Topic: First tube amp

[bgalizio]

My new Jolida 102B integrated tube amp came in yesterday. What a difference vs. SS! I've long known the virtues of tube vs. SS when it came to guitar amps, but always thought playback tube amplification was out of my league price-wise. Not this little guy!

Set up was a snap. Never had to bias an amp before (my guitar amp is self-biasing), but that only took 20min. It came with Electro Harmonix tubes, which are my guitar amp tube of choice - not sure what I'll eventually roll to on this amp. First sound was from Box Of Rain (DVD-A version of American Beauty) and it was great. I can't wait to hear what it sounds like when the tubes break in! After that, I put the Squeezebox on random so I could briefly experience different types of music. The sound was great with everything. I was surprised (though I should have known) that the 20 tube watts were equally as loud as the 75 SS watts in my receiver.

My playback now consists of the following:
Pioneer DV-588A-S (analog out) DVD-A/SACD player
Squeezebox 3
Jolida JD102B
Athena S3 speakers

For movies I use the following:
Pioneer DV-588A-S (digital out)
Onkyo TX-SR503
Infinity TSS-450 5.1 surround sound speakers

[bgalizio]

Forgot to mention that I'm using Kind Kables interconnects. Thanks Ed!

[Shawn]

awesome. congrats on the new gear.

[jdawg]

That's a sweet looking amp for sure. I just moved to a tube amp as well. Mine puts out 55w, but you're right, this is more like 100w/ss it seems. How do you like the squeezebox with the tube amp? Do you have a wireless version?  I'm looking to move to the squeezebox myself. Seems hard to beat at that price for what you get.

[pfife]

+T for toys.  I'm going to move into a squeezebox soon too.

[bgalizio]

That's a sweet looking amp for sure. I just moved to a tube amp as well. Mine puts out 55w, but you're right, this is more like 100w/ss it seems. How do you like the squeezebox with the tube amp? Do you have a wireless version?  I'm looking to move to the squeezebox myself. Seems hard to beat at that price for what you get.

I love the Squeezebox 3. My fiancee got it for my for my birthday last May - a wireless version. Slim Server is great software and the SB3 works seamlessly with it. There's no lag at all in searching, playing, etc. The sound is great and no media is great too! I highly recommend it - just buy a big external hard drive!