[ricosrecords]

 i just picked up some Omega Super 6 alnico's. im looking at either the decware SE341.2+ or Wright Audio Royale SE Series 2. any thoughts on either of these amps or other suggestions would be appreciated.

[zybar]

What do you want to spend?

A couple of tube amps that I have owned that worked very well with my Omega Revolutions (w/ 8" Alnico drivers):

Atma-Sphere M-60's (I am sure the S-30 would also work very well)
Audio Mirror 45 watt SET mono blocks (mine are highly modified/upgraded, but they were still very good stock)
McAlister PP-150

Out of this group, the Atma-Sphere amps did the best job and really shined with the Omega speakers.  The Audio Mirror amps were a little warmer and heavier sounding, but still a really good combo.  The PP-150 was well balanced from top to bottom and was also a nice choice.  Not as liquid and inviting in the mid-range as the others, but certainly no slouch. 

George

[DaveC113]

First, congrats on your amp choices    I built a Simple SE el34/kt88 set amp for my Omega 4.5" XRS.

From my experiences with the Simple SE, I can draw some conclusions...

- Zero negative feedback is the way to go. The Decware states this, but the Wright says "no overall loop feedback", so they might be using cathode feedback , which isn't a good combo with Omegas. It also allows the use of cheaper OPTs.

- Triode strapped is the way to go. I'd bet the Wright is using UL to get the power they claim, this is really some odd type of positive feedback, and I don't think it sounds as natural as triode mode. It sounds punchy and dynamic at first, but it gets old after a while. I have a switch to go between the 2 modes, and UL might be useful for extra headroom when you want to crank it, but I run triode 99% of the time. 

- How are the driver tubes loaded? A CCS (constant current source) can be used to load the driver, which results in better linearity and more gain. To get a 2 stage el34 integrated amp with enough gain, the driver tube will have to have a high mu, and the ccs is especially beneficial here.

- Quality of passive parts, esp. OPTs. I'd call and ask about their OPTs, coupling caps, resistors, switches and volume pot.

-Power supply... ideally you want a choke and motor run capacitor (or other large film cap) in the ps filter.

My guess is the Wright uses UL and CFB (cathode feedback) and the Decware doesn't. Plus, it's way cheaper, the difference in price would pay for hashimoto opts and mundorf supreme coupling caps for the decware.