Tube Power Amp Reviews

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Tube Power Amp ReviewsTube Preamp Reviews
Balanced Audio Technology VK-3iX preamplifier & & VK-55 power amplifier
Robert Deutsch  |  Nov 26, 2005  |  0 comments
It's been 10 years since Balanced Audio Technology (BAT) introduced their first products: the VK-5 line-stage preamplifier and the VK-60 power amplifier. (I reviewed both in the December 1995 Stereophile, Vol.18 No.12.) The success of these and other BAT products has allowed designer Victor Khomenko (the "VK" of the model designations) and partner Steve Bednarski to quit their day jobs at Hewlett-Packard; they were joined by Geoff Poor as a partner to handle the sales end of the enterprise. BAT's current lineup includes several preamps, phono stages, a CD player, and tube as well as solid-state amplifiers. The top of BAT's preamp range is the VK-51SE, which costs $9000; their top tube power amp is the VK-150SE monoblock ($17,000/pair); if you want their best phono stage, the VK-P10 will set you back $8000.
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Tube Power Amp Reviews
Quad II Classic monoblock power amplifier
Art Dudley  |  Aug 21, 2005  |  0 comments
"The realistic reproduction of orchestral music in an average room requires peak power capabilities of the order of 15 to 20W when the electro-acoustic transducer is a baffle-loaded moving-coil loudspeaker of normal efficiency." —Peter Walker and D.T.N. Williamson, writing in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society in 1954
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Tube Power Amp Reviews
Cary CAD-1610-SE monoblock power amplifier
Jonathan Scull  |  Jul 31, 2005  |  First Published: Dec 31, 2000  |  0 comments
At the last few audio shows, whenever I heard a pair of the big Cary CAD-1610-SEs, I fair licked my chops. The two-tiered monoblock looked positively stunning in black and polished aluminum, exotic tubes bristling from the top "floor" of its two-story edifice. The Cary always induced pelvic tilt in me—you know, when your lizard brain takes over and tube lust is in the air.
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Tube Power Amp Reviews
Graaf GM 200 OTL power amplifier
Jonathan Scull  |  Jun 05, 2005  |  First Published: Sep 05, 1997  |  0 comments
I'm always eager to fulfill my prime Stereophile directive: "To go where no audiophile has gone before," as JA often quips. As it happens, I've long suffered an itch to audition OTL (output-transformer–less) amplifiers, wondering how eliminating the output transformer might affect the sound. Enter the Graaf GM 200, with nothing but wire between its power tubes and the crossover.
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Tube Power Amp Reviews
Mesa Engineering Baron power amplifier
Chip Stern  |  Apr 10, 2005  |  First Published: Jan 10, 1997  |  0 comments
Some audiophiles tend to get a mite sniffy around those of us who have expensive tastes and limited budgets. I've always been willing to spend the price of a new car on a set of speakers, but I never had the cash or credit. The sonic virtues of hefty, high-powered Krells and wondrous, single-ended tube designs always enchanted me, but when you're raising a family you make do. Through my experiences in a high-end audio establishment I learned the metaphysics of mixing and matching as befits my lowly caste, and I gradually developed sophisticated reference points, so that as the years swept by I managed to inch my way up the aural food chain.
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Tube Power Amp ReviewsTube Preamp Reviews
Audio Research Reference 1 preamplifier & VT200 power amplifier
Wes Phillips  |  Apr 03, 2005  |  First Published: Nov 03, 1998  |  0 comments
They say you never forget your first time. For me, it was an Audio Research SP-6B that had been heavily modified by Analogique in NYC—which meant, among other things, that yellow capacitors shunted other yellow capacitors all the way up to the top plate. That first taste of the High End—prior to that, you might say my face had been pressed against the window—was definitely love at first listen. That SP-6B was warm yet detailed, and I ended up building a system around it that at least one friend described as a huge musical wet kiss.
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Tube Power Amp ReviewsAudacious Audio
Audio Research VTM200 monoblock power amplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 03, 2005  |  First Published: Jan 03, 2001  |  0 comments
The VTM200 is the first Audio Research power amplifier I've reviewed. It took me 13 years, and ultimately I'm glad I'd put that much mileage on my reviewing odometer before tackling what turned out to be a most difficult assignment.
