BGAndrea1 wrote:

Hello,
I love my vinyl setup at home (Rega RP1, Music Hall pa1.2, Totem speakers, NAD C 375 BEE integrated amp).

I am now looking to put together a small vinyl setup in my office. I have always wanted to play around with tube equipment, and love the look of it, so I was thinking of going that direction for this setup. I'm thinking of doing the TubeDepot TubeCube | 7 3.5 WPC Stereo Tube Amplifier, Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp, and maybe use my Rega RP1 for this setup and get something nicer for home. What do you all think of these components? Also, I am totally lost when choosing speakers for this setup, so I'd appreciate recommendations. I'm looking for bookshelf speakers. My office isn't terribly big, and I'm not going to be playing loud. Tube depot.com recommends the Pure Acoustics Dreambox 3" HiFi Speakers. Opinions?

Thanks in advance!

That amp is too small for most speakers; even small ones. It is a toy; not very practical. Keep in mind that the output transformers of a tube amp cannot be all that small and still do a decent job of coupling the output to the speakers. For that reason NO tube amp that is worth considering is going to be really tiny.

The TOTAL weight of that amp is only 2.6 kG, which is a joke. ONE decent-sized output transformer will weigh more than that.

The Jolida FX10 would be a much more realistic choice; it will power most speakers as long as the volume is kept modest. $599 at Needle Doctor, with remote control.

For an upgrade to your main system, I suggest the Music Hall MMF-2.2, which runs around $450 and is excellent for that price. It comes with a fairly good cartridge, but spending $100 to $300 on a better cartridge can yield considerable sonic benefits.

The Bellari phono preamp is nothing special and terribly overpriced IMO. You will get the same performance from the Pro-Ject Phono Box MM, which is under $100. The Musical Fidelity V90 is around $229 and far superior to the Bellari IMO. Maybe you should get it for the home system and use the Music Hall 1.2 for the office. That would be my advice.

Very small speakers (3") are not a very good idea; you want at least some midbass from them. I suggest that you look at the Polk TSi100 speakers, which are only 11 inches high but have 5.25 inch drivers. Amazon sells them for only $115 per pair.

Hey commsysman... Are you sure you are talking about the correct amp... The nad 375 has 150 watts per channel into 8 ohms and can power almost any speakers. And it doesn't weigh 2.6 kg it weighs over 15 kg.

I use it to power a pair of Bryston A1 floor standing speakers with no problem whatsoever

Maybe I misunderstood ?

BGAndrea1 wrote:

I'm thinking of doing the TubeDepot TubeCube | 7 3.5 WPC Stereo Tube Amplifier,

Opinions?

Thanks in advance!

glennmckinnon@rogers.com wrote:

Hey commsysman... Are you sure you are talking about the correct amp... The nad 375 has 150 watts per channel into 8 ohms and can power almost any speakers. And it doesn't weigh 2.6 kg it weighs over 15 kg.

I use it to power a pair of Bryston A1 floor standing speakers with no problem whatsoever

Maybe I misunderstood ?

I was referring to the little tube amplifier that was mentioned.