Tubes Asylum

Posted by Michael on November 07, 1999 at 08:34:11:

My wife and I had decided that we were not getting enough musical pleasure out of our current all solid state setup and had decided that maybe it was time to investigate a different direction. Initially, I was thinking that maybe a tube preamp hooked to my amp would gain some musical enjoyment back into the system. I have also been on the hunt for a CD player that would work well with my system. My pervious demo experience with the Balanced Audio Technology VK-D5 CD player had made me aware that I definitely needed a new CD player, as my current digital setup was not cutting it musically. Okay, so it was very evident, to my wife and me at least, that our system needed a shot in the arm to bring it to life.

With the intent to demo some tube preamps and CD players, my wife and I proceeded to our nearest local audio salon. One of the tube preamps that I am really interested in demo'ing is the Cary SLP-98L. I have read so many good things about this unit and wanted to check it out for myself to see if what I read had any truth for me, in my system. The CD player that I was interested in demo'ing was the Anthem CD-1. With an open mind, I told the owner that I wanted to demo the Cary SLP-98L along with the Anthem CD-1. At that moment, an amp caught my eye that I had never seen at that store before, the Audion Sterling Extended Triode Single Ended Stereo amp. When I inquired about this amp, the owner told me that it was on loan and it was a 12-watts/channel amp. At that moment, I was thinking that this might be my chance to experience a SET amp, in my system.

My speakers are the Joseph Audio RM50si speakers which are rated at 88dB, frequency response 20 Hz-20 kHz +/-1 dB and an impedance of 8 ohms nominal/6.5 ohms minimum. Knowing the fact that these speakers are designed to be tube friendly I figured what did I have to loose by, at least, trying out the little 12-watt Audion ETSE amp, in my system. I was hoping, at the very least, that the Cary SLP-98L and Anthem CD-1 would benefit my system musically.

I proceeded to hook up the Anthem CD-1/Cary SLP-98L/Audion ETSE combo. Playing Sarah McLachlan, on the CD-1, I sat back and listened. This tube combo was damn fine. Sarah was standing in the room singing to me, it was that convincing. What really shocked me was how dynamic and punchy the music sounded. The bass was tight, deep and impactful. There was not one area, that I could find, that was lacking with this tube combo. There was an amazing sense of ease to the music. The Audion amp sounds a lot more powerful than its rated 12 watts. I was able to get all the volume all I needed and then some. I could clip the amp but at louder levels that I could stand to listen to for very long. I played music ranging from Pat Metheny to Yellow. Man, can this amp boogie and at the same time have an incredibly light touch. Four hours later I was enjoying music like I had never enjoyed it before.

I am not sure whether to curse you all to hell or thank you for starting me down this tube-laden path.