Hey Rene - Thanks for posting your impressions. I knew you'd be able to provide a unique perspective. I think in this case you describe things with a better grasp exactly what is going on, whereas I'm only able to describe things an a rather, well, comparatively simplistic terms. Indeed, as you've surmised, the amp has evolved over time. Alas, Peter bought my SET amps so a direct comparison will take a bit of doing, though not impossible. I'm glad they are close by - he's actually pairing them off with LaScalas where they really shine. I may be going over there soon to take a listen.
I should clarify some aspects of your listening session for others, since the circumstances were rather unique and interesting: Rene and I have been infrequent audio pen pals (via Audiogon) for a few years, but had never met until that weekend. He was completely unfamiliar with my room, my system and in fact it was his first time in Seattle. He happened to be there a day after the amp had arrived for photography. It had two days of burn-in at Amboy, and I'd added a few more hours to that in my system. So it was basically brand new. I thought Rene would enjoy listening to the two very different amps. Since he'd never heard the system before and had no idea what it consisted of, since we hadn't corresponded much over recent years and I no longer list my system anywhere, it seemed like a fun opportunity for a blind test of sorts (my system is in a cabinet which would further facilitate that). Not only was the test blind in that he did not know anything at all about the amps I was changing, I also didn't even tell him what components I was having him compare (I could have been changing preamps or front ends). I think perhaps he could have figured that aspect of it out, but it would be a guess, and certainy he could figure out no more than that. So though his comments as written here reflect the identity of the two amps, those same comments he spoke to me that day were simply about the changes: A vs B. He's obviously has a very good memory (which makes sense since he's a scientist) as his observations are practically verbatim to what I recall him saying that day (I did ask him to commit them to an email so I could share them with Dan). The only thing I promised, in doing the test, was that I would never trick him and each time I said I was making a change I would (though I think the differences were pretty clear in this case). I left both amps, and the rest of the system, on while I picked up Rene and showed him around Seattle (a good 4 hours or so prior to listening), so he was listening to fully warmed-up amps in both cases (I did have to leave the SET's off for the period we listened to the KWA (second round) as I had no shorting jumpers for the tube amps and preferred not to risk the expensive WE 300b's with no load on the terminals. I played three diverse cuts of music on each, then repeated the same three on both amps again by Rene's request. I'd guess we listened for a little bit less than an hour, as Rene indicated. I did not make any comments on what I switched, or what I personally thought of the changes (we discussed both afterwards, of course). Only one of his comments took me by surprise (I felt the KWA occurred to me as 'faster' than the SET amps myself), but I certainly found his observations to be very astute, detailed and basically paralleling my own in most ways. We listened to more music afterwards as well. It was a fun way to end the afternoon!
Glad you enjoyed yourself, Rene. I had a great time meeting you and sharing my home town. I hope to come visit Toronto some day too. Thanks again for posting your thoughts here. I'm sure others will appreciate it as well.
Marco
