http://www.tubedriver.com/tdblue.html

where can I find these in Australia and what do people think of them?

Real nice amps
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valve amplifiers are not too reliable in harsh environment. We ran valve amps exclusively in warships because they are not susceptible to EMP (NUKE explosion) and i was forever replacing valves as the got jarred around and eventually failed. Testing valves to see if they were up to spec also took a long time. The filaments take some time to warm up, so performance wouldnt be instant as digital amps are these days..

just my thoughts

cruisEH - Tubedrivers only use tubes in the preout section, which means they don't suffer from the problems that real tube amps suffer from..

It also means they won't sound like most tube amps, which IMO is a good thing..

(A damping factor that is so low it affects the sound and a large amount of THD are not my idea of HIFI)

correct, Tubdriver Blue isn't a 'real' tube amp, just like Class-A car amps are not 'real' Class-A. they are all hybrid designs, in my opinion for marketing purposes so the product can then technically be classed as exotic, even though it doesnt go the whole hog regardless, the reviews ive read seem to suggest the Tubdriver is a good listen.

as for valves, IMO they arent too suited to the mobile environment, they take a while to warm up, which sucks when you have a short trip to the shops and want to enjoy some tunes (class a/b warms up much faster) and valves need replacing after so many hours of use, and they can break from vibration as previously stated. i dont know how relevent this all is in the real world, but one thing ive learnt in this hobby is, at the end of the day, it doesnt matter how good a component sounds, if its unreliable or breaks easily, you will hate it and get rid of it

from what I have read on the site they are a pure tube amp.

There is an interesting paper on the site as well that compares transistors to tubes, that was done in the 70's interesting read.

As has been said previous, Tube Driver amps are not "real" tube amps, but are hybrids. A "real" tube amp just wouldn't work in the mobile audio environment (IMO anyway). The fact that they are hybrids should not been seen as a negative. I have had the pleasure of listening to MANY Tubedriver amps over the past few years and have never been disappointed. FYI, they seem to work really well with Dynaudio speakers

I will be running tube amps (from a different manufacturer - can you guess which! lol) with speakers of a different manufacturer too... I am very interested to see the difference with the tried and tested Tubedriver/Dyn combo.

Paul

yeah tube amps are funny, on paper that have alot of distortion and seem terrible, but in listening, most people actually prefer their warmer more fluid sound. again, SPECS DONT MAN SQUAT!

Remember vthat with tubes/valves the distortion is of a different nature.

Typically, transistor amps exhibit "odd-order" (first, third etc) distortion and tubes produce "even-order" (second, forth etc) distortion in the main.

Even-order distortion is MUCH kinder on the ears.

The Tube-driver amps are in fact a hybrid design with the tubes in the pre-stage rather than across outputs so have better damping and much less warm-up issues.

A full domestic-style valve amp using something like KT88 valves which are almost the size of a litre milk carton each would be something else, huge and fragile in the automotive environment......with crummy bass too.

I spoke to someone in the US a few weeks ago who claimed they disected this amp and pulled the valve out whilst it was in operation.

The amp apparently continued with unaffected audio output. I'm no Audio Engineer (was almost once:)), but that says something to me ???

Again, I didn't witness this myself though.

If you get the amp because you think it will perform better, it probably will, as the minds a powerful thing, and expectation often influences outcome. I personally think valves andfcars arent a good idea, as vibrations and valves have never been a good mix.

If it is what you want then go for it, as the amps are certanly not junk, but wether or not the amps have any sonic advantege or not is highly contenous issue, and basically comes down to subjective opinion.

BTW Class A amps for car audio do exist, and are not all hybrid class A/B. Pioneer used pure class A amps in its ODR system and fitted a low battery indactor to HU as Claas A amps will draw same current regardless of output level.

Some ODR owners got stranded, with flat battery, even though listening at low volume levels, with ign off, as the low battery warning was not on the original units. This is why most claimed class A amps arent truew class As but hybrids, for car use, as current draw is a big issue in cars that use a chemical battery for ign off power.

peace
Cyberpunky

are you able to reveal your sources marc?

No but they are more than qualified and well respected in the US.

Regardless of this though, I ran Tube Drive Blue 4125 and 2150 for quite a while, and would still say they are two of the nicest sounding amplifiers I have come across.

They definately have that typical US type "in your face" sound though. Plenty of attack. Depends on your preferred sound. Personally the warm natural sound out of an Audison is my sound of choice.

And to those of you that say the amplifier makes no difference to sound, you can all jump, I'm having it engraved on my headstone when I die that it does.

RC - bring your amps and your ABX switcher over here, I'll have a go, LOL.

My headstone will prob say the same, Marc.

In the meanntime as I have said before, the ABX "test" is not actually an amplifier test AT ALL.....

Tube amps would survive alright, as long as good valve selection was used. Mil spec tubes are the ones to go for, basically only the chinese really still make mil-spec tubes these days, the shift to hybrid amps though has been mostly due to the fact output transformers are getting hidiously expensive these days as the price of copper rises.

All in all though, a valve amp for a car, would look the part, but practicality, and endurance wise, wouldnt be the best route to go, stick with solid state, in the cars, and valve to you house.

Ps. kt88's the size of 1L milk cartons? none of my kt88's are that big?
Ps. next person to call class D amps, digital is gonna cop it, there no digital about them, its a tricky selling name cause there class D, trying to make the d stand for something, which it does, it was the logical progression after classes A,B and C