Why tube amps?

I live in a 1 bed room apartment - 400 + odd sq. ft.
My audio is in my living room.
When I do 'any' serious listening - my son [10] & my wife go to the bedroom & more often than not they are on the computer or watch TV.

Hence, I mentioned 'real estate' as the most important & expensive component......
:sad:

This is the price you pay for living in a super upmarket area :D
 
I live in a 1 bed room apartment - 400 + odd sq. ft.
My audio is in my living room.
When I do 'any' serious listening - my son [10] & my wife go to the bedroom & more often than not they are on the computer or watch TV.

Hence, I mentioned 'real estate' as the most important & expensive component......
:sad:

Shanti Sir
Atleast now you will get lesser bills then before and we suburb people will get more inflated bills :)

One city - so many different tariffs for electricity
 
yahaan bhi poltix!! :rolleyes:

Yes Ashok Bhai
Just few days back it was decided the Reliance electric bills will go up by 10 percent in (Reliance supplies in Suburbs of Mumbai)

And today BEST (supplier for south mumbai) has decreased rate by 10 percent

This is corporate politics. Tussle between Tata Power and Reliance
 
Luckily,Chandigarh being a tier 2 city has less inflated real estate.Lots of space.Playing loud 1'o'Clock or more is not a problem.My wife likes classical and tolerates jazz.It's only when I play Rock that she objects-Why are you listening to this noise when you could be listening to Bach or Haydn?
 
Hi

I would like to share some of my experience on blumenhofer speaker which is discussed in this thread.

Recently I was in Bangalore to audition some amplifierss and speaker. I auditioned the blumenhofer Fun and Genuine at The Listening Room . These are in deed very good speaker . Sound is very very lively , natural and detailed. One more beautifull feature is that sound can go to very low level. Fun is an excellent performer. You can feel the music aprat from hearing it The Genuine , the cheaper one is also very good with almost all the features of Fun but relatively Flat comapred to that.


I have a similar experience with Asit's canton speakers. Those vintage canton come close to blumenhofer with respect to naturality and lively ness. However the separation of the insruments were slightly better in canton-the Artist's position could be clearly identified. However this might also be there in the blumenhofer , if the auditioning room had been smaller - the distance of listener from the speaker is quite large . The TLR auditiong room is quite large and speacially treated for acoustic purpose. Also the Einstien electronins (Hybrid dual mono amp and CD palyer ) were very good (and costly).

Both the Fun and Genuine was filing the room easily with their open and airy sound.

Very good speaker.

Lastly Mr. Semler is a very nice gentleman.


Regards
Pratim
 
Hi

I would like to share some of my experience on blumenhofer speaker which is discussed in this thread.

Recently I was in Bangalore to audition some amplifierss and speaker. I auditioned the blumenhofer Fun and Genuine at The Listening Room . These are in deed very good speaker . Sound is very very lively , natural and detailed. One more beautifull feature is that sound can go to very low level. Fun is an excellent performer. You can feel the music aprat from hearing it The Genuine , the cheaper one is also very good with almost all the features of Fun but relatively Flat comapred to that.


I have a similar experience with Asit's canton speakers. Those vintage canton come close to blumenhofer with respect to naturality and lively ness. However the separation of the insruments were slightly better in canton-the Artist's position could be clearly identified. However this might also be there in the blumenhofer , if the auditioning room had been smaller - the distance of listener from the speaker is quite large . The TLR auditiong room is quite large and speacially treated for acoustic purpose. Also the Einstien electronins (Hybrid dual mono amp and CD palyer ) were very good (and costly).

Both the Fun and Genuine was filing the room easily with their open and airy sound.

Very good speaker.

Lastly Mr. Semler is a very nice gentleman.


Regards
Pratim

Spot on Pratim. You are very right. Definitely Fun-17 was having richer sound than Genuine 4.2.
But one uncertainty is concerning me. Whether a 15 WPC Leben CS300xs can drive Fun-17, although its sensitivity is 92 db? Also, my 15 ft x 12 ft room may be slightly smaller for Fun-17.
Can anybody at Bangalore volunteer to check the drivability of Fun-17 by Leben CS300xs?
 
Hi

I would like to share some of my experience on blumenhofer speaker which is discussed in this thread.

Recently I was in Bangalore to audition some amplifierss and speaker. I auditioned the blumenhofer Fun and Genuine at The Listening Room . These are in deed very good speaker . Sound is very very lively , natural and detailed. One more beautifull feature is that sound can go to very low level. Fun is an excellent performer. You can feel the music aprat from hearing it The Genuine , the cheaper one is also very good with almost all the features of Fun but relatively Flat comapred to that.


