[PaulFolbrecht]

Just remember, when shopping for an SET (or any tube amp), caps and resistors can be changed out easily and inexpensively enough to bring more or less character or clarity to suit your tastes but the sound quality of the amp really boils down to this.......it's all about the iron. You will find the Bottlehead, Decware and Fi all use inexpensive iron. This is directly reflected in the price and sound quality.

Er, Scott, where did get you that about Fi?  The monos, at least, use top-quality Magnequest iron.  Perhaps the X does not - that's quite possible, but the monos are his statement amps.

I have never seen their sound quality knocked as less than state of the art.  Being direct-coupled, and using AC filaments, they have something of a unique sound, but it is a beautiful, direct, and nuanced sound.

[mcgsxr]

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstube&1182117044

Fi X, on Audiogon, does reference that iron as an option.  $965

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstube&1181690952

Interesting simple, CHEAP design - $275, 5wpc, enough for your ZU?

[Scott F.]

Er, Scott, where did get you that about Fi?

I thought I read that somewhere though obviously I'm mistaken.

The funny part of this is, I've never heard an SET that I didn't love (pretty much) regardless of the output iron. There is an inherent quality of triodes and HiEff speakers that just can't be matched with other gear (at least IMO).

[Dmason]

Fi X is a fantastic amp. The one on Audio Gone has the Magnequest outputs I think.

I have never heard an SET amp I didnt love, and the same for 6BQ5, whether SE, or PP. PP triode is REALLY interesting stuff. You cannot go wrong with any of these suggestions, DHT  and 6BQ5 in pentode. Add high sensitivity drivers like the Druids, turn out the lights and trip.

[Scott F.]

I'm with you, after the SET my fav is also the 6BQ5 (el84). If you are looking new and don't mind going push pull, the factory modified Jolida 102b is a fabulous amp.....and its cheap too 

[JoshK]

Audiovista's PP EL84 is cheap and fantastic. It was met with wide acceptance at our last Rave.

[boead]

The Decware is amazing. If you’ve never heard one, you need too.

Peter McAlisters SE amp is also fairly amazing.

Most others pale in comparison.


Vaughn Audio (http://www.vaughnaudio.com/) is a Decware friend. Haven’t heard his Carina amp but people that have adore it.
http://www.hawthorneaudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=755&sid=f074bdd0ddd3d70fe9559fd7f145a9b7


Classic SET can be somewhat fat and lush. Some people love that and others hate it. The amps mentioned above are fast, clean and image in an astounding way. They all compete with amps many times their price. None of them are lush and fat that’s for sure! You might just want lush over lean. Depends on the speakers, I’ve heard then Druids are not lean so a lean amp might be good for them. But the faster SET like a Decware is very revealing and might reveal the harshness of the SB3 loud and clear! A RedWine mod will be essential. It’s a vicious circle. But any good amp is goi9gn to be revealing, if its not then what’s the point. There is also the “FirstWatt” solid state SET, everyone that hears it loves it too.


In direct comparison, my McAlister preamp best a $3000+ BAT preamp in every way. The BAT is almost 4 times the price. The McAlister uses much less expensive 12SN7’s that have the character of their sister tube the 6SN7 that are so expensive now it’s absurd.
Peter McAlister’s gear is very home made looking, so if looks are as important as sound quality then look elsewhere. Decware looks better now then in the past but still stark in looks. The Vaughn Audio amp is also simple looking but clean. 
Again, an SET for under $1500 is hard to find IF looks/style are important.

[jrebman]

Might I humbly suggest the following:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=39953.0

A very conservative 2.5 watts, the quietest SET you will find, sonic signature similar to a 2A3, readily and inexpensive tubes, damping factor of 8 (good for better bass response), high-pass inputs in addition to full range in case you want to augement with a sub later on, and it's beautiful to boot.

Make me a reasonable offer and it's yours.

