Looking for a little help.

I am not an audiophile, but I can tell the difference between a modern solid state and an old school tube amplifier. I hope to put my hands on a nice old two channel tube amp, but have no idea what makes/models to look for or what price ranges are reasonable.

Can anyone point me to a reliable source?

TIA

 

What'cha amplifying? Requires much more input voltage, produces more heat, requires more space for footprint, and more space for airflow, and generally alot more expensive.
Are you sure you're not an audiophile?
Maybe you should post this question on Epinions.
http://www.epinions.com/inst-topic-Tube_vs_Solid_State

 

Harman Cardin made some nice stuff back in the good ole days. Tough to find anything still running. Once it sits around a while the wet capacitors dry out, then short when you plug it in - - that can take out the transformer - - that usually means the junk pile. Finding it is hard to impossible except by chance. Just gave away a Harman Cardin amp, turntable, bunch of tubed test equipment and communications gear. Took it to a tech school so they could show the classes what that stuff "used to look like". Man, I'm getting toooooo old.

OleGoatBob

 

The first vintage tube amp brand that comes to mind would be McIntosh, and the first source would be the highly respected Audio Classics out of Vestal, NY. You can be assured that anything purchased from this dealer has been bench tested and aligned. There's nothing quite the sound of a pair of Mac monoblocks using the legendary KT88 tube as the final amplifier. If you're not quite up to the lofty pricing of Mac amps, you might want to look at Dynaco, or Marantz. There's a huge tube amp following out there, and places like Quicksliver Audio are cranking out new tube products.

 

dont really know nothin bout them but US Amps is producing tube amps

http://www.usamps.com/

 

I remember Sound Craftsman amps are pretty good. Don't know if they are still around.

MikeyB

 

Thanks guys, thats a start. I'll start looking.