First off thank you for reading this post. I happened upon a garage sale a month ago, when I asked the man if he had any records for sale he brought me inside and I was astounded at his setup. He had huge horn cabinet speakers, and tube amps feeding to his turntable. he showed the difference in sound, and I was amazed.

I had been in bands for years, and had always preferred tube amplification for my guitar; but never new you could listen to music through them. This is all new to me, and I have a million questions concerning almost everything. However I will narrow it down to a few.

I am mostly going to be listening to my turntable, and an ipod. Can anyone help me choose the best amp for this. I listen to classical, jazz, punk, and rock. I understand I would need a phono pre-amp, I was leaning towards the Taboo, or the mini Torii.

I basically want an amp that I will not regret in the future if this becomes a passion of mine. By regret I mean wanting to upgrade to more power etc. Will the 6 watts be enough power?  Every review I read says that it is more than enough, but I also see amps that produce 100 watts, I'm sure that is more than I would ever want, but any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

I am sorry for the basic questions, but I am amazed by all that I don't know; and am really looking forward to learning.

Thanks again

Thanks for answering ZYGI. Right now I'm using hand me down Bose shelf speakers with a rating of 4-8 ohms, and 10-120 watts. I have been planning forever to upgrade, knowing that Bose are lacking. I've been planning on building my own corner horn speakers.

Do you think it's worth using the Bose with an amp, or should I wait til the upgrade?

Thanks again for answering.

I just want to stick up for a minute for Bose speakers.

I used two pair of Bose speakers wtih my Zen Revision A and Select amplifiers, 6.2 and 10.2 speakers. Bot pair did a nice job presenting music with the Select.  No they're not HDTs or Radials but they can make a very enjoyable sound presentation.

The 10.2 speakers now reside in a friend's apartment.  Driven by a Sony receiver and with former cabling of mine I handed over to him the sound is very nice, one of the few other systems in the hands of friends that I can listen to without cringing.

bhfsim,

If you are going to build the corner horns then either of your two choices would work perfectly. Just beware that you won't get very loud with your Bose speakers, but it would be a great stepping stone to the corner horns. That will be something like going from a 68 Beetle to a 2010 Carrera   Not bashing Bose here Lon

I guarantee you, if you can come up with a room simular to Steve's old room with the corner horns and either of the two amps, or even the Torri-III  you'll have a smile on your face for years to come.

ZYGI

Out of the two amps, the mini gives you the most variables as far as tube rolling goes. If you can't find the signature you are looking for with the mini, you never will.  Just my two cents worth!