tube amp

[boutrosa]

Hi

I am thinking of bi-amping my Vistas. Currently I am useing an outlaw amp 7500 to power my HT. It sounds really good but I feel that my sound is missing something when playing music. I think that its not as clear as it used to be or that it can be more clear.

So I am thinking of adding a tube amp for my panels, or maybe a better 2 chanel amp for my vistas.

More movies I cannot ask for better. Its unreal how clean and powerful it is when watching movies.

Here is my current setup.

outlaw 990 pre/pro
outlaw 7500 amp
outlaw lmf-1 plus sub
center ML cinema I
frt lft rt ML Vista
rear lft/rt Fresco
Denon 2910 dvd/sacd universal player
directv hr20

If i Bi-amp my vistas with a tube for the panels and the outlaw for the woofer, will I have a volume control problem? As I increase the volume on my 990, will it increase the volume of both the panels and woofers equally?
I am looking for a fairly inexpensive good quality great sounding solution.

Thabks,

Andy

 

[nsgarch]

Keep it simple (and cheap)

If i Bi-amp my vistas with a tube for the panels and the outlaw for the woofer, will I have a volume control problem? As I increase the volume on my 990, will it increase the volume of both the panels and woofers equally? I am looking for a fairly inexpensive good quality great sounding solution. Thanks, Andy

Your idea is good, and all you really need is a tube amp of the same price/quality range as the Outlaw equipment, with around 80-100w/ch. Use the "main" speaker outputs from your pre-pro to power the tube amp, and the sub outputs from the pre-pro to power one of the five amps in the 7500. Connect the tube amp to the Vistas' panels and sub amp channel from the 7500 to the Vistas' woofers. With the pre-pro, you can do amp gain matching (volume adjustments) and set crossover points if necessary -- I'd run things full range at first because the crossovers in the Vistas should take care of it without setting them at the pre-pro

 

[boutrosa]

I do not know anything about tube amps. What are your recommendations?Brand, size, output, new/used etc..

Thanks

 

[twich54]

I do not know anything about tube amps. What are your recommendations?Brand, size, output, new/used etc..

Thanks

Loaded question, with a myriad of possibilities....... Brands...ARC, CJ, Cary Audio, BAT, Mac to name but a few. 50-100 watts should suffice, since you know nothing about tube amps be carefull of buying used.

I would suggest doing some studying as well as checking out the "Gon" to get a feeling of what is out there and selling at what price points.

My reasoning for suggesting the aforementioned brands is that they are quality mainstream pieces that have excellent support behind them.

Good Luck.

 

[risabet]

Check out Tube Audio Design @ the website below. These amps are really excellent, well made and won't bust the bank. 100wpc using a variety of output tubes. You can use EL34, 6CA7, 6550, KT66,77, 88 or 90s. Input tubes are 12AX7, AU7 or AT7. I have found them to be more accurate and powerful than equivalent CJ amps and to work very well with MLs. YMMV

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/bizzyb/TAD1000.html

 

[MotorToad]

What you need to bi-amp is to balance the voltage gain of the amplifiers. If one is, say, 1V:30V and the other is more or less than that then you'll have a mess. Googling around some specs, I see popular amps from 26 dB to 30 dB gains... more than twice the volume levels. Most are at 26 dB and they seem to stick pretty close within a brand, but I'm just glancing at some stuff that's easily googled.

Also, I wouldn't use the sub output, as that's mono and there's plenty of stereo information in the woofers' bandwidth.

 

[boutrosa]

am I better off buying a tube amp or a krell 400i? and not bi-mp?

 

[nsgarch]

definitely a tube amp

am I better off buying a tube amp or a krell 400i? and not bi-mp?

and I recommend a McIntosh MC275, I'm using one for my CLS's and I know at least three
Vantage owners that use them for the panels. Although it sounds like you're on a tight budget, otherwise you might have bought a Vantage instead?

 

[slowGEEZR]

am I better off buying a tube amp or a krell 400i? and not bi-mp?

I have the 400xi and a tube integrated. I prefer the tube amp. But...that's me, not you. - Steve