Sonus Faber with tube amp

I'm thinking to get a Sonus Faber paired with my 50watts tube amp but most people will use the SS amp to drive their Sonus Faber, never heard people use tube amp with Sonus Faber.

Does it really sounds that bad with tube amp ?

No it does not and will not sound bad with tubes but firstly you need to tell us which Sonus Faber you're planning to pair with which tube amp.

Yup. If you are planning for models like Amator or (gasps !) Extrema, then you will 'die'. Some models of Sonus Faber can melt a Krell. But most of their models are not that tough to handle and 50watts of tube is quite OK. But you also need to tell us the brand and model of the tube amp you are using.

I'm using an integrated amp Papworth TVA 10, it has 4 EL34 and its rare in Asia.

Thinking to match it with Sonus Faber Concertino Domus.

I owned one 2 years ago and have to admit it sounds better with ss amp. Initially paired with Audio Research CA50 mmmm.....no comments....then with Densen DM10....Excellent. If want to use tube amp it is advisable to use EL34 amp because it has alot more juice then other tubes....also cheaper cost. If properly matched it is wonderful in small room but you must use their original stands. RM2000 new. 40% inprovement. Remember my abovementioned advice.....SMALL ROOM.

How small is your small room ? My music room is 20 X 10= 200 square feet, is this consider small or medium ?

200 sq ft is consider small. Suitable for bookshelf sonus. Discontinued model. Advice you buy speakers/stands package. It is virtually inpossible to buy stands by itself later.

So in conclusion Sonus Faber sounds more better with SS amp?

In my personal opinion sonus speakers are tuned to suit ss amp.

I read somewhere that the designers of Sonus Faber voices their speakers using Krell amplification at the factory. Surprisingly not using the Sonus Faber Musica. And again I read somewhere else that somewhere in a music museum, an Electrocompaniet SS amp powers a pair of Sonus Faber Stradivari homage.

I currently power my pair of Minima Amators with a Krell KAV300i and I must say I like it plenty. For a bit of warmth I use a Cary Audio CD300 valve CD player. Very very transparent sounding with a huuuuuuge soundstage extending beyond the side and rear walls with excellent holographic effect. Every instrument is placed clearly in it's own space with my eyes closed.

Now, having said all that what I truely miss is the time when I drove the Minima Amators with a pair of Cary SLM70 valve monoblocks. These were EL34 X 4 tubes per monoblock providing 70Watts of valve power per channel. Preamp was an Audionote M1 with vintage Mullards. How was it? Sweet! Sweeter than my current Krell can ever be! Voices were larger than life, sweeter than honey and take on a kind of smooth and grain free quality. And when the violins kick in, I died and went to heaven!! Complains? Yes, there were a few. Bass could be tighter, faster. The cost of retubing 8 power valves not to mention the driver valves, rectifier valves and that electric bill!!!

Given a choice between my current Krell setup and my previous Cary monoblocks I could toss a coin and be happy with either. With the Krell, it's fuss free, power up and everything sounds best in less than 10 minutes. Kinder on the electricity bill. With the Cary monoblocks, you don't get to hear stuff like that very much these days and yes, it's coloured, yes, real life music don't sound like that but what it did was to transform the music into something very very special which I still miss today.

By the way, it may surprise you that my Cary CD, Cary Monoblocks, Audionote Pre, Minima Amators, all came from Akai Chin in Centrepoint Sabah. Have you visited his new shop at Lintas?

I'd like to add that there was a time last year, when I missed my EL34 so much that I considered a Prima Luna Dialogue One valve integrated. Was just a thought though. Never did happen.

WongKN wrote:Yup. If you are planning for models like Amator or (gasps !) Extrema, then you will 'die'. Some models of Sonus Faber can melt a Krell. But most of their models are not that tough to handle and 50watts of tube is quite OK. But you also need to tell us the brand and model of the tube amp you are using.

post-Franco era of Sonuses are no longer power hogs unlike the Extrema Era.

