What speakers are you running with your valve amp

MBDK72

Newbie
Wammer
Jun 23, 2021
77
21
28
London
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
These :D

1640014463968.jpg

Massive big transmission line speakers, weigh close to 120 kgs each. With the plinths iit is 150kgs. Almost as tall as me at 5'8". Were designed around my personal musical tastes. Built around just 8W of SET 300B amplification. But will easily demolish my walls, if iam not carefull with the volume :D

I absolutely love them :)

( just to get a context of the size. That bass driver at the bottom is a 10 incher )
Very nice but I don’t have the space.
 
  • Like
Reactions: newlash09

IGGI

IGGI
Wammer
Mar 2, 2020
32
18
13
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Since no one has done so yet, I would suggest Quad ESL-63s with the Gradient subwoofers.

One of my most memorable listening experiences to date, driven by a pair of Audio Research monos.
I have a couple of Ming Da amps, the campana and picollo, 38 and 8 watts respectively. It's very difficult to home in on speakers especially the collection from Wilmslow Audio. I chip in here because I recently purchased from WA their Heybrook replica principally because of its 90db efficiency although that shouldn't be a consideration with your 38 watts. The cabinet volume is larger than the Heybrook at 25litres but it has that nice modestly priced 8 inch main woofer. I had that paired with some better scanspeak tweeters and some fancier caps and the bill came to less than £1300. Frankly I'm fed up with paying through the nose for new Audio Note stuff, the base model AN-K is £2440. Granted the WA speakers don't include the fairy dust that comes with the AN stuff but they sound very nice indeed. I've lived with AN-K's for a few years and wouldn't swap the WA's. The AX-2's are a very nice speaker that would suit you but are like hen's teeth to find at approx £600. Tuga's speakers are also a cracking buy if you fancy splashing the cash and have the room. Hope this helps.
 

newlash09

Iam deaf at the ears, but way more dumb in between
Wammer
Aug 10, 2018
3,379
3,333
183
45
India
AKA
Y.Manohar / mike
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Not sure why you would say that... I have the Octave V70 Class A (KT-150) wiith Super Black Box & Audio Physic Virgo III & there is bags of room shaking low end.
Everyone's description and experience of room shaking bass is different sir.

Both @MF 1000 and me, have 845 tubed amps. They do have stunning bass, I would put them in the same league of a class A Krell poweramp, I once had. But with MF1000's bass cabs, with 18 inch woofers. It would take a whole lot more power than most tube amps can deliver, to make those 18 inch volt drivers behave.

And I would suspect that with those monster cabs, the bass might be more extended and powerful than speakers with inbuilt drivers. I have 10 inch drivers in my speakers, and the bass is very powerfull to my ears. Atleast it is more prodigious than any other floor standers I've heard from pmc, atc or b&w. But only way to find out is to add additional bass cabs and see.

So i tried building a ripole sub last year with twin 15 inch drivers per side, but failed, becuase of my poor wood working skills. The output was so immense and powerful, that the cab was shaking like mad. But apart from that annoyance, the bass was in a league of its own. I will again be reattempting the build these vacations.

But I would fully agree, that most people don't actually need this much bass.

Below is my ripole sub build post :D

https://www.hifiwigwam.com/forum/th...fer-build-ripole-and-failed-at-that-d.106448/
 
Last edited:

m7rso

Hath Wammed
Wammer Plus
Aug 14, 2009
1,979
814
193
LIVERPOOL, U K.
AKA
Graham
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Posselt Abatross with the valve amps i own. 20w a side Matamp monos or 35w a side Tube Technology. Neither have any problems getting them loud at a sensitivity of 91 at 1m. They are corner horns though so they have more bass in the corners of a room.
 

MBDK72

Newbie
Wammer
Jun 23, 2021
77
21
28
London
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I have a couple of Ming Da amps, the campana and picollo, 38 and 8 watts respectively. It's very difficult to home in on speakers especially the collection from Wilmslow Audio. I chip in here because I recently purchased from WA their Heybrook replica principally because of its 90db efficiency although that shouldn't be a consideration with your 38 watts. The cabinet volume is larger than the Heybrook at 25litres but it has that nice modestly priced 8 inch main woofer. I had that paired with some better scanspeak tweeters and some fancier caps and the bill came to less than £1300. Frankly I'm fed up with paying through the nose for new Audio Note stuff, the base model AN-K is £2440. Granted the WA speakers don't include the fairy dust that comes with the AN stuff but they sound very nice indeed. I've lived with AN-K's for a few years and wouldn't swap the WA's. The AX-2's are a very nice speaker that would suit you but are like hen's teeth to find at approx £600. Tuga's speakers are also a cracking buy if you fancy splashing the cash and have the room. Hope this helps.
Did you try any other speakers at Wilmslow audio?
 

IGGI

IGGI
Wammer
Mar 2, 2020
32
18
13
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Did you try any other speakers at Wilmslow audio?
I had a listen to the Overture, also very nice but with that expensive Volt driver the price went whizzing up to circa £1800. I particularly liked the Vifa woofer which has a history but one could accuse me of seeking an Audio Note AN-K on the cheap. To me it achieves that with great success, perhaps the cabinet quality is not quite there but it's one of those speakers that makes you stop reading and start listening closely.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MBDK72

Ian

Wammer
Wammer Plus
Aug 27, 2008
5,412
3,495
193
United Kingdom
AKA
Ian
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Harbeth P3ESR because I haven't got room for ESL 57 and Primaluna Prologue 5 because I can't afford Jadis (and you can mess about with valve types with the PL) ☺️
 

Psilonaught

Wammer
Wammer
Aug 16, 2007
3,774
2,311
158
Saffron Walden
AKA
James
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Iron fist in a velvet glove, that's how of describe my 140w triode OTL amps. The 6A7G triode is a great tube for hungry speakers.

Who says you can't get high power triode amps! Work very well with my current hungry Magnepans.

PXL_20220429_114634597.jpg
 

Psilonaught

Wammer
Wammer
Aug 16, 2007
3,774
2,311
158
Saffron Walden
AKA
James
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
ARC monos to Soundlab ELS.
If you are running soundlabs you should try atma-sphere amps likea mine. Lot's of US folks run this pairing.

Large panels and the OTL triode amps is a stunning pairing :)

Got any pics of your setup? The soundlabs must be around the same size as my 20.1 Magnepans?
 
  • Like
Reactions: newlash09

dave

incurable tinkerer
Wammer
Mar 24, 2014
1,605
924
148
cambs
AKA
dave
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
NS1000s seem to have rather constrained an damped bass, running on SS, but I find mine respond well to the slightly lower damping factor of a tube amp, not just any, has to be lower distortion and output impedance, ie pentodes with feedback, not DHT SE. The low end has filled out and nicely although not perhaps strictly as "accurate" as it could be. The quality I have been getting from the 1000s on one, in particular, of my home brew amps is in the realm of, I could stop here. But I won't of course, and I still need to fix my 57s and have that adventure.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
113,444
Messages
2,451,263
Members
70,783
Latest member
reg66

Latest Articles