Auto/self biasing tube amps?

Another opportunity for me to chime in and plug the David Berning designed Linear Tube Audio line of tube amps -- special in that they do not rely on wire-wound output transformers to most effectively couple the output to the speakers. And of course they are self-biasing.

Linear Tube Audio - Audiophile Tube Amps & Headphone Amps

 

Thank you. people without hand tremors dont understand. Fortunately for them

I asked her. she didn't seem too keen on the idea. She is nervous enough playing an album...thankfully I can still do that

 

Ayon Audio (made in Austria) amps are self-biasing...and darned good looking, too! The Triton (120 watts/channel) sells for about $10k--not sure what your budget is.)

 

Raven Audio
American-Made Tube Integrated Amplifier: Nighthawk MK3.1

 

All Audio Note amplifiers are auto-bias and all of them are hand-made in the UK or Europe - and so are most of the internal parts. So it's not some American company that buys the transformers or caps or resistors from China and then claims it's American-made or European made because the casework happened to be made in the US.

Here is the factory tour - Andy Whittle who walks you through works at Audio Note and Rogers Speakers (he's Rogers lead speaker designer).

They are not cheap, however. Their least expensive amplifier is around $2,500 I believe.



My understanding is that Emily will be taking over when Peter retires.

The M9 Phono you see early in the video is the preamp our host Steve Hoffman uses. Two box beast!

 

Biased suggestion: Dennis Had (of Cary fame) has been building his Inspire amps as a retirement hobby for a few years now. Mostly low watt SET and SEP amps. They are point to point wired and built by the man himself. His KT88 power amp is self biasing and can take a great variety of tube combinations to tailor the sound to your liking. He sells them on ebay (usually adds one a week). His username on ebay is radioman731. Seems to be in it for the fun of it rather than turning a huge profit. He sells a matching preamp too called Lp-2030 that pairs very well with the KT88 power amp. I recently acquired one of each. Communication was excellent and the product so good to my ears that I named them Mickey and Mallory because the killed everything else I had in my room including an LTA preamp and a First Watt F8.

 

These are some beautiful amps. I'd considered buying at one point.

 

I have a Carver Crimson 275 and it's a great amp, made in the USA. I'd call it a sort of "hybrid" bias, in that you don't bias the tubes in relation to each other, but you set the bias according to how you want it to sound. You adjust the screw in the back to set the current from 60mA - 120mA. Lower current gives you a more "tube-like" sound and higher give a punchier sound. The adjustment changes the damping factor slightly. Once it's set, you can forget it. 75wpc and I'm pretty sure it can drive most any speaker.

 

So if I were to save up and get the vtl. More than I intended to spend by a fair amount, but at least on paper what appears to be real end game. Yes, I know, I still haven't decided on speakers...blah blah blah.

But important issue, real earth shattering, life changing...go with the vtl preamp that is affordable, but not balanced or go with a different preamp (rogue rp7 for example) that has is balanced and rca. Would I gain more by using rca and all vtl vs mix and match?

Hey...a guy can dream!

 

I would not buy any of this stuff as a blind buy - especially not mixing and matching gear. If this stuff is life-changing you probably need a better life.

 

Great suggestions in this thread. We're incredibly fortunate to enjoy living in societies which permit so much choice. Though sometimes it can seem overwhelming.

 

Dang...and I can only like that 1x.

 

Your speakers are going to dictate what amp(s) you need.
I've had primitive (non self-biasing) VTLs for the last 10 or 12 years.
Those are keepers and would be life-changing if I dropped one on my foot, they must be a good 80 pounds each.

I have never heard a VTL preamp although I'm sure they're good.
I seem to be drifting into the conrad-johnson camp slow but sure.

 

And yes, multiple good suggestions. and a bit overwhelming at times. One reason I am setting specific restrictions

 

Still in the running, depending on the speaker choice

 

Richard, when the one of the tube plays dead, it need to be replace with a set of Quad in self baising, but in manual Bias it will only 1 pc to be replaced and adjust the Bias, is that correct?

 

That's interesting - I don't know as I have yet to have a tube go on my amps. I'd have to check with the Audio Note thread.

They sell tubes in matched quads or eights at the Tube Store. And King noted that on his amp the amp will match the tubes internally so you do not have to buy matched pairs. I don't know what AN amps do.

Manual bias amps still usually require matched tubes (As was recommended with my PP tube amp with manual bias from Audio Space and Line Magnetic).

 

Audio research has auto bias on their amps...if I decide to spend that amount. Just not on the integrated

 

Primaluna Designed in the Netherlands (Durob Audio) checked by a Dutch team in China every single one.
So only Russian tubes also....?

I respect your choice don`t worry i buy also mostly European.
But man these Amps are good!!
Peace and greetz.
Peter

 

Is this a self-biasing amp though?

 

If any information is available please share .

 

Check out the new Elekit TU-8900 via VKMusic.ca Home page . Autobiasing and you can plug and play 300B or 2a3. I have the Elekit TU-8600 300B and it has performed flawlessly.

 

I posted the question on the Strictly for AN fans thread and you can check there for the response.

My LM 219IA was manual bias but that didn't mean that you could just replace the one blown tube - it is still recommended to buy "matched pairs" because you would not want a new unused fresh tube in the left channel and a 10% life tube in the right channel - so I am not sure manual bias would be an advantage other than it takes more work.

If you look at the AN manuals they post some exceptionally long tube life expectations. 2 to 4 times longer than most. So the auto-bias or whatever they use seems to run the tubes easier. The Empress and Quest and Jinro manuals state you should expect ~6000 hours from the 2a3 and 300B and 211 tubes - that is 3 times more hours than I have seen from some competing literature which often states only 2000 hours. The 219IA LM amp I had had an 845 tube light up like a Christmas tree with a little flame inside the tube after 3 months or so. Luckily still under warranty - if the manual bias is off a little or you forget to rebias it every month you will go through tubes faster.

This reminds me - I will have to buy a set of tubes for my Empress amps - just in case. Or maybe an excuse to trade up for the Jinro. Must not do something crazy lol. But it's already in my head now.

 

Yeah will check, thanks

 

BAT has several self bias options.

VK-80i is the tube integrated with it: VK-80i Integrated Amplifier — Balanced Audio Technology