"HiFi" Valve Amp for less than £500

[GrumpyGregry]

Can anyone make a recommendation for a valve amp for less than half-a-ton. Doesn't need to be high powered, as, yes I admit it, I'm more interested in the retro looks/appearance/warm glow than in its audiophile qualities.

It will be hooked up to an AT-LP5 and a pair of floor mounted speakers in a very retro mid century modern styled gentleman's withdrawing room I'm creating at home to re-purpose our old, now redundant post-extension, dining room. A man cave with a pre-War vibe. Think Anglepoise 1227, cigars, fine whisk(e)y and the Light Programme.

The intent is a nigh-on digital free zone though the "wireless" is a Roberts DAB. It is all getting housed in a custom-build cabinet based on the design of a freestanding original from the 40's.

(I can cheat and use a very simple solid state amp, and use a valve pre-amp for the phono.)

 

[GrumpyGregry]

[QUOTE 5020923, member: 259"]My son's girlfriend has one of these. It looks great but to be honest I've never sat down and actually listened to it.

http://www.steljesaudio.co.uk/docs/products/ML-30HD.shtml

View attachment 381063 [/QUOTE]
That ticks quite a lot of the boxes and then some. I hadn't thought of a hybrid tbh.

 

[Tim Hall]

[QUOTE 5020923, member: 259"]My son's girlfriend has one of these. It looks great but to be honest I've never sat down and actually listened to it.

http://www.steljesaudio.co.uk/docs/products/ML-30HD.shtml

View attachment 381063 [/QUOTE]
Looking at that picture, I hope the valve goes up and down, complete with BBC Radiophonic workshop noises, in case you ever get attacked by Daleks.

 

[slowmotion]

There are plenty of new ones in that price range on Ebay. I bid for a second hand Icon Audio Stereo 40i and got this for £530.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

There are plenty of fake valve bolt-on gadgets you can add to your modern amp. There are even videos on YouTube on how to make them yourself. And whilst you are at it, why not make a fake, faded WWII face place with Longwave and other retro-nonsense stuff stenciled onto it. Just hide the remote when the hipsters come for a visit.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

There are plenty of fake valve bolt-on gadgets you can add to your modern amp. There are even videos on YouTube on how to make them yourself. And whilst you are at it, why not make a fake, faded WWII face place with Longwave and other retro-nonsense stuff stenciled onto it. Just hide the remote when the hipsters come for a visit.

I'll be using a genuine fake face plate

 

[swee'pea99]

I'll be using a genuine fake face plate

I hope it'll have all those exotic places names on it....Warsaw....Algiers...Oslo...

 

[Fnaar]

I hope it'll have all those exotic places names on it....Warsaw....Algiers...Oslo...

A brilliant Van Morisson song from many years ago celebrates those names...



I am down on my knee
At those wireless knobs Telefunken, Telefunken
And I'm searching for Luxembourg, Luxembourg,
Athlone, Budapest, AFN, Hilversum, Helvetia
In the days before rock 'n' roll

 

[srw]

mid century

A man cave with a pre-War vibe. Think Anglepoise 1227, cigars, fine whisk(e)y and the Light Programme.

from the 40's

Would it be terribly pedantic to point out that the chronology appears a little confused? pre-War is 1930s, but the Anglepoise barely scrapes in (1937, says the omniscient google) while the Light Programme (1945) and mid-century (1950) are a little ...errr.... late.

I think you need a wind-up gramophone and a boudoir grand piano with a soda siphon.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Would it be terribly pedantic to point out that the chronology appears a little confused? pre-War is 1930s, but the Anglepoise barely scrapes in (1937, says the omniscient google) while the Light Programme (1945) and mid-century (1950) are a little ...errr.... late.

I think you need a wind-up gramophone and a boudoir grand piano with a soda siphon.

Yes.

 

[subaqua]

Yes.

You didn’t define which war if you want to be Uber pedantic .

 

[GrumpyGregry]

tlh took one look at a revo supersystem and said "want that wun"