Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?

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OzarkTom

Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #40 on: 20 Jun 2018, 12:16 am »
My buddy Rex owned a Pass J2 amp but switched to the Rossi LIO. Since then he bought the DAC SMT int. with the 36v PSU. The SMT is his favorite of all time. SMT was going to be put in his desktop system, but he made a mistake hooking up to his main system. It puts out about 40-50 wpc with the 36v PSU. Rex is now seriously thinking about trying this Burson Bang amp with the 20% off special. My friend maybe a little obsessive, but he loves this hobby. :thumb:

rodge827

Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #41 on: 20 Jun 2018, 12:23 am »
What I had in mind was the group of small wattage amps, just bigger than the flea watt crowd.  The little SET three or four watt amps get a lot of discussion, but the next group up seems to be overlooked.  I was kinda wondering why.  My Dodd 14 watt 6qb5 amps do a lot of things right, but they are in a power range that doesn't get much discussion.  Simply asking what others experience is.
Ok got it...Last Feb I picked up a pair of ANK 300b SET Interstage mono blocks 8w. Very nice sounding amps that sound great with my horns.

opnly bafld

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Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #42 on: 20 Jun 2018, 01:12 am »
.............Or the SEP Fire Bottle designs that Dennis Had has been kicking out lately.

FWIW
Mostly SET for quite a while now.

« Last Edit: 20 Jun 2018, 10:48 pm by opnly bafld »

Captainhemo

Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #43 on: 20 Jun 2018, 05:52 pm »
A bit out of  the power  range (these are approx 30 wpc)  but there's been a few other's posted here.... Don's contemplating  on selling thise K&K Audio 6C33C Set Mono's,  Kevin mentions in the following thread they are the best  pair he's built.
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=146403.msg1566535#msg1566535


jay
« Last Edit: 22 Jun 2018, 11:23 pm by Captainhemo »

Dieterle Tool

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Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #44 on: 21 Jun 2018, 01:12 pm »


 
S. Clark, I bought this 6 Watt SEP from Frank at Triode Labs (Canada). It uses a pair of EL84's, 12AX7 driver tube and 5AR4 rectifier. It is hand-made with an auto-biasing feature, large Hashimoto transformers and a verity of Mundorf caps (all the fix'ns). I use it to drive a pair of Audio Nirvana 15", Alnico, full range speakers. It's a great combination and fills my room with punchy, accurate sound.

link... http://www.finaleaudio.com/new-page-2/

-Dieter

OzarkTom

Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #45 on: 22 Jun 2018, 01:19 am »
I should add the Wolf Ear Audio Kitoki V2 Single End tube amp from Canada. The 2 watter sounded incredible here. The V2 is the newer 5 watter.

https://www.wolfearaudio.ca/products/kitoki-v2-0-5w-single-ended-stereo-amplifier?variant=38476967233

Product Description
5W, Class A Single Ended Stereo Amplifier
All our amplifiers are hand-made with great care and are point-to-point wired.
This amplifier is very minimalist and is made using only the best parts and great design, such as Teflon coupling caps and a stepped attenuator (built in-house) that comes standard with every Kitoki.
It's because of this that the Kitoki is so fast, natural and honest sounding.
Use it with your favorite high-sensitivity speakers with this amp!
Some more info on the design
This amp comes standard with a series-type stepped attenuator (made by us), which is leagues ahead of any potentiometer in terms of noise and accuracy.
The driver tube is a single, very linear 6N6P tube with active loading for maximized gain and linearity!
The output tube uses the EL84/6P15P-EV/6P14P-EV types with a constant current output stage for lowest distortion and consistent results over the lifetime of the tube.
Teflon capacitors are used to couple the driver to the output stages. These come standard with all Kitoki amplifiers. There are no upgrade options for this.
This amp also doesn't use any feedback loops, so the sound is very natural and open.

roscoe65

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Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #46 on: 22 Jun 2018, 11:34 am »


 
S. Clark, I bought this 6 Watt SEP from Frank at Triode Labs (Canada). It uses a pair of EL84's, 12AX7 driver tube and 5AR4 rectifier. It is hand-made with an auto-biasing feature, large Hashimoto transformers and a verity of Mundorf caps (all the fix'ns). I use it to drive a pair of Audio Nirvana 15", Alnico, full range speakers. It's a great combination and fills my room with punchy, accurate sound.

link... http://www.finaleaudio.com/new-page-2/

That's a nice looking amp and I am a fan of Hashimoto transformers (I have the similar 203U outputs on my SET) but they really don't cut it as a value proposition.  $3,500 for this amp is pricy when you can get Dennis Had's latest version of his Inspire Universal for less than half that, even when specifying boutique parts.  He doesn't use Hashimoto's, choosing custom-wound outputs instead.

