I've always loved music but I've never been much of an audiophile... right now I have a Sony STR D390 receiver attached to a pair of Radio Shack Realistic NOVA-18 speakers. (The speakers do have new Dayton drivers installed though). So, pretty low end stuff.
I really do like music, and I'm a big fan of old technology, and I want to get into tubes. I briefly looked at older power amps (The Dynaco Stereo 70 caught my eye), but the cost of a Dynaco, plus the preamp, plus the fact that I'll have to completely rebuild it with all new caps, sockets, and everything else... well, for that kind of money I can buy one of the sexy integrated Chinese tube amps listed on eBay.
So, my question is which one do I buy? I've found a review of the 100B on this forum, but I haven't been able to find any information on any other sites. Right now there are three amps which I'm interested in, all sold by Canadian Hi Fi Online. The amps are on this continent, and come with a pretty good sounding warranty... and the prices are insanely low.
These are the three amps I'm looking for more information on:
MC-100B: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140193909593
Music Angel: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140194864382
MC-10L: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140194436340
Specifically, I'm looking for what the differences between the Music Angel and the 100B are. What warrants the $200 price difference? Both have SET and push/pull modes of operation, both have the same output wattage. The 100B has more inputs and looks much cooler, but beyond that I have no idea why to choose one amp over the other.
I'm not wanting to go all out crazy here. I want to spend $500-$700 on a tube amp that will just work and doesn't require any tweaks, modifications, or repairs to sound good. I'm also wanting to spend about $500 on a pair of speakers that are tube friendly. I don't need super hi fi stuff... I just need something better than the shitacular system I'm running now.
Really... a friend of mine has some pretty nice all digital equipment.... and it literally blew me away how much better his setup sounded playing the exact same music. I want a good sounding system too... but I want to do it with style. And to me that means tubes.
Any advice you can give about those amps would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Charles.
I've always loved music but I've never been much of an audiophile... right now I have a Sony STR D390 receiver attached to a pair of Radio Shack Realistic NOVA-18 speakers. (The speakers do have new Dayton drivers installed though). So, pretty low end stuff.
I really do like music, and I'm a big fan of old technology, and I want to get into tubes. I briefly looked at older power amps (The Dynaco Stereo 70 caught my eye), but the cost of a Dynaco, plus the preamp, plus the fact that I'll have to completely rebuild it with all new caps, sockets, and everything else... well, for that kind of money I can buy one of the sexy integrated Chinese tube amps listed on eBay.
So, my question is which one do I buy? I've found a review of the 100B on this forum, but I haven't been able to find any information on any other sites. Right now there are three amps which I'm interested in, all sold by Canadian Hi Fi Online. The amps are on this continent, and come with a pretty good sounding warranty... and the prices are insanely low.
These are the three amps I'm looking for more information on:
MC-100B: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140193909593
Music Angel: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140194864382
MC-10L: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140194436340
Specifically, I'm looking for what the differences between the Music Angel and the 100B are. What warrants the $200 price difference? Both have SET and push/pull modes of operation, both have the same output wattage. The 100B has more inputs and looks much cooler, but beyond that I have no idea why to choose one amp over the other.
I'm not wanting to go all out crazy here. I want to spend $500-$700 on a tube amp that will just work and doesn't require any tweaks, modifications, or repairs to sound good. I'm also wanting to spend about $500 on a pair of speakers that are tube friendly. I don't need super hi fi stuff... I just need something better than the shitacular system I'm running now.
Really... a friend of mine has some pretty nice all digital equipment.... and it literally blew me away how much better his setup sounded playing the exact same music. I want a good sounding system too... but I want to do it with style. And to me that means tubes.
Any advice you can give about those amps would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Charles.