Junaman
pfm Member
I am looking to foray into tube amplifiers. I have owned Allnic and Remton valve phono stages, but never a valve pre, power or integrated. Looking for advice on a tube amp for a medium sized room.
My vision is of curling up on the sofa with Junawoman, a bottle of wine and some late night jazz, acoustic or vocals music. My main system is for rock and full scale orchestra, so this is for a second system which is all about capturing the mood of the music and doesn’t require volume levels that will blow us out the room.
My speakers are relatively sensitive at 91 dB and sources would be my Ariston RD11 turntable and streaming through a bluesound node2i and Rega DAC-R. I have a spare phono stage at the moment, a Remton 383 MKII, but could go with an integral phono stage in the amp to reduce box count.
I would be looking to buy pre-loved and have a budget up to £1500. There are some well reviewed amps from Unison Research, Primaluna and Icon Audio available just now in that ballpark, e.g. Unison Research Simply Italy, Icon Audio Stereo 30SE, etc. On the other hand I am very tempted to go down a vintage route and have been reading up about Radford, Quad and Leak. I don’t think I have room for monos, so looking at a stereo version. My initial thought is a Leak Stereo 20. Plan would be to buy a decent condition one and the get it refurbished by Classique or Servicesound. Then pair it with a modern passive pre like the Tilsbury II.
My question, which I suspect is a perennial favourite, is which would be better a modern valve tube or a vintage? Anyone have experience listening to both types? Looking forward to hearing your views.
My vision is of curling up on the sofa with Junawoman, a bottle of wine and some late night jazz, acoustic or vocals music. My main system is for rock and full scale orchestra, so this is for a second system which is all about capturing the mood of the music and doesn’t require volume levels that will blow us out the room.
My speakers are relatively sensitive at 91 dB and sources would be my Ariston RD11 turntable and streaming through a bluesound node2i and Rega DAC-R. I have a spare phono stage at the moment, a Remton 383 MKII, but could go with an integral phono stage in the amp to reduce box count.
I would be looking to buy pre-loved and have a budget up to £1500. There are some well reviewed amps from Unison Research, Primaluna and Icon Audio available just now in that ballpark, e.g. Unison Research Simply Italy, Icon Audio Stereo 30SE, etc. On the other hand I am very tempted to go down a vintage route and have been reading up about Radford, Quad and Leak. I don’t think I have room for monos, so looking at a stereo version. My initial thought is a Leak Stereo 20. Plan would be to buy a decent condition one and the get it refurbished by Classique or Servicesound. Then pair it with a modern passive pre like the Tilsbury II.
My question, which I suspect is a perennial favourite, is which would be better a modern valve tube or a vintage? Anyone have experience listening to both types? Looking forward to hearing your views.