Vintage Asylum Classic gear from yesteryear; vintage audio standing the test of time.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Vintage Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

RE: My 22222 cents

Posted by Russ57 (A) on December 11, 2014 at 18:12:27

In Reply to: Jolida 102B vs Vintage Yamaha posted by texanater on December 11, 2014 at 10:29:49:

IMHO tube gear is all about having something you can "fuss with". From simple upkeep like setting the bias, to rolling different tubes, to trying different capacitors and resistors. It is part of the appeal of owning tube gear. Keep that in mind heading into this choice.

The M4 is a rather slick design with extremely low distortion numbers. The Jolida is more like the average joe-blow 50's tube amp. In some ways a little worse because it is biased more towards the class B side to get more watts and the transformers probably aren't as good as some of the vintage names like dynaco/eico/scott/etc.

I think everyone should try tubes. Problem is giving it a fair chance.

In a broad sense you have the great amps from the early 1900's like western electric and rca. These amps used lots of very costly parts and tubes and only put out a few watts. With the right speakers these are marvels. Darn shame both the amps and speakers are beyond most of our means (even if building your own). Not only in dollars but also in space and WAF.

Then we have the mainstay amps, the dyancos/scotts/fishers/eicos/etc from the 50's that all are guilty of running push-pull class AB pentode/tetrode/ultralinear outputs in order to deliver more watts. Some, like the marantz's did a truly great job of it. Sadly it is as far as many get when it comes to tubes. Worse yet they try to get by with 60's speakers intended for solid state amps.

They we have a very few rare designs that (tried?) to improve things like the citation and the unity coupled mac's. Those amps can't really be compared with others. They are engineering marvels.

So what is a guy to do (assuming money matters)? I'd say start off with an amp that has parts that can be reused. Plan on building your own amps later on (very easy as long as looks aren't important). Understand that physically large speakers (read horns) are required and count on having to build them too. Best to use pro-audio parts here (you want something that plays as loud as you need with 1 watt but can handle 50-100+ watts). Consider that you might need to use an external crossover and bi-amp.

IMHO, if you aren't looking for a hobby and to tinker....and if you don't have the space and someone who will allow you a place in the house dedicated to this hobby....then stop before you go down this road as addiction awaits you my friend:)

Oh, and be sure to include at least another $1,000 (plus) in the budget for a decent turntable, cartridge, phono stage....plus the room for hundreds of records. Be a darn shame to ruin that horn/triode experience with a digital only source!

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---