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LM for sure, it's pretty much the ultimate amp for speakers like Omega IMO.
UL- That doesn't seem like a fair comparison.....like apples and oranges, especially at the price difference. Interesting though. If you were to ask about the Zen TorII MkIV vs the 518ia, then that would seem more realistic in comparison. I haven't heard either amp, but the Decware supposedly pulls off the SET sound without being a SET amplifier. One other thing to consider.....lifetime warranty, built in the US Decware vs made in China. I know which one I'd pick.
I would even take the Torii Jr. over the Line Magnetic amp you're considering.
I agree Dave that 2w isn't for everyone and I hope I'm not misunderstood as thinking the SE84 is the only amp to have. For the money or anywhere near, the SE84 is a tough amp to beat though, and yes it must fit into one's system and listening style. A few products in the audio market have stood the test of time and the SE84 (going on 20 years) certainly has, and there's a reason - it's just plain great. As far as 845/211/805/GM70 goes, Ideal Innovations up here in Canada could probably build one for the price of the Line Magnetic. Syd's amplifiers are extremely good and way overbuilt. The physical quality of his amps are like products built in the 1950s or 60s.
That's great, I'd consider that a better option. I've been wanting to build a high power SET for a long time now and I'd spend at least $3k in parts, they need to be 3-stage with a 1kV+ power supply. I'd expect a custom built made-in-USA amp like that to be at least double the price of the LM, but who knows, it's worth checking....
My amp (see avatar) was built by Dennis Had of Cary fame. It is a single ended pentode and he originally designed it to run KT150's at 12wpc. It will run many pentode varieties from 6V6 to KT150 and lots in between. He is building them by hand himself after retiring. He has made a couple of SET amps as well over the past couple of years. He may be worth checking with about what you want. Made in good ole North Carolina. PM me if you want his contact info.........Peter
Many times I've considered building one of these, but the main thing holding me back is how dangerous voltages that high can be. Many magnitudes more dangerous than the typical tube amps that run at 300-400 volts. That and it's kind of tough to source premium parts that can withstand the voltage (Teflon caps come to mind, but they may very well cost more than premium 845 tubes!). About 2-3K is what you can expect parts to cost if you want to use premium parts (transformers alone may cost several hundred, depending who makes them. Edcor are cheaper).I could probably make amps from a tube such as the KT150 that would be single ended triode and produce about 10 watts of power (just a guesstimate. I haven't done the math yet) that would be much safer, and stay under 600 volts, so good parts may be used for cheaper. It would also cost a lot less to make than an 845 tube amp.
My plan is to use my EL34 SET amp to drive 211 output tubes with their own PS in their own chassis. I'll install a switch on the EL34 amp that sends the signal through coupling caps instead of the OPTs. My EL34 SET is also driverless, it's fed by an Aikido preamp with 20 dB gain which I may rewire to use 6SL7 input tubes for more gain if needed, or maybe use 2:1 interstage trafos, but that's a pricey option... My EL34 SET produces about 7 watts running triode mode, the tubes are run slightly over spec but it's never been a problem.
Without looking at your schematic for the EL34 amp, I don't think it will work as intended, since the speakers, coupled through the transformer, serves as the load for the tube normally, so you can't just use a cap to drive the 211 tubes. You most likely will need to have a proper driver stage. If you want to talk about it in more detail, you can PM me.
