Tube Amp for ReQuests?

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astundzia

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Greetings,

I currently own Martin Logan ReQuests. I'm planning on upgrading my amp to either a Sunfire Amp or something with tubes.

My question is which tube amp should I be looking at? My budget is possibly as high as $2000-$2500. I'm a bit uneducated on tube amp brands and such.

If you ML encyclopedias could just give some feedback that would be great.
 
I used to have a set of tube amps...

I used a set of Rogue Audio M-120 Magnums for a few years on my ReQuests. They were quite good and I sometimes miss that extra bit of mid-range magic that they had. I sold them to get my BAT VK-6200 because the BAT offered a bit more control and slam, and I knew I was going to be moving the system into a smaller room and the Rogue monoblocks put out a boatload of heat. Someday I'm probably going to add a pair of BAT VK-75SE's to get that magic back.

I'd bet that you could probably find some Rogue's on Audiogon in your price range.
 
If you can stick with used equipment, and keep to the big names in tubes like Conrad Johnson, Audio Research and McIntosh you will always be able to flip it/sell it later at little to no loss - perhaps even a profit.

I have a Golden Tube Audio SE-100 100 watt tube amp which I picked up for $1,000. Defunked company out of business (like GTA) will get you even more value, but service may always be a question mark. So far so good, I have a good local dealer/shop plus the Internet has changed information awarness - a big part of the game.
 
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I'm assuming that you are currently powering the ReQuests with a solid-state amp. One viable option is to have the solid-state amp drive the bass and get a medium powered tube amp for the panels. If re-using your current amplifier is not an option, there's a Bryston 3B on A'gon for around $1000, and a pair of AES SixPacs currently going for about $1500. If you don't want to bi-amp, then the Cary V12R is an excellent candidate for around $2300 budget. Of course, the names already mentioned, ARC, CJ, TAD, BAT are good candidates. Good luck.

Spike
 
Spike said:
If you don't want to bi-amp, then the Cary V12R is an excellent candidate for around $2300 budget.
That would be sweet, can't forget the Cary's.:)
 
Thanks for all the help guys. I have no problem with used equipment. I'll definately check out all these amps.
 
I've been doing more investigating. How many watts do you guys think I need to just power the panel? Reviewing my manual for the ReQuests I can't seem to find the answer. :)
 
Here are some info

astundzia said:
I've been doing more investigating. How many watts do you guys think I need to just power the panel? Reviewing my manual for the ReQuests I can't seem to find the answer. :)
I have the AES SixPacs monoblocs pumping 50 watts each to my panels and am very happy with the result.
Here's an excerpt I posted on the subjects of Tubes, Logans & power-supplies
Tubes are tricky with Logans due to the wide impedance swing presented by the panels ranging from 30 ohms to 1 ohm. The item to note here is NOT to get bogged down by the low 1 ohm load @ 20khz since there is little music (energy) to be reproduced in that area. Any well-designed tube amplifier worth its salt will be able to handle this load at this extreme frequency without problems. It would be another story if this 1 ohm load occurs around the midrange area (1khz - 5khz). With this requirement from Logans, SET are pretty much out of the picture due to the fact that they like to see constant, flat impedance curve instead of the wild swing of the Logans. I've been in contact with various well-regarded amplifier designers asking about a good tube amplifier dedicated to the task of driving the panels and pretty much got the same feedback from all of them: about 30 to 60 usable watts of push-pull, (preferrably) triode design will suffice. It's worth mentioning here that the designers include Mick Mahoney of SupraTek, Dennis Had of Cary, Victor Khomenko of BAT, Fred Volz of Emotive Audio, Gary Dodd of Dodd Audio, Paul Grzybek of Tube Audio Design, etc... The key is to look for well-designed, choked regulated power-supply in order to keep the input voltage rock solid regardless of the demands during tough musical passages. Now, given that the Vantage (or Summit) have internal bass amplifiers already, the sweet spot for a good, musical amplifier is around the 50wpc area in triode mode, up to 100wpc ultra-linear. On the solid-state side, 50wpc (or 100wpc) class-A power from Pass Labs or Monarchy Audio are more than you'll need on the panels.
Here are the links to the threads I participated in discussing the amount of (tube) power and the ML panels:
50 watts & MLs what is best?
Advice on crazy Summit system wanted

Good Luck
Spike
 
Spike gives some good advice above.

One thing I forgot to mention in my original post to this thread is that Mark O'Brien, the Prinicpal at Rogue Audio, originally developed and voiced the M-120's on ML ReQuests. I met him a few years ago when he first introduced the amps. He is a very approachable individual and, similar to what Spike was saying in his post, would be happy to answer any questions you might have if you were to contact him directly. You can get his e-mail address off of the Rogue Audio website. Same thing with Vicktor Khomenko at BAT - I've talked to him several times.

That's one of the things that's cool about the high end community, if you contact the manufacturer you're very likely to talk directly to the person who designed the gear you're interested in.
 
Last week I asked forum members on their thoughts of suitable tube amps for ML's....I also own Requests and have arranged to borrow several amps to audition in the upcoming weeks, including a pair of Audio Research 100w mono's, a pair of ASL Hurricanes, and (hopefully) a pair of Atma-Sphere M60's, which will probably be paired with a set of Zero autotransformers (although adding a transformer to an OTL amp does sound odd to me...). The only amp that got an audition this week was a PrimaLuna Prologue 1, which sounded spectacular but perhaps left the Requests longing for a bit more power. Soundstage was open and airy but we found something missing down low. Might purchase it for the basement system anyways.
The only reason for the tube tests is at the urging of a few friends, who insist that I am 'missing something' if I do not give glass a try. My current amplifiers are Krell 250m's which are excellent performers, personally they do not leave me wanting more or make me feel as if I am 'missing out', but since we are re-arranging the room a bit it is not too much trouble to do some amp-swapping. Results will follow....

Tj
 

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