Speakers like the SFCD and Toy are much more amp-friendly compared to say, an Amator from the mid 90s.

Even when driving my old pair of Concertos with the volume cranked up, the KAV-300i will get very warm but not to the point of being scalding hot. But recently driving a pair of SFCDs, the KAV-300i hardly broke a sweat.

If the KAV was driving anything larger like a pair of some A***** speaker .... then it really gets cooking! OK, back to Sonus Fabers...

Aki,

Running my Cremona Auditors with a tubey 6550 30W (triode) /60W (UL). Using an SS Primare amp previously.

Have auditioned amps under 10K from the likes from Audio Research, Copland, Primaluna, Krell, Triode, a second hand Graaf from Adrian's shop.

My 2 cents is that tube amp's overwhelming sonic characteristic has a very special clarity and purity of presentation. SS amp if not paired correcty can, in my experience, sound analytical and hard. But I found myself enthralled by the tube amps openness and lack of grain or mechanical artifact. It was easy to feel "close" to the music in that special way I've so far experienced.

IMHO, take your time in auditioning SS and Tube amps specially when you are planning to fork out alot of money for it.

Bimmerman, Yeah i know Akai Chin in KK and been to his new shop in lintas.

How do you know him ?

Long time ago I had a pair of Extremas and had them paired with 3 different Krell power amps. But that was a long time ago..

Now I am using a modest Cayin A55T with 6550s to drive my Cremonas.
Something's lost and something's gained.

Whatever gets you throught the night, it's alright, it's alright! - John Lennon

Aki1980 wrote:Bimmerman, Yeah i know Akai Chin in KK and been to his new shop in lintas.

How do you know him ?

I've known Akai for a very long time. Known him since my schooling days when he was still working at ocean electronics. I lived in KK for most of my life since 1974.

what speaker is good match with tube amplifier ?

if you ask me i'd say the Concertino Domus should be quite good with EL34. You can consider Primaluna dialogue 1 or the cheaper prologue 1 or the Jadis Orchestra or maybe even the class A Synthesis Flame. All around the same price. But you'll need to spend a fair bit extra on silver interconnects and at least silver coated speaker cables. The fairly affordable DH Labs silver sonic speaker cables are quite ok.

I got a Papworth TVA 10 tube amp rated 50watts with four EL34.

I don know which speaker to choose either the Sonus Faber Concertino Domus or Celestion Kingston.

encik bimmer, whats with silver ic & speaker cables on tube + sf setup?

azri wrote:encik bimmer, whats with silver ic & speaker cables on tube + sf setup?

Well Azri, what do you associate with tube sound? Rolled off highs, sweet midrange, warm sounding but slow and fat bass. Overall the presentation might also come across as warm, fat and slow but oh so sweet. Correct? Well, not all tube amps sound this way but most EL34 setups i've heard certainly have this trait.

So, what do we know about silver? It's quick, it's lean and it's just the ticket for trimming down that fat lazy bass and add some speed and zing to that rolled off highs. and usually the sweetness remains intact.

and that my friend is what silver can do for EL34.

no wonder u got so many KCAGs ......

Ya lor Mugen, source to pre 1 pair, pre to monoblock another pair. 1.5M KCAG somemore. Finally happy with integrated. But if can experiment with a Tube preamp and big fat NAD power amp or Audiolab monoblocks, might be interesting too.

Aki1980 wrote:I got a Papworth TVA 10 tube amp rated 50watts with four EL34.

I don know which speaker to choose either the Sonus Faber Concertino Domus or Celestion Kingston.

I have not heard the Papworth TVA10 but 50Watts for four EL34 is plenty powerful. Probably can drive the Minima Amator even. For me I tend to choose good looking speakers but in this case the Celestion Kingston is very nice to look at. But sensitivity wise it's 84db while the Concertino Domus is 88db and probably easier to drive. I say you should test both speakers with your amp and see which one you prefer. Don't forget the silver!

bimmerman wrote:Ya lor Mugen, source to pre 1 pair, pre to monoblock another pair. 1.5M KCAG somemore. Finally happy with integrated. But if can experiment with a Tube preamp and big fat NAD power amp or Audiolab monoblocks, might be interesting too.

