Hi all, I'm new here. I love watching the Skunkie videos even though I'm know nothing about electronics. I've tried online courses and my mind just doesn't see it yet. I'll keep trying.

About a year ago I picked up one of these amps and then bought the psvane western union tubes, figuring that the real magic would be in the tubes and they were more important than the amp. In hindsight, that was probably stupid.

Anyway, life got in the way and only now am I adressing the project. The plan was to use the tube amp to power the high end of my speakers, as I've biamped the system. I've been using a pair of old BEL 1001 amps. Beautiful sound from these beasts. The guy I bought my speakers from (a whole other story!) said they responded well to biamping with an active crossover, gave me all the crossover info and recommended solid state amp for low end and tube amp for high end.

I'm using an excellent Marchand XM126 two way tube crossover, fourth order Linkwitz-Riley curve at 500K and it sounds excellent. Of course, being an audiophile who can't spend a lot of money on audio jewelry, I'm always looking to where i can save a buck.

So, that's a rather long winded way to my question. Is a Skunkie modded A50 really the best way to go? Her 300b build looks more solid, as well as her recent Wiltenson mods. I'm suddenly not trusting the A50 not to damage these expensive tubes.

I bought the A50 as a factory 2nd that was somewhere in Canada at something like 1/2 the price, so it might be wise to take a loss and start with something better. Any advice?

THANKS!