New Amp Deal - Interesting Offer

venomclan

Hi Guys,
I have been thinking of jumping into the tube world lately with my latest Gallo speaker upgrade. I had never owned a tube amp before and was playing around with ideas. I contacted a particular tube amp manufacturer I had been researching to see if they had any demo or clearance units laying around and I just received the following offer:

"The owner wants to upgrade one of his Lab standard units. He’s used it for about a year in his lab, but it is absolutely primo and completely settled in. Has all the newest upgrades. As one of his lab standards, it is lower THD than standard factory production, etc. Carries full warranty and a new set of tubes."

He would let the amp go for $800.00 less than it retails for. What intrigues me is how they explain about the lower THD with this unit. Almost like it is a custom made amp I would be able to purchase, that is superior to others on the market, which have received rave reviews. I am unsure what techinical tweaks this unit has, but lets just say that this company and the owner is well respected in the industry.

What do you guys think?
V

AndyGwis

I would love to have an amp from a well respected owber

In all seriousness, this sounds to be a great chance to get a very nice, rare, possibly exotic tube amplifier (all characteristics of the Gallos and would therefore create a motif/theme to your system).

If you decided to sell it, just call it an "upgraded" or better yet "modded" <insert amp name/model> and sell it for double the market price of the stock version.

mantis

Try it. What do you have to lose??? Tubes sound different. Some speakers sound much better with tubes, some don't. Personally I enjoy tube amps.

As a musician , I never play solid state amps. I hate eveything about there sound quality. Tubes amps are so much warmer and seem to sound more natural. They also seem to have a better dynamic range.

You may like the sound better, you may not. I say go for it if you have the coin man. New tubes is good as they last about 2 years. More playtime the more you have to change them. Your sound goes in the toilet. It gets real mussy.

Dan

Ern Dog

Sounds like you have manifested even more than what you wanted at a killer price to boot. To me this is a no brainer. A sweet deal like this doesn't come around too often. Worse comes to worse you could always return it or sell it for same price. You Can't Lose.

venomclan

AndyGwis wrote: »

I would love to have an amp from a well respected owber

LOL, I got so excited that I forgot how to spell, the even sadder part is that I have a degree in English.
V

tonyb

Does that tube amp have the balls for your Gallos?
Your accustomed to hearing those Gallos thru your Krell.
Make sure before you empty the change jar,as those Gallos aren't the easiest
to drive.

venomclan

tonyb wrote: »

Does that tube amp have the balls for your Gallos?
Your accustomed to hearing those Gallos thru your Krell.
Make sure before you empty the change jar,as those Gallos aren't the easiest
to drive.

No problem on the power side, I cannot go into details now but it will be plenty. In addition, I will be adding the Gallo Sub amp in the future, and it will put less strain on the top amp.

There was a professional review of this particular amp and my Gallos without the sub amp, and it really brought them to life in the article.
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unc2701

You should be fine... My 2 watt flea amp could handle the Gallos at low volume and from your description, I'm guessing that you're looking at a good bit more wattage than that.

venomclan

unc2701 wrote: »

You should be fine... My 2 watt flea amp could handle the Gallos at low volume and from your description, I'm guessing that you're looking at a good bit more wattage than that.

Hi Unc.
Over 100 times that power actually
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unc2701

I think I mentioned to you that the Spud Amp didn't have a whole lot of control of the 10" woofer, so the 60-150 hz range was a little sloppy vs the Bryston/Krell, but the top end was very sweet. With that much wattage, I think you'll be very happy with the outcome.

I can't remember- Do you have the SA? if not you could always get an active crossover & put the krell on the Sub...

venomclan

unc2701 wrote: »

I think I mentioned to you that the Spud Amp didn't have a whole lot of control of the 10" woofer, so the 60-150 hz range was a little sloppy vs the Bryston/Krell, but the top end was very sweet. With that much wattage, I think you'll be very happy with the outcome.

I can't remember- Do you have the SA? if not you could always get an active crossover & put the krell on the Sub...

No SA amp yet, but am working on it. I think the Krell as a sub amp is just too overkill and would kill my budget anyway with an additional crossover.
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madmax

If it is a reasonable company and they made me an offer like that I would JUMP on it. Right away!
madmax

unc2701

Yeah, that's how I felt having the Bryston on the sub terminals.

Depending on how the gain matches up between the new amp and the krell, you could probably get away with just using lowpass FMOD's.

venomclan

unc2701 wrote: »

Yeah, that's how I felt having the Bryston on the sub terminals.

Depending on how the gain matches up between the new amp and the krell, you could probably get away with just using lowpass FMOD's.

If the new amp works out, the Krell will have to be "recycled" to fund the new purchase. It served me well. Besides, I am sure there are a pair of LSi15's out there itchin for 500 watts of Krell power.

I had asked for further details about how this lab amp is different from the production ones and here is the response:

"There is really nothing different about it other than (the owner) has more carefully matched the two channels for his lab reference work. It has a bit better specs than the average production unit due to that. But nothing special that you would need to be concerned with.

This amp has been used (and still is being used) by a number of speaker companies including Thiel, Escalante (former Wilson Audio designer), the esoteric Pipe Dreams, Final (in Copenhagen), Cabasse, and others as their lab references, so I think you will be more than pleased with it."

I put a reserve on this amp but will have to wait a week or so before it arrives. I have to travel on business next week and I do not want the amp sitting on my office floor while I am gone. I like the idea of having a lab amp, just sounds cool. Like having the amp Bob Carver used in his bathroom or something
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tonyb

Well we will all wait for your review...damn...a week???
Have you not heard of over night shipping?:D

venomclan

tonyb wrote: »

Well we will all wait for your review...damn...a week???
Have you not heard of over night shipping?:D

lol, yes but I will be in Vegas, anybody want to house sit for me and demo this amp at the same time? :eek:
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tonyb

hmmm.......house sit....Florida.....Summer,no....winter,hell ya!!!

Ship to me,I'll shine it up for ya,get those tubes nice and warm,
AND RUN LIKE HELL,NEVER TO BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.:p

venomclan

tonyb wrote: »

hmmm.......house sit....Florida.....Summer,no....winter,hell ya!!!

Ship to me,I'll shine it up for ya,get those tubes nice and warm,
AND RUN LIKE HELL,NEVER TO BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.:p

Yeah, thats what I thought Tony.

The only problem with that theory is that you will also have a 70lbs. bulldog permanently attached to your appendage of his choice

Gaara

Did I miss something here? What is the tube amp?

I have heard some good reviews of the Ref 3.1s being run off tube amps. They are actually not that hard of a load to drive, I have had good luck using a 10wpc Trends amp with them.

Tubes on top, solid state on bottom, should be a good combo.

venomclan

OK guys,
Amp is en route. Should arrive Thursday. I did not want to let the cat out of the bag before, but the amp is actually a hybrid SS/Tube amp - The Butler TDD2250. It is BK's personal lab amp as discussed, with lower THD and better balance and was used by a few higher end speaker manufacturers as a reference test amp.

Here is a review of the regular production amp on a pair of Gallo Ref 3's.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/butler/2250_3.html

I cannot wait to give it a ride. No tube rolling on this amp. I will do amp shootout in the near future against the Krell. of equal power (250 Watts)and similar cost.
V