Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Joe Mac said:
If depends on budget. A fully tube phono stage, as opposed to a phono stage with tubes just to colour the output, will not come cheap. What’s amp is feeding the klipsch? My instinct is that an amp/speaker upgrade may be a bigger jump, the pho8 is a good phono stage.
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Denon AVR-2808 CI

Budget/what's available here in Brazil will come into play later on.
I've always been intrigued with tube phono stages but I can see that upgrading other parts first might be wiser.
I'm just starting to think about some upgrades for/ when this covid-19 mess is over (and I survive, obviously).
 
gafacaode said:
Denon AVR-2808 CI

Budget/what's available here in Brazil will come into play later on.
I've always been intrigued with tube phono stages but I can see that upgrading other parts first might be wiser.
I'm just starting to think about some upgrades for/ when this covid-19 mess is over (and I survive, obviously).
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To get a proper tube phono stage you’re looking four figures. With your amp/speakers I wouldn’t be willing to spend that on a phono stage. I think that you’ll get better bang for buck with an amp/speakers that the pho8 will step up well to, it’s a good price of gear. Once the pot is replenished after that you may fancy a nice new phono stage. But first identify a budget and then people here can tell you what your best bet will be!
 
Joe Mac said:
To get a proper tube phono stage you’re looking four figures. With your amp/speakers I wouldn’t be willing to spend that on a phono stage. I think that you’ll get better bang for buck with an amp/speakers that the pho8 will step up well to, it’s a good price of gear. Once the pot is replenished after that you may fancy a nice new phono stage. But first identify a budget and then people here can tell you what your best bet will be!
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I'd say speakers are the trickiest to get here. Amps are easier.
Budget for an amp would be up to 2k (I'm guesstimating my wife wouldn't kill me 🤣)
 
gafacaode said:
I'd say speakers are the trickiest to get here. Amps are easier.
Budget for an amp would be up to 2k (I'm guesstimating my wife wouldn't kill me 🤣)
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I’d recommend getting a tube amp if you want tubes. That way, every source you have gets the benefit of tubes, not just your vinyl.

I just upgraded my phono stage, and could have easily purchased a quality tube phono stage. I didn’t seriously consider one. That’s not to say I wouldn’t- but the tube phono stage I lust after costs a little over double the one I just bought. The one I just bought wasn’t inexpensive.

The thing to remember about tubes is this:

Low cost
Great Sound
Reliable

You can have any two of the above, not all 3.
 
gafacaode said:
That's interesting!
Could you give me some examples?
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There’s all kinds of cheap tube gear on eBay. All brands that you won’t recognize. Try a search on “tube amp” on eBay. You’ll see what I mean.

But price isn’t a guarantee of reliability. There is some really good sounding tube gear that isn’t reliable, meaning when an output tube goes, you’ll need to send it for repairs. Cough ***Rogue Audio** cough.

I’d look at a close out JoLoda amp, unless you want a current model under the Black Ice name. Me? I’d go JoLida. And spend the extra money for 6550 output tubes. Under budget and way better than what you have now.

Jolida | Underwood HiFi

www.underwoodhifi.com www.underwoodhifi.com
 
HiFi Guy said:
The thing to remember about tubes is this:
Low cost
Great Sound
Reliable
You can have any two of the above, not all 3.
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Where do Decware tube amps fall short? Is it the cost? Because while $1000 is a low price for a tube amp in general. it's a high price when you consider dollars per watt.
 
dansomeone said:
Where do Decware tube amps fall short? Is it the cost? Because while $1000 is a low price for a tube amp in general. it's a high price when you consider dollars per watt.
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It’s just that, price. The $1k low power isn’t a fair comparison. To get up to the comparable 60w of those jolida it’s a pair of their mono blocks which works out at close to $12k.
 
HiFi Guy said:
There’s all kinds of cheap tube gear on eBay. All brands that you won’t recognize. Try a search on “tube amp” on eBay. You’ll see what I mean.

But price isn’t a guarantee of reliability. There is some really good sounding tube gear that isn’t reliable, meaning when an output tube goes, you’ll need to send it for repairs. Cough ***Rogue Audio** cough.

I’d look at a close out JoLoda amp, unless you want a current model under the Black Ice name. Me? I’d go JoLida. And spend the extra money for 6550 output tubes. Under budget and way better than what you have now.

Jolida | Underwood HiFi

www.underwoodhifi.com www.underwoodhifi.com
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I feel really dumb asking this but the JoLida would replace my Denon and would still be using my Vincent pre-amp, correct?
 
dansomeone said:
Where do Decware tube amps fall short? Is it the cost? Because while $1000 is a low price for a tube amp in general. it's a high price when you consider dollars per watt.
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They don’t fall short at all, quality or sound wise. The are pretty awesome. The deal killer for me with Decware is no remote.

Nelson Pass said it best- and I’m paraphrasing here: It doesn’t matter how many watts you have if the first one sounds like shit.

Maybe @wooha can jump in. He is rocking 2 whole watts per channel, and gets complaints from his neighbors.
 
HiFi Guy said:
They don’t fall short at all, quality or sound wise. The are pretty awesome. The deal killer for me with Decware is no remote.

Nelson Pass said it best- and I’m paraphrasing here: It doesn’t matter how many watts you have if the first one sounds like shit.

Maybe @wooha can jump in.
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weirdly enough whilst I’d be lost without the tv remote I don’t think I’ve ever used any of the remotes for my hifi!
 
what do you do to try out gear if a hifi shop doesn't have it

thinking about this because the closest hifi shop (40 minutes away), only has ortofon cartridges so its hard to test whether id take their blue, a newer grado, or a nagaoka (and i definitely cant do a super in depth test that would fit my listening habits). i just know i wanna upgrade from the 75 dollar or so black to something more high quality
 
duke86fan said:
what do you do to try out gear if a hifi shop doesn't have it

thinking about this because the closest hifi shop (40 minutes away), only has ortofon cartridges so its hard to test whether id take their blue, a newer grado, or a nagaoka (and i definitely cant do a super in depth test that would fit my listening habits). i just know i wanna upgrade from the 75 dollar or so black to something more high quality
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I think your best bet is to find an online store with a generous return policy.
 
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