I noted that most responses have been personal preferences rather than
performance. I have found the same issues.
I have a number of commercial amplifiers. I love the Alphas. However, I
have a Henry with instant on and love it, too, because of the instant on. I
converted one Alpha from the 8874 tubes to 3CX800A7 and had to change the
warmup delay from 1 to 3 minutes. That seemed like an eternity. I then
bought a second Alpha with the 8874 tubes in and left them in. Then, I
bought a 77SX cause I liked the looks and a 89 because it had a lot of
protection circuits. But, I liked the Heath, too. And I like my homebrew
amplifiers with instant on 4-1000 tubes.
Warmup, noise and tube replacement costs are issues that need to be
considered. Best to purchase one of each and use them all. Count to 3
minutes before buying an amp with a 3 minute delay and pretend there is a
rare dx station you hear with your amp cold. 3 minutes is a very long time.
To emulate a real loud fan, operate the vacuum cleaner in the next room
during a qso and see if it bothers you.
Amplifiers are like cars. Almost all do a wonderful job. Few are
undesireable. Even a Yugo is better than walking in the rain (there may be
some argument with that).
Season Greetings, Colin K7FM
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