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www.audiosciencereview.com
Great stuff, thanks for the hint! I know the WA preamps from a recording context but hadn't considered putting them into a hifi chain. Still got an old Avalon 737 in storage that I used to use as mic preamp in what feels like a former life. Maybe I'll get a second one and.... ;-)
EQP-WA Pultec Style Tube Equalizer | Warm Audio
The EQP-WA is a re-creation of the most renowned tube Equalizer in studio history, the “Pultec EQP-1A”.warmaudio.com
Try a pair of these. Expensive at $799 a channel. All tube, transformers (where tube sound is when there is one), and still goes thru transformers and tube with EQ bypassed. Balanced outputs and inputs too. Also has very adjustable EQ so you can definitely monkey with the sound. Recreation of the Pultec tube EQ units.
That. You're more likely to get audible distortion from a tube power amp.
I fully understand and it’s your prerogative of course to distort or do whatever you want. That’s why I suggested some more cheaper, quicker and adjustable way of doing it, instead of buying one amp after another (besides you probably won’t even hear it).
Nice... but that's a power amp then, right? And I think a tube power amp that would drive my speakers would be at least $1.5k+?+1
I use one -- mostly driven by a ss preamp of no particular provenance*. Actually, it's not even technically a preamp, much less a stereo preamp -- but don't tell it.
A delightfully fuzzy combination, in my opinion.
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* Actually, I picked it up from the scrap pile at the Grantham NH dump a few years back.
Don't know anything about the one in your link. So hard to say much.
I've had a look at the Muzishare X7. A Chinese Push/Pull which gets raving reviews in... well... subjective reviews and among tubesters... ;-)
I'm hardly the one to rate tube amps, being a crabby old engineer. But mhardy6647 can perhaps steer you right...
Right -- @fpitas and I suggested, flippantly, but I'll opine only partially so, that the AHB2 power amp is a superb performer and merits a superb front end.
-- but the "Muzishare X7" is junk. Sorry. 
Not quite. I kept my trusty box of tubes quite late in the game, perhaps 1971, because transistors were so terrible back then. But then I threw them in a lake. Luckily the only valuable tube was a 6SN7, which I'm sure would be placed on some audiophile's pedestal now.He, however, was seemingly raised by a solid-state tribe, while the tribe that reared me subsisted on tubers.
I'm all for sonic pluralism and believe in meaningful exchange across paradigms. I'll definitely look into the plugins as a kind of dry-run to get an idea of how a tube stage may sound in my setup...
AHA! I now have proof you stole my design for solid adjustable shelves for your gear. I made one like that 30 years ago. Only I rounded the corners on the shelf, and eventually painted them in shiny black. Sturdy, relatively inexpensive, infinitely adjustable (though inconvenient to adjust). I also later sheathed the threaded rod in softer material so you wouldn't risk scratching gear as you slid it in or out of a shelf.Right -- @fpitas and I suggested, flippantly, but I'll opine only partially so, that the AHB2 power amp is a superb performer and merits a superb front end.
If one wants tube sound -- the AHB2 should probably get out of the way.
I don't intend to speak for @fpitas, though, despite the fact that I sometimes wonder if we were separated at birth or something*.
You could (in seriousness) try a "passive preamp" -- in other words, a high quality attenuator** and a source selector (if needed) -- if your "use case" doesn't require additional drive for the power amplifier's line-level input.
In full disclosure, I do sometimes use the above-pictured SE 2A3 amplifier with a passive "front end", also with good results, but the additional drive capability of the Yamaha adds some oompf to the proceedings and has become my de facto standard in the past few years.
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* He, however, was seemingly raised by a solid-state tribe, while the tribe that reared me subsisted on tubers.
** I like transformer or autoformer volume controls, but there are very fine ladder-type resistance attenuators, as well.
Much appreciated! I'll look into these!Don't know anything about the one in your link. So hard to say much.
Hey, I remember way back when getting a Conrad-Johnson PV5 as people told me it would get you halfway to a tube sound as I needed a powerful SS amp for my speakers. It was a fine piece of gear. It didn't have much sound really. Later a C-J MV50 tube amp did.
Maybe peruse some of the 2nd hand sites looking for an old C-J or similar. Don't know what they go for these days. Or grab another Avalon 737.
All good. You made it clear that you don’t want accurate reproduction for your experiments. Enjoy.
Yes, played with the EQ and Loudness. Neat features. RME now has a computer/iPad based "remote" app for the ADIs. Full control of the EQ and DSP...