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Tube Power Amp Reviews
Cary Audio Design CAD-300SE LX20 monoblock power amplifier
Martin Colloms  |  Mar 05, 2005  |  First Published: Aug 05, 1999  |  0 comments
Many tube aficionados hold that amplifiers built with the venerable 300B tube hold the aces when it comes to sonic purity and beauty of harmonic line. Cary Audio Design's Dennis Had succeeded in producing what many believe is the definitive moderately sized single-ended triode (SET) amplifier: the CAD 300SE. This monoblock, powered by classic 300B Western Electric or derivative tubes, could provide 8–10Wpc, requiring the adoption of relatively moderate volume settings and/or sensitive, easy-to-drive loudspeakers. Cary also produced a lower-priced "integrated" stereo chassis, the CAD 300SEI.
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Tube Power Amp Reviews
Lamm ML2.1 monoblock power amplifier
Art Dudley  |  Oct 23, 2004  |  First Published: Oct 01, 2004  |  0 comments
One of my best friends is a serious jazz collector with a side interest in good replay gear. The last time we got together over a meal, he asked, "What do you think is really the most important component in an audio system?" He might have added "these days": It's a subject we come back to from time to time.
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Tube Power Amp Reviews
Sonic Frontiers Power 3 monoblock power amplifier
Brian Damkroger  |  Oct 10, 2004  |  First Published: Apr 01, 2000  |  0 comments
The internal battle between the head and the heart, between the analytical and romantic sides of our nature, is a difficult one. I'm an engineer, so it seems as if my cold, calculating side should have the upper hand. This is true in a lot of cases; most of my actions and decisions are based on straightforward, logical analyses. However, things like a house full of castaway dogs, or a garage full of quixotic British cars and Italian motorcycles, suggest that my heart holds sway reasonably—perhaps distressingly—often.
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Tube Power Amp Reviews
Nobis Cantabile power amplifier
Corey Greenberg  |  Sep 01, 2004  |  First Published: Sep 01, 1992  |  0 comments
I dig tube amps. When all's said and done, good tube amps seem to sound more like real life than most solid-state gear; even after listening to and enjoying the hell out of musical solid-state designs like the Audio Research D-240 II and the Muse Model One Hundred, once I hook up the big VTL Deluxe 225s again it's just like going home. I could go on about timbral accuracy and clearer midrange textures, but the bottom line is, music just plain sounds better when you shoot it through good tubes, and once most people experience that magic, they're hooked.
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Tube Power Amp Reviews
Dynaco Stereo 70 II power amplifier
Corey Greenberg  |  Aug 31, 2004  |  First Published: Sep 01, 1992  |  0 comments
I dig tube amps. When all's said and done, good tube amps seem to sound more like real life than most solid-state gear; even after listening to and enjoying the hell out of musical solid-state designs like the Audio Research D-240 II and the Muse Model One Hundred, once I hook up the big VTL Deluxe 225s again it's just like going home. I could go on about timbral accuracy and clearer midrange textures, but the bottom line is, music just plain sounds better when you shoot it through good tubes, and once most people experience that magic, they're hooked.
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Tube Power Amp ReviewsAudacious Audio
Wavac SH-833 monoblock power amplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 10, 2004  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2004  |  0 comments
Leaving aside for a moment the fact that the Wavac SH-833 costs $350,000/pair—
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Tube Power Amp Reviews
Kora Electronic Cosmos monoblock power amplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 06, 2004  |  First Published: Dec 01, 2001  |  0 comments
"Moi? You want moi to review a French audio product?"
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Tube Power Amp Reviews
EAR 890 power amplifier
Art Dudley  |  Apr 23, 2004  |  First Published: Apr 01, 2004  |  0 comments
Most of us have at least some taste for gear that jumps out—for audio components whose sonic and musical distinctions are easy to hear from the start. In audio, unlike in the art of music itself, there's nothing wrong with being obvious.
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