What is the absolute best of the best tube gear?

NYListens

CBGB & OMFUG
I have limited experience with tube gear. I am wondering what gear you would rank as the best of the best of all time. So what would your top five individual amps or receivers be?
 
Does homebrew count? :D I think I would have to include the Magnavox Amp. 175 in that list. Best is sort of a relative term, but for what it is, what it sounds like, and what it has done for the hobby, I'd have to put it on list for sure.:yes:
 
Personally, Futterman OTL or the later NYAL stuff would be on mine. And the McIntosh MC275 is always a good bet.
 
I don't think any one person can say!!

A Pye PF91, an Electrohome PA-100 MK-1, a Fairchild 255, a Leak TL12.1, HK Citation II could be on the list... but then there's other UK and German amps that could be included as weLL!
 
Based on my hearing, anything single-ended is special, vintage or new. Have yet to hear OTL yet.
 
Folks, I was really looking to find out which units you have listened to and like the most. It doesn't matter if it is 100,000 piece of gear or something someone bought on e-bay for $50. I am really looking for the best you have heard.
 
Folks, I was really looking to find out which units you have listened to and like the most. It doesn't matter if it is 100,000 piece of gear or something someone bought on e-bay for $50. I am really looking for the best you have heard.

What's the best YOU have heard? :scratch2:
 
What's the best YOU have heard? :scratch2:

I have had limited experience listening to tube gear (pretty much why I started the thread.) When I was younger and was around new ultra high-end audiophile gear with some frequency, it was all solid state (mid 1980s-early 1990s.)

All I have heard recently and could comment on is my three Fishers. Of the three I own, I prefer my 500-B and my 500-S is a close second with my 600 bringing up the rear.
 
I would say you would have to look at the german vintage gear. I have foolishly sold Klangfilm stuff & really was not a smart move on my part. I would say a great all time sleeper in the Fisher 200 mono's. These are special indeed. There is so many that could fit in your post. Word on the street is there is nothing that can touch certain vintage german gears. I assume we are excluding all DIY non commercial gears in this post..? If not, then of course my DIY amps are the best ever made.
J & G
 
I would say you would have to look at the german vintage gear. I have foolishly sold Klangfilm stuff & really was not a smart move on my part. I would say a great all time sleeper in the Fisher 200 mono's. These are special indeed. There is so many that could fit in your post. Word on the street is there is nothing that can touch certain vintage german gears. I assume we are excluding all DIY non commercial gears in this post..? If not, then of course my DIY amps are the best ever made.
J & G


I don't care if it is DIY. Just let us know exactly what the design is.
 
I'm surprised not more mentioned Macintosh gear. I've never heard any but it is suppose to be close to the best. I have my Sansui 1000A and a Harmon Kardon award A300. Of those 2 it's the Sansui by a long shot.
 
I'm surprised not more mentioned Macintosh gear. I've never heard any but it is suppose to be close to the best. I have my Sansui 1000A and a Harmon Kardon award A300. Of those 2 it's the Sansui by a long shot.

I haven't heard any Mac tubes in a long time but nobody can agree among their fans which one is the best. Some say MC275, some the MC30 (designed in the fifties) and some say it's the new ones - MC2301, MC2000, MC2102.
 
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