No lar ... for you, maybe some BIG FAT Krell Amp will do the trick !

Big fat Krell huh? In this day and age of going green and watching that carbon footprint, those badass gas guzzlers seem so irresponsible and so politically incorrect. Well no, not really. It's that electric bill I fear most.

one day, i will power amp krell

bimmerman wrote:Big fat Krell huh? In this day and age of going green and watching that carbon footprint, those badass gas guzzlers seem so irresponsible and so politically incorrect. Well no, not really. It's that electric bill I fear most.

Yes. The electric meter spins way way faster than 33 1/3 rpm.

what about KT88?

Hi .. I am currently running the Jolida 302 tube amp. Looking to buy the sonus faber Toy or Toy tower

Anyone running a similar setup ? or choice between the 2 ?

Is the tower an overkill as my room is quite small (2.5 m x 3m)

ongaaron wrote:I owned one 2 years ago and have to admit it sounds better with ss amp. Initially paired with Audio Research CA50 mmmm.....no comments....then with Densen DM10....Excellent. If want to use tube amp it is advisable to use EL34 amp because it has alot more juice then other tubes....also cheaper cost. If properly matched it is wonderful in small room but you must use their original stands. RM2000 new. 40% inprovement. Remember my abovementioned advice.....SMALL ROOM.

Origianl stands can bring so heavy improvement?! i have some doubts.
Other sonus owner mind to share ?

so its just about the tilting

azri wrote:so its just about the tilting

I think the material also plays some important role.

tube amps has many personalities, not all tube amps are push over, my
friend has older BAT VK-60, 60W/CH, driving B&W 801, he like to play
loud & shake the house, and he can do it easy, by the way, he's bi-amping, but forgot the rest of the setup, have not seen him for a
long while.
i was using 8W/CH 300B mono driving the bi-wire Concerto, decided
to build better 300B mono(6W/CH) for keep, put in best parts i can
find, was happy with the new mono, until a week later, i finished the
2A3 2ch (3 1/2W/CH), my brand new 300B mono blocks has been in
storage ever since.
i like voice & jazz, as long as you don't expect small output tube (SET) to play like SS, there's a lot of music in it, but first of all, you
need to decide what is most important to you.

sorry, my friend uses the biggest model of B&W, can't remember
the model number, but i just check, it's not the 801, may be the
901, anyway, it's the biggest in the B&W line up.

it's the Nautilus 801.

out of curiosity, has anyone paired their SF with a copland amp?

I have SF concerto grand piano, first floorstander of Sonus
I have AB comparision between a class A 150W and 18W SET amp
The punch of SS obviously better but when comparing vocal, tube amp is the clear winner. I do found that SS tends to sound too bright when playing loud. As for tube, i can crank up the volume without fatigue.
I am using almarro 318B.

Origianl stands can bring so heavy improvement?! i have some doubts.
Other sonus owner mind to share ?

i don't have the original, but adjustable height is important, SF recommend
the tweeter be at ear level when seated, and toe in toward the listener.
the girl at the store mention different stone base used with SFGP will
produce very different sound, i have not experiment with stone base
since i put the SFGP in storage only after 1 week, and use Concertos
ever since.

Hi .. I am currently running the Jolida 302 tube amp. Looking to buy the sonus faber Toy or Toy tower
Anyone running a similar setup ? or choice between the 2 ?
Is the tower an overkill as my room is quite small (2.5 m x 3m)

it's more of what kind of music you like, T & Ttower most likely
similar to C & CGP, C is definitely for vocal, also jazz & chamber
music, CGP has a lot more bass, so rodk & orchestra work.
easiest to choose by listening to both at your dealer. bring your
own CDs.