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I am putting together a budget bedroom system and I need an amp. I have $1500 total to spend so I am on quite a tight budget. I will be using Axiom m3ti speakers which are rated at 93db/watt and an Ah Tjoeb 99 cd player which I picked up on Agon for $350. So I am left with about $800 for an amp and cables. I am a tube guy so a tube amp is a must. Some of my options are1. ASL wave 8 (needs a pre-amp)
2. Jolida 102b
3. Sophia Baby
4. Almarro 205a
5. Bottlehead Paramour/foreplay combo
6. DIY Joplin
7. Gabes SE 6l6 ampI am leaning heavely towards either the Jolida or the Sophia Baby. Both put out enough power to play pretty loud in my bedroom, both use inexpensive tubes and neither needs a preamp. Anyone have any other ideas? I think I will have a pretty good little bedroom system for very little money.
thanks
frank
Follow Ups:
FrankI have a Jolida 202 (heavily modified)
It's awesome but it needed the mods to get there.
(Triode Mod/No NFB/different tubes 6072&12BH7)
But I suspect the Joplin would bury the un-modded unit,
maybe the modded unit too with their spec's and tube choices:Power output: 8/5/10W x 2 RMS @ 1KHZ
Class A with 2A3/45/300B
Tubes: 4x2A3 (or 45 or 300B), 2x5687, 1xECC81The flexibilty of using 3 different DHT output tubes
and their choice of driver (5842)
puts it into another class altogether.
I'd recommend PP 300B's for you.
You'll have enough power to rock your world.I had a Sophia Baby for a while and
sold it after a few hundred hours of break-in.
It was aggressive and very forward
with an over detailed sound to it.
As far as I can tell from the Axiom m3ti speakers
(when I seached the internet),
the metel dome tweeter and aluminum cone woofer,
could make your ears bleed with the harshness
and edge to the sound that the Baby has.
IMHO not a good match
The Baby would be a better match with a duller speaker
(PP/soft dome) where you need extra energy
to compensate for the sluggish drivers.As far as the ASL Wave 8,
it does the basics right
and it can be upgraded to sound better.
But there are better in your list.As far as the Bottlehead Paramour/foreplay combo,
I think the Axioms would be too underpowered.As far as the Almarro 205a,
just enough power for a small room
but with that 12AX7 gain stage - a NO.
They are not musical at all IMO.As far as the Gabes SE 6L6,
could be great with the tube choices
(6SL7 and 6L6 great combo)
and with decent Hammond iron also.
{But I've never heard of them}
It also it needs a volume control.
Maybe he can put one in for you -
it's not hard.So the bottom line is
my recommendations are -
if you want PP go with the Joplin
if you want SE go with the GabesThe edge would go to the Joplin because
of it's versatility and respected name.
But either one would compliment your speaker well.
Now decisions ... decisions ...
I am running the Av-8's with auricaps, ASL Line 1 pre,Nad 521bee and Paradigm Esprit and am extremlly happy with the setup.
It goes plenty loud for me and has some good solid tuneful bass. The whole system cost me around $1500 including cables and Telefunken tubes for the AV-8's.
I throw everything at it from Ministry to Mozart but it really shines on vocals and acoustic stuff. I can't wait until I get my hands on my vinyl which is unfortunatly 3500 miles away!
Using the Axioms which are way more sensitive than the Paradigms you will have no problem getting loud with the Wave's if you can find them.
Enjoy!
Consider the Consonnance Ella from Kevin at DIYCable.com. Easy to build and you've got the folks at the DIYHiFi Supply forum, right here on AA, to help you out. You'll have a few bucks left over for cables.
Bill's Audio Cave
I dont really need all that power to drive the Axioms. Although you can never have to much power I guess.
thanks
\frank
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