-- Jim

[lcrim]

Jim:
I absolutely love the sound of my Music Reference EM7 amp.  I think that it would sound terrific w/ the 101 dB Druid, just as it does w/ the 96 dB Compact Hemps.  With that level of resolution, one would quickly begin thinking about improvements to the SB.  I have a SB w/ mine as one of several sources but the PS has been changed out for a Bolder model and the digital out goes to Scott Nixon TubeDac +

[jrebman]

Larry,

I really wish I could keep it but I just don't have the money to build the third system around it.  Somebody's coming to look at the Abbys in the next couple of days, and shortly I'll be putting the Onix sub and R-DES digital EQ up for sale as well.  Can't afford to keep all this with a wedding coming up in a couple of months.

Why does life have to get in the way of audio?

-- Jim

[TONEPUB]

Hey there:

Got an almost new Pacific Creek 300B amp and Ill be happy to sell it to you
for a thousand bucks with shipping and paypal fees included.  I've used it
on and off, but I have too many SET amps!

It's a great little (actually kind of heavy) amp and when I put my Western
Electric 300Bs and some NOS drivers, it was eerily close to my 10k Wavac!

(WE and NOS tubes not included at that price)

PM me if you are interested....

[boead]

Hey there:

Got an almost new Pacific Creek 300B amp and Ill be happy to sell it to you
for a thousand bucks with shipping and paypal fees included.  I've used it
on and off, but I have too many SET amps!

I’m sure it sounds wonderful but consider the cost of 300B’s!!

A matched pair of WesternElectric $849 for a newly made tube. NOS is at least TWICE that!!

A good sounding NOS 300B is going to be at least $200 each and new Chinese or Russian made stuff half that or less but…


Check out this article about 300B tubes
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1201/300b/



Jeff, Pacific Creek rates that amp at 3.5mV background noise. Really??? That’s horrible! My Decware was that bad prior to needing a repair  (mod gone bad  ) and I could not stand it. After a trip to the SteveD’s, noise was reduced to about 1.5mV and its still a tad noticeable. In comparison, Decwares Torii is rated at about 0.5mV.

[JoshK]

I recently had been doing a lot of reading up about 300B's, new production.  I read lots and lots of comments on new production 300Bs on a host of forums, from Audio Asylum, to tube diy sites, to SET lover forums, etc.  There seems to be some agreeance among a few stylized points:

new production WE 300Bs, aren't like older production WE300B's, don't sound like them, aren't really made like them and generally most don't think there worth the price tag.  They are US made by a company that is known to make shoddy quality new production tubes.
JJ300Bs and EH 300Bs are both very well received and liked.  Some prefer EH to JJ and some the other way around, although I read more JJ lovers than EH lovers there seems to be respect for both.  JJ was often noted as having a bit more bass, highs and dynamics, while the EH's had a bit more midrange smoothness/whatever.  JJ's are made in the Czech Republic, EH are made in Russia.
TJ 300Bs were mixed reviews.  Some people had bad experiences with their past offerings and were shying away, some liked them, some thought they were dissapointing, just generally mixed.   It was also harder to find feedback on these tubes.  They are made in China.
I actually didn't look that hard for comments on Sovtek or Shuguang 300Bs, but the comments I did read were ho-hum on the Sovteks and generally good on the Shuguangs. 

Svetlana's are now Electro Harmonix, at least the "select" and/or the gold grid ones.  Lots of positive comments on the Svetlana's and now EH as noted above.

EH's aren't too expensive, JJ's are a bit more and Shuguangs are reasonable.  Those would be my top choices to try out based on what I've read.   I bought a quad of JJ 300B's for my Karnas as I am not ready to drop a grand on KR 300BXLS's yet.

Which reminds me, there are the KR & EML premium 300B's and 300B variants too...they are expensive!  They are also said to be fantastic, but some reliability issues in distant past KR's when Dr. Kron died and the company changed hands....recent reports seem to suggest things have gotten back on track.  Some reliability issues with EML, it wasn't clear to me from reading whether people were having better luck recently.  I would be shy of dropping a grand on EML's (for a quad) without some assurance of reliability.  I'd feel confident with KR based on what I've read and the warranty offered by KR.

[JoshK]

boead,

I have included my reading's of Thoersten's opinions in my above overview, but typically more recent postings.   Note that article was written in December 2001, which is now almost completely dated, since even within the same manufacturer, many of the factories have moved or production has changed quite a bit.

