Need New/Used Amp for Aux System

So I'm thinking about adding a small system in my living room for when company comes over or me and the wife are just sitting down and enjoying one another's company. This would be a completely seperate system from the one in my dedicated listening room and would consist of a C.A.L Icon MK II (HDCD w/ power Boss upgrade-quite a nice player actually) and either some small ADS or Bose speakers (w/ subwoofer).

I would like to get an amp for about $300 and was considering the following:

McIntosh 754
Audio Research D52
Dynaco ST35 (or ST70)

I had the McIntosh 754 before and really liked it. The other advantage of the McIntosh is that it has a built in gain switch and I can hook the cd player directly into the amp (otherwise I will use a high quality passive preamp I have). I don't know a lot about the Audio Research unit but have had (and am currently using) Audio Research stuff and really like their products. Lastly, I love the sound of tubes but I'm not sure if I want to fuss with them in a system that will only get some casual listening maybe once or twice a week. I know the Dynaco's are very well regarded and have great build quality. Do I want those little tubes out there where my 3 year old can get her little hands on them?

I mostly listen to rock, blues and jazz and the listening room is about 12' x 20'.

So what do you all think about these choices or do you have some of your own?

 

Boy, I'd still get a Dynaco ST70. They're fairly inexpensive, very modifyable (if you want) and the tubes are easy to get.

If you buy one with a cage and keep the amp high, I doubt your 3-year old will get at them. Most power tubes are hot as hell. Can't change that. However, with the ST70's you can screw-on the cage. The cage may get hot, but it's the tubes that will burn ya fingers.

Dynaco's ARE solid. I'm sure other forum members will ring in for their favorite amp (Steve doesn't like the ST70 as much as most McIntosh products, but I've been rebuilding them for about 1-2 years with absolutely ZERO letdown. I can rebuild one very quickly, and modify it even quicker. Very simple circut, the trannys are built to last forever, and it sounds SO sweet. Very good, great power. You can make the amp look wonderful with just some simple chrome polish and maybe paint the chocolate-brown cage black with rustoleum.

I have 3 of them, all complete units, all three are in different states of no-mod to highly-modded.

With some McIntoshes, yes, some of them are integrated amps. For the ST70 you need a preamp.

I can say this, most any ST70 I can find, even very rusted ones "not working" I can usually make them look like new and sound better than ever in a course of two weeks. Hey, if I can do it, it CAN be done.

Endless supply of neat things you can do with an ST70. Love em.

 

Sckott,
Thanks for the reply. I was curious what do you think about the Dynaco ST 70 vs ST 35. Aside from the different power, is there a difference in sound? I was also thinking about Quicksilver Audio, as my brother used to have a nice sounding amp but I don't know how much they go for.

By the way Sckott, you seem to have your **** together when it comes to the Dynaco's. Any modified Dynaco's that you would be willing to part with at a reasonable price? Let me know.

Thanks.

 

I have one that I built from scratch; all from mostly new parts. The trannys and the PC3 board are original (I won't go with anything else, now) and the caps, resistors, the 5 n' dime parts are all new (like RCA sockets and the like).

I paid almost $200 for original trannys, not 3 months ago, which are cheap as apposed to buying Hammond copies. No reason! I could let it go for $400 plus shipping, only reason is, I built it weeks ago, and that's what parts cost. It would be like I built it for parts @ cost. Donno. Heck, the Capboard that replaces the quad capacitor tower goes for $50 w/ parts.

http://www.curcioaudio.com/dynadr_3.htm

I'd love to sell it for $300, but there's not one Dynie in here that's made for that money. If you're not interested, I would say get one on eBay, even a busted one, and I'll fix it for you for cost.

I'm trying to move on to building an 2A3 pair of monoblocks or a pair of 6B4Gs:

http://www.pmillett.addr.com/6B4G push-pull amp.htm

I wish I could go lower than that now, but I can't.

ST35's are very nice.
http://home.indy.net/~gregdunn/dynaco/components/ST35/
Still, an ST70 is hailed as all-around king of low-cost tube amplifier, because there's nothing since that has reached the same performance for its cost. Still holds true today. An American classic.