Behold, the sixpac tube amps!

Thanks to Steve and his friend Bart, I have finally found out what all of the fuss is about tube amps. What thet do to Jazz albums is amazing! The instruments are very alive, and have more "air" for lack of a more knowledgable term. I've noticed quite an improvement in soundstage also. However some modern rock albums sounded thin, with no bite. I tried out Husker Du "Candy Apple Grey", Volcono Suns "Bumper Crop" and Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", and they didn't sound as good as when hooked up to the Mcintosh solid state amp. Bart said that Rock would also shine if and when I upgrade (get more efficient) speakers. Until then, I'll have to swap to solid state when the punk mood strikes. My thanks once again goes out to Steve, Bart, and forum members. Behold!

 

How much heat do the amps generate? You wouldn't want to "cook" that beautiful turntable.

 

Tell us more!

' <--- that's the tear coming to my eye to hear about retiring the MC-202

 

The reason your amp doesn't rock is because it is a triode design. Stringing a bunch of pentodes together as triodes produces a dreamy, but limp sound that won't have the clarity or punch that you need for complex material or rock. Paralleling tubes usually produces a less focused/less transparent presentation. I think you would be happier with a push-pull/pentode design or something like a McIntosh 275...which sounds powerful all the time but not necessarily neutral. Your speakers are PLENTY efficient for 50 wpc. Not sure if you're experiencing 'the triode sound', design weaknesses in Cary's budget line, or both. I'd need to hear your amps first hand to be sure....but you should definitely try a couple others before you think about upgrading your speakers, IMO.

Most of the triode designs I have heard have a characteristic sound....airy and delicate with lots of space around the instruments, but poor, muddy bass....perfect for jazz or classical. This perhaps explains why the amp sounds thin to you with certain program material. As far as I'm concerned, a well designed amplifier should sound just as good with rock as it does with jazz and chamber music...but maybe that's just me. In conclusion, I am certainly not opposed to the idea of a speaker upgrade for you because I think a good speaker system should involve ultra-efficient 12" drivers, but if you are under the impression that changing speakers is going to make that amp rock the house....I suspect you may be disappointed. I've heard $5000 plus triode amps that sound very poor w/ rock music on my Tannoys and a few other vintage hi-efficiency designs. I would suggest to you, therefore, that you try out some different tube amps if you are happy with your current setup otherwise. Or you could just try some other speakers....it's your choice. I'm just shooting some thoughts at you here....

 

Congrats, tubes are great.

Hope you enjoy it!

Joe

 

Nice!!

Tubes rule!

 

Wow Prix I must say you covered that very well !!

 

He needs to upgrade his PH stage as well. It's good, but it can be better. I've offered to bring my AES PH1 for audition someday soon.

 

Nice setup. Just sell all those LPs you don't listen to and start collecting different tube amps!!!!!

 

George, Great looking system. To give you an idea of what Prix is talking about my c-j P12's only use 4 output tubes per side, but they are 6550 pentodes wired in the ultra-linear mode. I get 140 watts per channel and into my medium efficiency speakers when I play Wilco's YHF it rocks.

 

Thanks Prix, your knowledge is always welcome!

 

Also, thanks to Ronflugelguy, Sckott, and ALP who are getting me motivated to sell more records (and buy more equipment!)

 

For this very reason I have 2 sets of amps, for rock, and complex, I use NOSValves VRD monoblocks, 60 watts of sweet balls, for lower level I use Wavelength Cardinal X1's 12.5 watts of WE 300B Bliss, these are SET amps, but also with balls

Congrats on the tubes, welcome to the club.

 

Those suckas look dangerously close to the edge of that table....

 

They're as far away from the TT as possible. That keeps them far enough away to protect it from the heat. Don't worry, it's just a temporary setup.

 

So, whadya do with the MC-202? Gonna keep it?

 

Heck no - he's sending it to me for Xmas...

 

LOL! Well, somewhere in the "Audio Constitution" is a rule that it has to go back to its original owner (ahem, me ) when no longer needed

 

Have to keep the MC202 Sam and Mike. Believe it or not, my wife has also grown rather fond of the blue glow.

 

Funny Geoman that we went opposite directions: you went tubes from Mac and I went Mac solid state from tubes!

 

maybe a change of tubes may help.i'm not very knowledgeable but i've got an aes superamp and have upgraded the kt-88's and some of the other tubes with good results and improved bass response. are you running the stock tubes on the six packs? Will

 

Yes, I think he's running wide EL34 Chinese OEMs. That's what I remember seeing....

 

not to advertise specificallly, but i'm sure someone will back me up, that kevin at upscale audio sells these aes amps and is knowledgable at tweaking their performance.

i listen to a lot of rock music with my aes amp and ,surprisingly. moth audio circadias, and i finally moved my velodyne subwoofer into the mix which has helped out having that ss subwoofer amp in the mix for rock tunes. i'm probably committing some audiophile sin doing this but it's been fun. Will