Your Favorite Amplifier

Real cool amp, could you tell me the name of the brand?

 

Nice photo Stitch. I hear good things about the ZYX carts.

 

I have a McIntosh MC275 Mk6 with upgraded tubes, Winged "C" 6550, Telefunken, Mullard 12AT7, Telefunken and Tesla 12AX7. Sounds phenomenal. But I've dreaming about Audio Note Kageki even since I heard them at the local Audio Note dealer. I guess Kageki will have to remain my dream amp ($85,000 MSRP). And Kageki is the entry level model in their so called Level 5. Gaku-On ($265,000) being the top of the line. They are very much available for a pre-order from the UK. Not sure why they were called "rare" here. However, their Level 3 "affordable" amp, Quest (8 wpc) doubtedly sounds significantly different from my MC275. Anyway, it's good to have a dream

 

One of my Silver Editions. Note the extra input 6SN7. These are MkIIIs. Pic is before auto-bias (as adjuster pot is still in place) and the Mk.III power supply rework. Besides the wonderful music and waste heat, they do offer a nice addition in holiday lighting, very festive!

 

Don't even care if it sounds great, I'm sure it does, I want one!!

 

I lust for this amp too....

 

Take two.
Stereo is better that way.
They are of a symmetrical chassis layout and mono blocks. Total tube count for stereo presentation... 14x2 6AS7G/6H13C + 5x2 6SN7 =38 values total.

 

My choice are my Manley lab 300b retros.Hard on tubes though.

 

That's a lot of tubes!! I don't like replacing the matching pair of 6Sn7s in my Rogue Super Magnum 99 pre-amp. Good ones cost!! Still lust for that beauty though!!

 

McIntosh MC-452. Pure heaven for reproducing the dynamics of music.

 

My favorite amp is the one I'm listening to right now!

 

Turns out they don't have to be matched pairs for the Atma's, fortunately. And the power tubes give about a seven year life and auto-bias as a gang. So it is not a big deal. I have a fellow in the Ukraine who has been sending me mid-sixies Russian cold war stocks, quadruple checked Svetlana individually boxed for about seven dollars each, shipped. So price doesn't become a big issue either. I must have three complete rolls waiting in a closet...

 

I suggest that a favourite amp rather depends on the speaker you intend driving. That said, I have always had a very soft spot for the Kondo Neiro now Souga



Max. Output Power: 8 watts per channel
Frequency Response: 8Hz ～ 35kHz (+0dB, -3dB)
Line: RCA 1
Input Impedance: 100kΩVacuum
Tubes: 4 x 2A3, 2 x 12BH7, 2 x 6072 / 12AY7
Power Consumption: 130w
Size: W430 x H233 x D314 mm
Weight: 34 kg

With suitable horns, and a quality front end, they do produce magic.

But, as with all Kondo (& Audio Note UK), they are ridiculously expensive for what they are. You can buy a Mercedes E class for the price of this amplifier, or fund the deposit for a house.....Think on that for a moment.

Rich man's toys.

My favourite real world amplifier is a Leben CS 600. With the right tubes it can sound very nice, and you can change the sound from rich and full (EL 34) to leaner and tighter (5881) depending on want, and is not outrageously expensive. Drives a nice two way without effort.

So many great amplifiers out there. I'm fond of the ARC Reference series separates, the CJ ART series separates, some McIntosh (the 240 & 275 are crackers), Accuphase, Esoteric (some of it), Dartzell (the separates not the integrated) and Cymer mono blocks here in Australia. Shindo of course (though does require careful matching and is ridiculously expensive as you go up the food chain), Mactone and Wavac (again the ridiculous expensive thing). As a general proposition I dislike Vitus, Solution, Boulder and Halco, which to me sound like fingernails down a blackboard. Well maybe not Halco, but you can get the same sound in a Devialet these days for 1/10th the cost.

But by now my listening preferences should be well established, with the ARC getting as close to neutral as I care for.

I have also owned a Devialet, and it certainly had it's attraction. While expensive, as a one box solution it was an interesting proposition. The Leben sounds better to me, however. This is the third Leben CS 600 I have owned, after selling the first (just stupidity) and trading the second for an Allnic T2000 KT 120 integrated that was very disappointing.

System synergy is everything, and in my experience it is possible to get a very decent sound without excessive cost, provided one takes some care.

10 k is a fair budget for a very good sounding system these days. Actually good idea for a thread...

 

My Boulder 2060.

 

To my mind, truer words have never been spoken.

 

My Coincident Audio Dynamo 34se EL34 single ended headphone amp 8 watts per channel.Beautiful to look at,takes up little space,and affordable (about 1k).I know there are much better single ended tube amps out there but this is one of the best values in amps (any kind) today IMHO!

 

Don't forget about SOGON interconnect. You won't be wiring those $80,000 components with $20 RCAs

 

My Levinson 33H mono blocks ... I can't imagine wanting anything else.

 

My current one.
The Audio Note Oto Line SE.

 

Having attended every CES (in Las Vegas and formally in Chicago) since 1983, I have seen and heard MANY favorite amps, few of which I ever actually owned. The ones that stand out in my memory were Conrad-Johnson Premier 8, any FM Acoustics, Music Reference RM-9, any MFA (Moore-Franklyn), ARC M100 and M300, Jadis Defy 7 (and current DA-7), Tube Research Labs GT-800, EAR 509, and now Audio Note (UK) Conquest and Kassai (300B SET monos). But there have been many more, that just don't come to mind at this moment.

I wish there was some sane reason to own all of these at once.

 

I went with the Bel Canto Ref 500m mono’s amps to power my MMG’s, they have plenty of power, are light weight and sound great.

 

I am not interested in exotic tube amps - too much hussle tube rolling, matchinng, replacing defective valves every few months , neither in those high power consuming true CLASS A amps-even though i agree they have their magic - so if we talk about integrateds the Nu Vista 800 is a best of both worlds affair. Tubes in the input stage - 250 watts of solid state watts output stages in a beautiful package made by one of the best amplifier makers ever Anthony Michaelson - Musical Fidelity. If I had the money for running a Class a amp for 12 hours per day my choice would be the Accuphase P-60 - something about the sexy eyes and that superb user friendlyness /like a MacIntosh, only more elegant and a bit more technically advanced. With seperates it is getting more complicated - the brand new Octave HP 70 is built like a tank and produces perfect sonics.
http://www.octave.de/en/htdocs/verstaerker/hp700.php
Power amps ? Well i think I'd go with a power horse but I have no facorite - The usual suspects again in thazt price range I could as well go all the way for the big horses in Class a - a pair of Musical Fidelity M 50 - 50/100/200 watts per channel ( 8 Ohm, 4 Ohm, 2 Ohm) real pure Class A , need 2 persons to lift one of those.

 

And to think I was bitching about having buy a new matched quad of KT120s...

 

Naim 62/90 with a HiCap.

 

One of the best amp I heard is a custom built OTL that puts out about 35 watts; it last sold for about $50,000. The other really great sounding amp I heard is an old Western Electric 59a (the real deal, not a clone). I heard the WE 59a in a direct comparison with the Audionote Kageki playing AN-E speakers. The WE 59a was a much more dynamic and punchy sounding amp with that speaker (I own a pair of Kageki), but, I don't know how the comparison would go with a much easier to drive speaker like the one I own (I suppose it would tighten up the contest a bit). You don't see real 59a amps sold very often, but, know that offers of $80,000 for a single channel have been declined.

As more realistic alternatives, I like my Kageki (okay, it is no longer that realistic an option at today's prices) and the Western Electric 133a clone amp that I also own (clone with real Western Electric transformers and vintage parts).