I'd be interested to hear more of people's personal experience and also what they've read if it differs a lot from my brief highlights.

[miklorsmith]

Nice comments, Josh!  Almost makes me want to try out another 300B amp.  My only experience was with some Dareds and their stock tubes (can't recall which) and I couldn't resell them fast enough.

[SET Man]

Hey!

    First off.... yes my amps use KR audio tube 842VHD tubes. I've been using this pair since about 2002 without any problem. They are mostly hand made and very well made. If you ever look and hold one you will see why. Oh! of cause my amp sound great too.

    Anyway, they recently released the direct replacement 300B. And that was a smart move for the company since they will sell more of this type than their higher power version.

    Here are some review about their new 300B..

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0705/kraudio300bballon.htm

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/kr300b/kr300b.html

    The down side? Well, they are a bit pricey. But! I think they are worth it... and should last longer than other 300B

   If I ever get myself a 300B amp... you could bet that there will be a pair of KR Audio 300B tubes in them aa

Take care,
Buddy

[JoshK]

Buddy,  I think your tubes predate the hiccup KR had.  From what I read, things were good before Dr. Kron died and a little while after things sorted out, but there was a six month or more period where some people were upset with the service and had problems with the tubes from that batch.  I don't think its a problem anymore.   I'd feel much better about dropping big bucks on KR 300B's than WE300B (new production) based on what I read!

P.S. I've read good things about JJ and EH 2a3's as well. Seems like you have a few choices available for good new production popular tubes if you don't want to risk the money and uncertainty on NOS tubes (off ebay, unless you spend big bucks to obtain from respected dealer). 

[Bill Baker]

 Wanted to add some of my experiences with a few 300B tubes that have been mentioned. The amps I used for evaluation are our prototype Musica Bella 8 watt mono blocs. Single 300B with 6SN7 input and drivers and cathode bias. Noise is about 1.0mV so not really an issue. Still working on getting it lower. These amps also utilize a simple soild state power supply with large capacitor banks.

 I have played with the EH300B, EH Gold 300B, Valve Art, JJ and KR. The KR was superior to everything I heard but are quite a bit more $$ so I will leave them out.

 The EH variations did have a smooth midrange quality to them, very good bass control and well extended highs.

 The JJ's had a bit more extension and air up top but in my application, the bass was about equal with the EH. The midrange was a bit more articulate without the texture of the EH.

 Moving on to the Valve Art I found there was more weight and body down below. The midrange was the smoothest or better yet "lushest" (is that even a word?) with the upper end having great detail but not as extended as the other tubes.

 After the KR, I would have to say my personal favorite is the EH and by the way, I really didn't hear enough difference between the regular and gold pin version to justify the additional cost.

 The KR's were simply in another world as compared to these other current production tubes. I have not heard WE tubes in a very long so cannot comment on the difference between the latest production and originals.

 Keep in mind that these are stictly my personal preference and in no way would indicate other's findings.

[SET Man]

Buddy,  I think your tubes predate the hiccup KR had.  From what I read, things were good before Dr. Kron died and a little while after things sorted out, but there was a six month or more period where some people were upset with the service and had problems with the tubes from that batch.  I don't think its a problem anymore.   I'd feel much better about dropping big bucks on KR 300B's than WE300B (new production) based on what I read!

Hey!

   Yup, that was true. KR Audio had some problem when their first started and after Dr. Kron died for a while I think. But they seems to be back on track again.
 
    Anyway, I'm currently trying to figure out how to test my KR 842VHD tube with my Hickok tester. Gary told me that they are very similar to 300B and if I could figure out the 300B setting on my Hickok 6000 than I should get some idea of how my tube are doing now Still even without that I think I could still get another year or 2 more out of them

    Back to SET amp.... If I ever going to get the real 300B amp. On the top of my list would be Welborne Labs DRD 300B.... the totally pimped out one, with KR 300B tubes of cause aa The base model is about $1200 I think... yeah still more than the original poser asked.

   BTW... Josh are you working on a new SET amp project?

Take care,
Buddy

[jrebman]

also utilize a simple soild state power supply with large capacitor banks.

I like that -- have to learn how to design one of those

-- Jim