-Dieter

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Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #47 on: 22 Jun 2018, 05:03 pm »
Also Dennis have a option of bigger output transformers,
for some extra value that I would like to know :scratch:
Know his best feature is not the good sound it certainly has but the many tubes his amps can use.

Bemopti123

Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #48 on: 22 Jun 2018, 06:12 pm »
My only experiences with low wattage power are the following:

Final Music 6 op chip based battery powered amp, 10 watts per channel.
Bakoon Audio AM12R SS with separate power supply, 15 watts per channel.

and while a little bit more powerful,

Lejonklou audio Boazu integrated, 40 watts/channel.

And these are mostly SS low wattage things, I do have other 2 SET amps, which are not getting the proper pay. 

There is something inherently right about low wattage SS stuff...in terms speed, accuracy and excitement..and strangely enough I do get enough of the "body" that most people associate with tube gear. 

Another thing that is essential is the pairing with the right/adequate loudspeaker.   :thumb:

HT cOz


OzarkTom

Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #50 on: 20 Jul 2018, 01:48 pm »
Rex has given the Burson Bang amp  :thumb: :thumb:. He says it has a very large soundstage while being very musical and detailed. Rex is using the Classic 6 opamp in it.

rollo

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Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #51 on: 20 Jul 2018, 03:03 pm »
I find Danny's approach of relatively high efficiency, simple crossovers and easy loads really allows tube amps to shine.  So much so, that I've got a 2 watt 45 SET amp in my system right now and I realize that I just don't need the 42 watts that my VTA ST70 Octal provides (as awesome as it is, I'll probably end up selling it). 

For SS amps, I find that the pure class A First Watt amps are very good, if you can DIY at all they are almost unbeatable.


Could not agree more. Lately my findings have included several Integrated designs fitting Tyson's findings. K.I.S.S. Tyson try a "50" tube compared to"45" you may be surprised.


charles

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Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #52 on: 21 Jul 2018, 11:31 am »
It may not be that familiar in the USA, but the Valvet Audio E2 single-ended class A amplifier is worth checking out:

http://valvet.de/portfolio-item/stereoendstufe-e2/?lang=en

See this review in 10audio:

http://www.10audio.com/valvet-e2.htm

Tyson

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Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #53 on: 21 Jul 2018, 03:22 pm »

Could not agree more. Lately my findings have included several Integrated designs fitting Tyson's findings. K.I.S.S. Tyson try a "50" tube compared to"45" you may be surprised.


charles

Might have to wait a couple years for new audio toys.  Getting divorced (and paying alimony) sucks.

Folsom

Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #54 on: 21 Jul 2018, 04:56 pm »
Might have to wait a couple years for new audio toys.  Getting divorced (and paying alimony) sucks.

There's no way that fits MMM. Ouch. Sorry, man.
« Last Edit: 21 Jul 2018, 06:56 pm by Folsom »

S Clark

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Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #55 on: 21 Jul 2018, 06:13 pm »
Might have to wait a couple years for new audio toys.  Getting divorced (and paying alimony) sucks.
Wow. That's a tough blow.  Sorry to hear this.

Tyson

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Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #56 on: 21 Jul 2018, 06:24 pm »
Wow. That's a tough blow.  Sorry to hear this.

Thanks man.  The money part sucks, but having the family split up is even worse.  But, apparently I get zero say in any of this.  So here we are. 

gregfisk

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Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #57 on: 21 Jul 2018, 06:40 pm »
Really sorry to hear this Tyson, the hardest part is not having a say in it. I can't imagine the additional pain of children being part of the equation.

Hang in there, it will get better in time.

Greg

Tyson

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Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #58 on: 21 Jul 2018, 07:02 pm »
Double post, sorry.

Tubeburner

Re: Small-ish Amps- Quality vs Quantity? 8-25 watts?
« Reply #59 on: 21 Jul 2018, 07:03 pm »
Quote
I’ve had really great experience with the 30 watt First Watt designs.  I’ve always felt the Decware amps would be a good match, too.  Or the SEP Fire Bottle designs tha Dennis Had has been kicking out lately. 

The Decware Torii is an incredible amp.  They play way above their price point and are dead quiet. I parked my 120 watt tubes amps and have enjoyed the 25 watt Decware Torii and just have no desire to go back at this point. Great bass from a tube amp too. For tube rollers, the Decware likes numerous tubes, so a fun amp to have. IMO........