Are People Going More Now Towards Valve Amps?

there seams to be "on my side" a greater demand for vave amps! any comments? i love valves always have but some that i have listen to latelly did nothing for me, mention no makes.
nando.

 

Hi Nando,

are you selling more valve amps? If so what which ones? Which valve amps don't you like?

SCIDB

 

Even if I have a lot of valve units at home, I don't consider myself as a valve fan. A lot of the units around are too soundy or have other weakness for my ears.

I also believe that more and more people are getting into valve units. You can notice also the major presence of these units in the shows, last one I went to was Munich.
I'm not shure but I believe there will be huge problems for new tube units due to the new EU laws regarding ecology (tube units use in relation to others too much energy).

 

Valves do it for me

all the usual stuff....depth, soundsatge, ...etc etc

I don't need the bill for new valves though! Not now!

I hankered after a mission cyrus 7 at one time. I wonder how the two would satck up

 

yes , recently, icon audio , unison, and now requests for ear and fatman, the ones i heard are of a very new far east makes that allthough looked awesome sounded crap, good price but looks or sound, sound i think, i still have a TVA 1X locked away in the cellar from the 70's
nando.

 

quote

do you use valve amps? if so witch one's
forgive my ignorance if you are a manufacturer or a dealer,
nando.

 

Hi,

I use mainly use a Border Patrol single ended 300B power amp. I'm not a manufacturer but I have heard many over the years.

SCIDB

 

quote

i have heard that one, like's
quite nice,
nando.

 

Hi,

I have owned various amps valve amps over the years and have a few others knocking around the house. i like what the border Patrol does but not cheap to buy new.

There seems to be a good interest in valve amps. Amps from china have bought the price down. Some of these are good and some are bad.

SCIDB

 

i like to have a proper amp regardless of make using 211's or 845's,
problem is the power supply, that has to be special, to make the most of the use of their potential to the max.
nando.

 

Ive just bought an icon audio la-4 preamp to partner my heavily modded wad kat6550. It probably sounds sh&% to experienced ears but to mine they sound very good. I guess time will tell.

 

i think that as we all differ to prefer a sound that pleases us then that becomes the best to you, i do not impose my self onto my friends hi-fi's if they ask my opinion i will advice to try different things on their existing system, never to put them off, still i am eventually end up with a nice valve amp, me thinks,
nando

 

true alot to do with personal preference. i will find it interesting to move through the different audio gear as my ears hopefully become accustomed to a h -fi sound

 

I've had Valve amps and replaced them with other Valve amps and have done the same with Solid State...so wouldn't see myself ever committing to one or the other, there's just too much good(fun) to be found in both .

 

l think the Chinese have helped increase the interest in Valve amps by making them more accessible in recent years. Having said that l don't think there is a movement to them, more people may be trying them but the churn rate is just as high.

Maybe we should be asking are more people moving towards active speakers.

Cheers,
mondie

 

That is not my experience Mondie, over the past 5 or 6 years virtually everyone I know has made the switch from Solid State to valves

Andy

 

It's partially a fashion thing, loads will move back the other way in a while especially if maintenance becomes an issue. Personally I can't stand the look of most cheapo Chinese amps, they look like they've been designed by Bobby George. I'm sure people will get fed up looking at some of the tackier examples, whether they like the sound of them or not.

I think Spica is right; if you like to play around with different bits of kit then there's a good chance that you'll swing between valves and SS. My experiences tell me that (within my price range) there are compromises to be made with either, and after living with one set of compromises for a few years I'm now heading back in t'other direction, for a while at least .

 

I think that the hard core of valve amplifier fans has remained pretty solid over recent years.
The growth in the valve amp market must surely be at the lower end, fueled by cheap overseas manufacture. That is a two edged sword. On the one hand it generates interest for good manufacturers such as Puresound and World Design offering great entry level products, built to a good standard with proper quality control. On the other hand it means people are also using some poor sounding (but perhaps euphonic) cheap stuff with dubious build and safety.

 

Perhaps one reason could the lack of decent iron work? That's why good tube amps cost... That and good tubes of course.

 

the FATMAN 152, using kt88's i quite like very much it sounds quite good for the money.
nando.