Joule-Electra claims 6C33 tubes lasts 10k hours in his OTLs.
Gustavo

[doug s.]

gustavo, i cannot speak directly for vlad, the designer of these amps.  but, i believe the new amps have a soft-start feature, which allows the 6c33c's to warm up.

also, even at 45w, it is my understanding that the tubes are not so stressed; some mfr's get 55-60w out of a pair of 6c33c's...

doug s

[rockadanny]

My 45 watt SETs have soft-start feature. Not sure how many hours on mine, but I've only had to replace one power tube since I got it (more than one year). I suspect the one tube I had to replace was defective in some way as all others are working very well. These tubes are not excpensive anyway.

[doug s.]

How is Audio Mirror compared to other brand like Cary?  I am looking for a SET amp, and first learn about this brand in a Audiogon listing, but can't find much review.

Thanks.

i only have direct experience w/a cary slp98 preamp.  others i have heard from say the cary amps are a bit on the romantic side.  if so, i would say i'd prefer the a-m, which seems to be quite neutral sounding.  but, i have never used mine to drive anything below ~80hz - they have always been used actively crossed over to subs.  i once hauled them over to rim's house to hear them driving his rm40's, (ribbons only from 280hz on up).  imo, they were easily comparable to his bill baker modded (response audio) asl hurricane extremes, which are 100w triode/200w ul.  i believe rim was using them in triode mode...

(for what it's worth, i found the cary slp98 preamp pleasant enough, but a bit on the darker sounding side of things, and nowhere at all even close in performance to the melos ma333r it was replaced with.  the melos was far better in almost all aspects - dynamics, extension, timbre, detail, neutrality.  and that was before i had it upgraded by m.a.r.  the one area where the cary kicked ass was appearance; i was hoping it would hold its own against the melos for that reason, but it was not to be.   )

doug s.

[FullRangeMan]

A Correction about the 6C33 warm-up times:
Warm-up time to 90% emission= 120 seconds
Warm-up time to steady state = 600 seconds
Minimum warm-up time is 120 seconds

[FullRangeMan]

gustavo, i cannot speak directly for vlad, the designer of these amps.  but, i believe the new amps have a soft-start feature, which allows the 6c33c's to warm up.

also, even at 45w, it is my understanding that the tubes are not so stressed; some mfr's get 55-60w out of a pair of 6c33c's...

doug s

Hi Doug,
Surely the AudioMirror 45 is a great amp for $3,450 dollars/pair and the sound must be great too.
I think Vladimir will put two PowerOn switches if the buyer ask for it.
Gustavo

[cityjim]

  I have a pair of the 45 watt Class A SET amps from Vladimir. Have the adjustable bias pots for each tube. Also have his tube preamp which is also lovely.

 From my research the 6C33C tube is rated at 60 watts PER tube. So Vlad is running them around 1/3 of their capability. Can we say conservative here?

 I bought mine a couple years ago and the tubes are still strong. I actually use them for movies more than music. My tubes have many many hours on them with no sonic degradation. They drive my Magnepan 20.1R's to sonic heaven. Will I ever sell these, NO. 

 My amps have a high voltage delay. It runs the heaters for a couple minutes only then powers up the high voltage rail.

 I got tired of trying to find a musical amp before these. I mean something that you can listen to for hours on end with no fatigue. Gave up the SS search and went "full" class A tubes. I'll never look back again either.

 My quest has lead me on to so much resolution it's almost a crappy sounding system (at times). If I play a poorly recorded track then it really shows through the Magnepan 20.1R's. These speakers and Audio Mirror amps really let the truth of the music flow. I can hear into the recording at scary levels of detail.

cityjim

[macrojack]

I have a pair of the Audio Mirror 20 watt mono blocks. The only differences I know of between mine and the much more common 45 watt version are these: my amps use 6AS7 output tubes and are self-biasing.

Are there other differences in design and/or noteworthy differences in sound?
Has anyone ever compared the two amps?

[doug s.]

I have a pair of the Audio Mirror 20 watt mono blocks. The only differences I know of between mine and the much more common 45 watt version are these: my amps use 6AS7 output tubes and are self-biasing.

Are there other differences in design and/or noteworthy differences in sound?
Has anyone ever compared the two amps?

i have never heard the 6as7 wersions.  but, i'd query vlad about it - he is quite forthcoming, imo.  i suspect that, w/wery efficient speakers, there won't be much difference, if any, w/your amps vs the 6c33c iterations.

doug s.
ps - afaik, the 6c33c tube can do 30w, not 60.  but i could be mistaken...

[FullRangeMan]

According the 6C33 datasheet 60W is the Max Plate Dissipation with both triodes, 45W with one triode,
but it is not usable, the tube life is short at this power level.
Seems 30W is a conservative Plate Dissipation.
The conservative power for speaker use are 15W Class A1.

[doug s.]

According the 6C33 datasheet 60W is the Max Plate Dissipation with both triodes, 45W with one triode,
but it is not usable, the tube life is short at this power level.
Seems 30W is a conservative Plate Dissipation.
The conservative power for speaker use are 15W Class A1.

all i know is i have never seen a 6c33c amp making more than 30w per tube...  imo, w/the a-m amps making 45wpc w/two tubes, that is a conserwative output, w/some 2-tube/channel 6c33c amps making 60wpc...

doug s.

[el-cee]

About 18 months ago, I ordered eight 6C33C-B tubes from Sergey at
http://tubes-store.com/product_info.php?products_id=27.
I paid $16 apiece, plus shipping (~$32), which took 2 weeks.
They are now listed at $18/ea.
A couple showed up with broken glass or DOA. Sergey made good for
these. The others were perfect, so I have no problem recommending them.

el-cee