Trevor Wilson wrote:
"Will Reeve" wrote in message
...
Not the easiest speaker to drive (they need a bit of power) but I
fancy giving valves a try.

**Why?

Do you have a desire to buy an amp which:
* Delivers less power.

A small worry, but I don't play very loud and I believe when you push them
they "soft" clip so reducing the chance of tweeter frying?

* Consumes more power.

I presume you mean less efficient, it's winter I will turn the heating down
:-)

* Begins to wear out, from the first instant it is switched on.

I won't mention that I sometimes listen to vinyl then :-)

* Has a declining base of ready availability of spare parts.

I hope to use valves still manufactured and resistors / caps are readily
available (nothing exotic) from Farnell.

* Delivers a poorer frequency response.

Unlikely poorer than the speakers, these are small boxes!

* Delivers higher levels of all types of distortion.

Isn't that why the sound different and appeal to many people?

* Possesses a poorer phase response.
Than a similarly priced SS amp?

Anyone have a recommendations where to start. The
system is 'budget' and well chosen, with a DPA Little Bit 3 DAC as a
main source and currently running a Cambridge Audio A1MkIII SE
transistor amp.

**A nice little Rotel RA02 will do nicely. It'll likely last a long
time, too.

Hi guys, thanks for the replies. I've been lurking on the group for a few
months and always enjoy the analogue/digital and valves/ss arguments :-) I
hope you don't mind but I will answer/comment on everyone's replies in one
post.

The wharefdale diamond 'speaker is a mid eighties very small shelf speaker
which
doesn't do 'low' and is a little inefficient. I love them. I believe they
were around 100quid when first available! I've just got a set of the 'super'
version which have real wood and veneered cabinets! They live in a
cluttered office and it's a timber framed house so not ideal acoustics.

I'm too young to have witnessed valves the first time around and fancy
giving
them a go now for a Christmas project!

I love the look of the glowing valves; I do solid state
for a living and fancy something a bit different.

I like to compare the whole Hi-Fi world to my other passion...cars. I think
the valve amp is a bit like a classic car, some can be cheap and bloody good
fun (I have a TR7 V8 ragtop) other expensive and more reliable. I
certainly wouldn't want to do a long trip in a cheap one or use it as my
everyday reliable transport but as a bit of fun and something different for
the weekend, why not?

On a more practical note I have a friend who can laser cut/drill highly
polished stainless steel, however I am having difficulty it finding where I
can get wooded side panels made (I intend to use the stainless for the top
and bottom plates). So if anyone can make the wood I can get the plates and
do a swap! I was thinking a nice varnished hardwood and polished stainless
would look very nice!

My budget is 150quid max (excluding enclosure) and something easy to wire by
hand, not many valves, and warm sound to soften CD would be nice. Thanks for
the links I have found from previous replies much better than the ones I
generated with Google. I have a few evenings of surfing / reading to do! I
guess transformers from somewhere like sowter will be 100quid of that
budget?

Keep well all,


Will