18 watts valve and 87db ?

Cheers bottleneck

I'm looking out for the following at the moment

puresound a30 2/h
icon audio 40 2/h

I would be willing to travel most places if i could find these within my budget.

 

Hi i wish i could type like d louth 77 , and a very kind fella .
We could talk all day where you should finish up on the valve amp route .
But you want to make the right start , maybe you should consider 2 nd hand ,and dont get to caught up on power specs and so on ,at the minute you need a little amp that will drive speakers well , is not buzzy and not veiled as much as possible.
The first hifi amplifiers of the 60s were really good sound not pretty but really well made .
You want to buy something at small money that will be pretty good .
well put a leak stereo 20 up against most mainstream hifi and it will come through with flying colours , but this is the most sought after amplifier on the internet and will cost .There was a mono version tl12 i have seen single rough ones of these go for 100 pounds each , this would be a good project for you and you can do so many simple things unexpensive on these . Good mains cable will help the bass and some of the silvery cables will bring the voices out . it is very hard to recomend something that is not synthetic sound maybe a more modern alternative would be a rothwell rubicon but it wont be as good and a little bright .Other people may have some other options .
just to go of your requirements a little
I have been working really hard to get the finest valve sound of course valves are totally useless without the engineers who live and breathe this sort of thing and how many of them are left . They are doing there ordinary job which is no problem to them . A prime example of this i visited the Stradavarius violin museum in Cremona in Italy
It was the exact same thing Stradavarius was an ordinary man doing his job but today 300 years later his violin sound can not be re created . so it is the same with all the finest valve engineers they have grew up in the valve era andthere are so few of them left
I would like to write on my research down the valve route and im sure others would be interested to contribute it does not cost a huge amount of money to get really good amplification. all for now will giant haystacks or big daddy be replaced also not likely.

 

There's a ST20 on ebay now with a start price of £350 that has been completely rebuilt by classique sounds (item no. 190268884257) - I wonder what it might go for....? Sometimes rebuilt ones go for less than totally original ones even if they've been serviced by a reputable outfit, which is a bit mad.

Anyway, not sure what kind of a match it would be for your spendors, but it looks nice .

 

Leak St 20

In my opinion not a good match. I know of situations were easier to drive speakers have been a challenge to a Leak amp like this. Plus a pre-amp would need to be got, and that opens up a whole new can of worms.

Regards D Louth 77

 

Hi i was recomending this amp as an option .but if others say no we leave it at that.
I have a braun electrostatic amplifier (this is the german quad ) very similar to Leak st 20 and sought after so im told, it also looks like a shoe box in black .This worked well with Heybrook hb100s, this is what i was basing recomendation on where as my amp struggled, which it did with impulse h2 which are efficient but like a few watts also.
Interestingly the Spica tc50 which is highly respected Usa speaker is 4 ohm and 84db sensitifity is a perfect match for my Ecofan triode 6a3 amp at 5 watts and also this amp is the best match i have found so far for the Quad electrostat 57 and to finish of the little bookshelf John blue jb4 4 inch full range driver is 87db and i will probably buy a set of these the first full range that has it all and room friendly .This is a match made in heaven strawberries and cream or in my case ham and cheese sandwich (but they are ruthless on weak amplification) so it is very strange the way speaker and amplifier matching works but dont get to hung up on this there are lots of fellas out there that will let you hear things.










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I was blown away by the puresound a30. Effortless drive on 87db speakers. Sounded really awesome.

 

I never found the cheese and/or ham that together would compliment each other rather than fighting for dominance. Better off playing to their individual strenghts - stick with cheese and onion or ham and lettuce.

Oh, and 18 watts isn't enough for 87dB speakers IMHO

 

the Pure sound a30 is it a el34 amp . i once had a Audio Innovations series 800 power amp which would probably be similar to what you have heard . if this is second hand and you are not spending a whole lot of money thats good .
The kit route is a never ending cycle and you end up spending a lot .the same price or more than something really good .
While we are on el34 the bbc mullard amp would probably be best this is what the cartridge man uses Pye mozart another good one and air tight EL34 japanese but expensive .
the el34 valve is sought after and Telefunkten and Siemens examples are very expensive the Rft company in former east germany made for both these companys but they are expensive now also. like all popular valves the best examples are all dissapearing. If you were interested in looking up these valves they have a little dimple on the top of the valve.
but be happy with what you have dont spend .
On the other subject if you seen me you would say pizza and beer fanatic but im getting there with my sound i have good ambition .
Peter Quarvadrup and Eric Anderton come over here in late 80s and bought 20 leak stereo 20s of Midland Radio the former uk klipsch horn dealer and he said at that time he was going to build the best amplifier in the world ,he certainly built the most expensive. the audio note amps. but unfortunately i have to go down the sound per pound route .

 

Thank you to everyone who has helped.


I am now the owner of a puresound a30

giant_haystacks, it has Electro Harmonix 6550 valves


Truely fantastic amplifier!

I spent about 2 months listening to different kit, mostly SS amps. It kills all of them. Didn't listen to a sugden though and some other valves amps sounded loose and flabby low down or lost composure at high volumes.

 

I just moved into valves with a Puresound amp and CDP. Have it in triode mode (18w) on System Audio SA1750 (90 db) and it sounds fantastic and plenty loud enough. Used to have high powered Accuphase amps - they would go louder but very rarely turned vol over 2 (out of 10). Is the fact that it is class A power have anything to do with the ease of drive of the speakers rather than class A/B?

 

ah I see you gone the same way - great aren't they!!! Apparently if you have speakers in the 8 ohm connections get better top end and hi's, or in 4 ohm better bass control but less air around the hi's. Worth trying

 

Hi oldskool

Glad you like your A30, great amp.

Regards D Louth 77

 

Hi,

It really depends on the amplifier with the Spendors. I've used 300Bs with my SP2/3s (now in the HT) for many years with excellent results. Spendor (at least some in the Classic range) likes 300B amps with high quality transformers. I used a Wavelength Duetto 300B amp with the 2/3s for 4 years and it was superb at all listening levels.

8 watts in a 20 x 16 room. Never had an issue with Metallica, Mozart, or anything else.