http://www.butleraudio.com/car.php

I did a quick search on these here on NAM, but nothing came back.

Has anyone heard anything about these very expen$ive tube amps?

 

I used to have a Butler Tube Driver 1500. I ran that with 3 way components in my last car, 8" woofer, 6" mid, 1" tweeter.

It sounded great, but let me tell you the thing about tube amps.

One, for the car amps the tube is only for the preamp. The amplification is a MOSFET amp.

Two, tube amps first became popular because of their sound, which is actually caused by a distortion roll off. This distortion is actually pleasing to the ear. The perfect sound system has a totally flat response, but most people like added dynamics in one way or another. It's like how most people like their tweeters a little less harsh than a flat response, and their subs a little louder.

Three, in a car, the sound bounces off so many surfaces and there's so much road noise and crap that it seems almost useless to make a true audiophile setup unless it's a show car.

That said, it sounded great. I bought the amp used, so I only paid $400 for it. You can find quality 2 channel amps for your front separates for the $250-$300 range EASY, I mean top notch. I did a few car audio shows, and it was a hobby of mine, and I will side with Richard Clark from CarSound. A watt is a watt, no matter what brand it comes from. Just different brands have different methods for rating their amps, and some will be pushed to clipping before others, some put out more power than they say, and some put out less.

If you're looking at these amps you obviously want the best sound. To me, that means you get as much power as you can. Headroom is always better. You get a quality equalizer. I had 30 band eq's for both left and right. You get a strong clean signal to your amp. That means preamplification if necessary, and you get original audio files instead of downgraded mp3's.

Was buying the amp worth it? At the price I got it at, most definitely. I ended up selling it for $500. Probably couldn't do that today, as aftermarket audio is taking a backseat to OEM solutions these days. I liked having the amp, it was almost like having a collector's item. Glowing tubes in the dark look cool. Sound was great, but would I get it for the prices they ask? Probably not. I'd rather spend the money on better speakers or go fast parts.

Hope that helps.

 

My first posting & bringing a dead topic back to the plate.

I have 5 yes 5 Butler tube amps & I love them!

TD1500 = 2channel "oldschool"
TD750 = 2 channel "oldschool"
TDB475 = 4 channel "new school & I have 2"
TDB2150 = 2 channel "newschool"

I can't say enuf good things about these amps but they sound amazing!

Here is a pic of one of my TDB475's & a pic of my TD1500 & TD750.

 

joe_r

 

I don't know if this helps you but butler amps was a smal independent company until they were brought by PPI (Precesion power) a few years back. since then they have grown and there amps are even better then the great amps they already were.