I have a similar experience with Asit's canton speakers. Those vintage canton come close to blumenhofer with respect to naturality and lively ness. However the separation of the insruments were slightly better in canton-the Artist's position could be clearly identified. However this might also be there in the blumenhofer , if the auditioning room had been smaller - the distance of listener from the speaker is quite large . The TLR auditiong room is quite large and speacially treated for acoustic purpose. Also the Einstien electronins (Hybrid dual mono amp and CD palyer ) were very good (and costly).

Both the Fun and Genuine was filing the room easily with their open and airy sound.

Very good speaker.

Lastly Mr. Semler is a very nice gentleman.


Regards
Pratim

Sir,

What about the amps ?
Were they tubed ?
I was under the impression we were talking about tube amplifiers - integrated or pre & power...
Kindly shed some light..

Thanks,
 
The speakers Pratim has described are all driven by tube amplification.

The Blumenhofers in Bangalore are driven by an amp and CDP (as Dr. Bass has just described, both from Einstein Audio and with tube components Einstein - Audio Components). Our forum member Shaizada uses a tube phono pre-amp from Einstein Audio.

My huge bookshelf Cantons (approx 20kg each, 21 years old) are also driven by a tube amp (Leben CS300 amp) Leben Hi-Fi Stereo Company

Pratim, thanks for an interesting comparison between my speakers and the Blumenhofers. At times I wonder if someday my speakers give up, which speakers I can get. Most speakers (other than my Cantons) I hear now have some kind of glaze around the sound which makes it kind of unnatural and I remain unsatisfied. The Emarald Physics CS3 I heard in Bombay this year did not have it, but the electronics driving them were so thin sounding, it was grossly unfair to the speakers and of course prevented me from a decent evaluation of the speakers. The Sadhnas were good at Prem's place in terms of dynamics and openness of the sound, however, according to Prem, the system was not at that point of time quite finely tuned because some cables were yet to burn in fully and apparently a few rough edges.

Pratim, do these Blumenhofers sound smooth? It's not easy to be dynamic, open, tonally well-balanced, with good imaging and soundstage, and very detailed but yet smooth (that is without being edgy). Please compare. You have heard quite a lot in the last year and have tremendously grown in experience.

Amit, my Cantons are 93.4 db/W/m, so very similar in the sensitivity department. Their nominal impedance is only 4 Ohms. The Lebens have a tap at 4 Ohm, and my amp drives those Cantons effortlessly and beautifully. However, sensitivity is just one parameter. Many ProAcs despite having lower sensitivity are driven very nicely by many low powered tube amps. The frequency vs impedance and phase vs impedance are two other perhaps more important pieces of information. A sudden dip of impedance at a certain frequency band would make a low powered amp clip (although because of the output transformers in case of tube amps they probably do not damage the speakers, but the amp can be harmed). Get those curves for the Blumenhofers. You may have to be a bit persuasive if you are seriously interested.

Regards.
 
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Having a puny Music angle SET put my interest in this topic. Read with so much interest about feelings of other seasoned listeners to learn so many things from them. Thanks to all of you and the originator in specific.
I have both tube and SS amplifiers. I am happy with both of them since I do not have money to buy anything else.
I bought SET when I already had Onkyo TX SR608 for nearly a year. Open, presence, honest, frank sound from the tube amp bought me and my wife in an instant.

We like to listen instrumental, vocal oriented songs (Sufi, Gazal), group songs, old songs (I meant poor recording and/or with fewer instrument, less complicate music arrangement) with the Tube. Disco, latest Bollywood songs, inferior recording of today's music are better sounding in Onkyo.

Addition of OB speaker has opened the Tube's power a lot. My Cabasse failed miserably in front of my OBs. I do near field listening only due to space constraint.

I didn't realise earlier that it is the mid that touches my spirit the most. Tube's open, spread out, life like mid make a direct contact with me.

I think tube and OB combination gives sound quite close to as it is. Specially in the low and mid. My piezo tweeter is just good enough for near field listening and I think my tube amp is also not good in highs..
With many speaker and amp combination that I have tested in so many malls and shops, live recording of Hotel california's Congo thump used to sound...well not a congo, but like a big drum, and I was so happy with the huge presence of the bass of the speaker. I was a fool in not relating that sound with the real sound of a congo. Colouration to me is not good, but a little bit over saturation is still ok.

Now, I can relate sounds of instruments when it is played. In there Tube play better.

I this riding ladders (as Bhagwan said), some day later I will probably come to know something more. I just wish I was located in B'lore or Bombay or Chennai to meet you friends. There probably is a chance to go to Mumbai though, and when that happen, I will definitely meet you friends, to share sound and music and the magic when they unite.
 
For excellent sound that won't break the bank, the 5 Star Award Winning Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 Bookshelf Speakers is the one to consider!
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