My objective is to duplicate the sound of a good jazz venue as best I can. I'll never match it but getting close is fine. I've had various audio components through the years and tubes particularly DHT tubes/ASSET have gotten me the closest. So this is where I will settle down and appreciate.
Balanced AC power is fantastic !! 1800va balanced isolation transformer/conditioner. All aspects of music reproduction are improved for every single component.
Tripoint Tripoint Troy.
A wonderful grounding box component. When added to my system it increased the sense of natural sound quality and emotional engagement. The Troy has a humanistic and “soulful “ quality to it.
Coincident Speaker Tech Total eclipse 2
This wonderful speaker is transparent,open and involving. It`s large yet completely disappears as the source of sound within the room. Very easy to drive,94db and 14 0hm impedance (Minimum 10 ohm). I replaced the stock Solens capacitor with the Duelund CAST in the crossover.
Coincident Statement linestage
Superb performance. In my opinion , a masterpiece by Israel Blume. As would be expected, a wonderful match with its sibling the Frankenstein MK II.
Coincident Speaker Tech Frankenstein mark 2
A terrific 300b SET amplifier that is the foundation of my system. The EML XLS 300b tubes are a superb match with this amplifier.
Acquiring these 300b SET mono blocks changed the course of my music listening experience. They elevated the emotional engagement, tactility and “breath of life “ realism.
Yamamoto YDA-01
Wonderful music lover's DAC that has a very natural/organic sound quality. Duelund CAST addition(output coupling capacitors) makes it sound even better. It has a very minimalist circuit/design that was implemented well.
Ocellia Silver Reference IC
Very natural and pure sounding with excellent tone and timbre preservation.
Ocellia Silver Reference Speaker Cable
Same qualities/ comments as the IC.
Star Sound Technologies Sistrum Apprentice component platforms..
These Star Sound platforms are mandatory in my system. Effectively managing resonance and vibration leads to a very noticeable sound improvement with every component and especially the speakers. Excellent product.
High Fidelity CT1 Ultimate Digital cable
A highly impressive digital cable that mates beautifully into my system. Contributes to the natural sound presentation.
Pro-Ject Audio Systems CD Box RS2T
This is a superb Redbook CD playback transport. It’s both high resolution and impressively natural.
. I’m using the excellent Fidelizer Nikola II LPS. Splendid pairing.
Lavricables Grand and Master series Power Cables.
Pure silver wire and unshielded power cables. These are used with all of my audio components. They are very open, transparent, high resolution with beautiful natural tone and timbre presentation.
Abbas Esoteric Audio 3.2SE
Built by renown Ukrainian Abbas Zulfugarov. NOS DAC utilizing the classic Phillips TDA 1541 multi bit chip. Two 6080 tubes in the analog stage. 5 various rectifier tubes in the power supplies.
3 separate toroidal transformers (And 2 chokes ) for the power supplies.A very serious and successful upper tier DAC implementation. Using with the Abbas SPDIF and power cable.
Rebbi, your description of live music via the 300 B amplifier mimics my experience upon first exposure. It was simply more realistic and natural I could not return to my former amplifier. As you discovered, SET is more clear, transparent and resolved. Wait until you try the Higher quality 300b tubes that are available, you'll be thrilled.
Rebbi As often pointed out, the chosen speaker is critical to getting the most from a SET. The el34 amp might be the match for your speaker but won't sound like your 300b as you enthusiastically describe. I would personally get a more Compatible speaker, Tekton or Coincident and truly exploit your amplifier's complete attributes and virtues . You have heard the special purity and beauty of SET. You won't be happy with less anymore for now on IMO. Build your system around this special 300b amp. That's what I did. Charles
I'm certainly no expert and new to SET amps myself (although loving it), but my new (to me) Art Audio Diavolo is pushing its limits to drive my Merlin speakers, and I did 2 things that helped. First, I inserted some EML 300BXLS tubes. I don't know if the Kit 1 can take those or not, but my understanding is that they give you a little more power if so.
Second, on a whim I tried a different power cord. I'm personally VERY SKEPTICAL about things like power cords making a difference (or a power cord having a "sonic signature" of any kind, but I'm not trying to start a debate here. But I substituted a used Cardas Golden Reference power cord for my stock cord, and it immediately provided more bass weight and it became harder to clip the amp. Even before the power cord change, I had to crank it up to near ear-bleeding levels to get it to distort like you're talking about, but the power cord made a difference there as well. And to me there's some logic in that--a more substantial power cord could provide some assistance to an amp that is pushing its limits.
Good luck with your continuing journey, which I've been following closely.
