Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Tube amp for M22's

I'm considering buying a mini tube amp for the M22's. What wattage should I be looking for to drive the M22's to their fullest?

How much are you willing to spend on a tube amp?

Up to $400.00 I found this one, MP-301 MK-2, But is the wattage enough as far as tube amps go?

Hi Robert.

I tried to drive a pair of M22Tis with a 5 wpc SET tube amp. It was not a successful mating. What is interesting is that most of the time my amp is putting out less than 1 watt at normal listening levels. For some reason, unlike the M3s, the M22s need more juice. I have no idea why.

My tube amp is rated at 15 wpc in pentode mode. Still did not sound right.

I'd go with a 25 wpc or higher tube amp to go with the M22s, but that's just extrapolating from my unsatisfactory experience with a lower power tube amp.

I had a hunch that 6.5 watts would not be enough. The 22's are very power hungry. I'm currently using the h/k 645 AVR to run a 7.2 setup. I want to add a separate amp to run the 22's alone.
The 645 does have preouts to add the amp. Thanks for the great advice.

What about setting up a near-field, stereo computer setup incorporating the tube amp, M22's, a Behringer UCA 202 USB DAC and a pair of quality headphones?

Well, seems to me that if you're going to go the headphone route you won't need the M22s. I like phones, but I can tell you that a pair of M22s, a 10" sub and a decent amp will fill a room with beautiful music, if beautiful music is your preference.

Disclaimer: I have never heard one.

I would look at Glow Audio. They have one in your price range that has been well reviewed. It looks good and only uses 4 tubes so it won't cost a fortune when it come time to retube. It also uses EL84 output tubes which historically have been a really good sounding tube in push/pull applications.

I don't know if it will match well with the 22's but it would be worth exploring.

Good luck. Tube amps are lots of fun and I hope you get lots of enjoyment from whatever amp you go with.

Bob, the M22s aren't "power hungry"; they're at the average point for speaker sensitivity. To allow for the 105dB level set as the maximum "reference" in movies would require about 100 watts in a typical room at home at a typical listening distance of about 10 feet. A similar amount of maximum power capacity would be needed for brief peaks in highly dynamic music recordings, such as some classical items.

Any of the usual receivers having a rating anywhere in the 100-150 watt area would be ample for this.

But he wants a tube amp not a usual receiver. Let's help him.