Hello Charles and fellow SET-heads, Okay, it's time to seek your advice. My Audio Note Kit 1 300B SET is completed and making music! I want to thank you all for your guidance and inspiration and ask your advice. The amp sounds beautiful, increasingly so as it breaks in. The words that most come to mind are "pure" and "clear." There is a pristine, crystalline quality to the music that is really something. In fact, I would not describe this amp as "tubey"romantic or rolled off in any way. It sounds fast, clean and modern. Additionally, its ability to suggest ambience and spatial relationships is through the roof. I was listening to a live album with which I am intimately familiar and was shocked by how much more live it sounded than my old Manley push-pull amp. Tonality is great, too. And this is with the entry level, stock Chinese 300B's! So in sum, this amp is a MAJOR sonic improvement over my old gear. Yay! Now for the dilemma and advice. For much of my music, the amp sounds beautiful. But for some of the pop music that I like to listen to, especially anything with VERY deep, sustained, hip-hop style synth bass, the amp will clip very noticeably when played at room energizing levels. Bass breaks up and the singer sounds like they're gargling. For example, Lorde's album "Pure Heroine" is full of this kind of material, and so is Sade's "Soldier Of Love." Played at lower than normal listening levels, they sound great. But by 11 o'clock on the volume pot, which is about where I'd be for my typical listening levels with this amp, clipping sets in on those CD's. By the way, most of my LP's sound fantastic. I am running Reference 3A De Capo speakers. They are rated at 92 db efficient, but I am beginning to think that this rating is "optimistic." Granted, the Kit 1 will drive the De Capo's to more than satisfying volume levels in my 11 x 16 x 8 foot room, but with some music, such as the aforementioned, I have to dial the volume back to avoid clipping. I see my options as follows: 1) Stick with my current gear and accept that a 300B SET amp paired with the De Capo's has limitations. I spoke to Tash Goka at Reference 3A, by the way, and this is essentially what he confirmed. 2) Stick with the Kit 1 and look for more efficient speakers. I've thought of Omega's or Tekton Lore's. The problem here is that I cannot lay out money that I don't have in hand, so I'd have to take a leap of faith and sell the De Capo's to finance any new speaker purchase. Your thoughts here? Let's say I could get between $1500 to $2000 for the De Capo's. What would you look at? 3) Brian has offered to take the Kit 1 back if I'm not entirely happy and get me their L4 EL34i push-pull integrated kit with the C-Core transformers, which is supposed combine the virtues of SET the gutsiness of push-pull. It puts out 35 watts per side and would certainly drive my De Capo's well. Eager to hear your thoughts...
Hello, My experience for about a 15-20 year period had been extensively push pull tube amplifiers after migration from solid state. My most recent PP amp purchase was Bill Baker's Response Audio Bella Extreme. This was a class AB 6550/KT 88 100 watt(60 watt in triode mode). This was one of the very best PP amps I'd ever heard(and I've heard quite a few). Curiosity led me to explore SET amplifiers and it was all over after that introduction.
I was instantly captured by what a 8 watt 300b SET added to my system, this exceeded my expectations which were high. It's been well over 5 years since the switch and if anything I'm more impressed as time marches on. 300b SET just pushes all the right musical/emotional buttons for me and I'm totally content.
The Lamm PP amplifier pictured above was a generous loan from a friend who was curious about my impression of it. Honestly, the Bella Extreme is better sounding to me. The 300b SET beats both in terms of naturalness, emotional conection and is just more realistic and captivating. Zeyphr there are many very good tube amplifiers available and with some patience I'm certain you'll get just what you want. Good Luck, Charles,
Charles: Thanks for your reply on my other post inquiring about possibly moving to Ayon tube amps. You have quite the collection of tube gear and this thread gives alot of material that I've yet to cover. Of all your amps present and recent, which are your favorites and how frequently do you swap in/out and for what reasons? Thank you!
Hi Rebbi, Congratulations on successful completion of your kit building project,you must feel very gratified. I am eager to read your impressions of this 300b SET with your speakers. Curious to know how it differs from your former Manley amplifier.
Hi, Crubio I have only heard the XLS and the mesh versions. Both of these are excellent IMO, but I would suspect the standard 300b is very fine as well. EML is top quality based on my experience.
Hello Chuckie, I sincerely appreciate your very kind comments. I'm just genuinely satisfied with music reproduction in my home. Once I got the SET amplifier everything took off and subsequent additions revolved around that foundation. The focus is to obtain a natural sound and all choices made were based on that objective. Given your system I know you can understand that direction. Charles,
Excellent system Charles1dad totally and seemingly painstakingly matched. Every component carefully chosen and expertly introduced I am sure. Congradulations on such a magnificient system!
Hello Cal, I believe you'll be very happy with this amplifier driving your Coincident SE III speakers. Please feel free to post your impressions here if you'd like to. Thanks for the Kenny Burrell tip, I'll find a copy of it. I don't know the effect of the bypass capacitor for the power supply caps.The other modest changes the previous owner made shouldn't hurt the sound at all. Congratulations on finding the Frankenstein "used", they're relatively rare. Charles,
And the Franks are finally on the way... just ran across a pair on USAudioMart and got them on day 1. Not very good for bargaining, but I'm happy to get a chance to hear the SEIIIs with these amps.
Also, since people in here have periodically discussed Kenny Burrell, interested parties should check out Guitar Forms if you haven't already heard it. Some great mellow work from him.
Charles, You're most welcome. I'm getting there with the build. Got some more wiring to finish and, with any luck, it'll be done by early next week, depending on my work schedule. A few of my tubes were back-ordered when the kit shipped. Those just shipped out to me today from Canada! Hooray!
Hi Rebbi, Thanks, by the way I have enjoyed reading your well done AN kit building blog. Very interested what you hear compared to your former Manley push pull amplifier. Charles
Open baffle 4 ohm speakers with a SET does not sound like a great idea on paper at least but every combo will have its unique charms. Heck even old 78 rpm recordings with very limited frequency response have some very distinctive transients and will catch my ear, even if played on a Victrola. SO you just never know for sure what might "sound good". Sounding good and good performance are two different but related things.
Rebbi, this is a worthless answer, but I have to say that I absolutely hate that their ads (and website) feature CAD renderings of the speakers. I know it's a real thing, why can't they get a nice picture of the actual product??
