300B, 2A3 experiances wanted


I took the plunge and bought an Elekit 8900 which I plan to assemble later this year when the weather here in the Northeast starts to get too nasty to be outdoors. I have not bought the tubes yet and would greatly appreciate hearing from any of you who have direct experiance with this amp and the tubes it takes. It will be played into, at different times, Klipsch Heresy 1's, homemade open baffles featuring Lii Audio F15 full range speakers with no crossovers and maybe even my KEF LS50s on occasion.

I like detail, texture and tone as well as a sense of space and air. Generally listen to acoustic instruments in the jazz and classical traditions, 80-85 db being plenty loud for me. I'm interested in what you think are the best bang for the buck tubes as well as some that might be on the aspirational side.

My prior tube experiance included a Dynakit ST-35 amp i build last winter and a Decware Zkit SE84 I put together the year before that. I find the Deware strangely enchanting but a bit noisy, and the ST-35 is clean and clear but, perhaps because it is a push-pull design and and not a SET, sometimes not as magical as the SE84. Kind of hoping that the third tube amp, Elekit TU8900,  with the right tubes might be the charm. I might mention that I plan to build it stock initally but might consider investing in alternate caps and output transformers if the vaunted 300B/2a3 lives up to it's legend.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

bruce19

Showing 8 responses by jasonbourne71

A pentode like the 6C6 is better for driving a 300B than those small triodes. My SET45 amp uses one 6C6 per channel.

I apologize! It was Joe Roberts who was editor of Sound Practices. Joe Boyd was indeed a record producer. Blame it on my old brain which is not getting any younger!

Joe Boyd of Sound Practices liked the 45 better than the 2A3. He also liked the half-power sibling of the 45 - the 71A - good for a mere 3/4 of a watt! I have some in my tube collection.

The 6C6 is an older pentode (early 1930's) than the 6L6. The two are not interchangeable. Will Vincent (autospec) built my SET45 on an ST70 chassis using Emcron output trannies. A C6C drives a 45 for 1.75 watts out. Rectifier tube is a 5V4. I wanted a 45 SET after reading about the Yamamoto 45 in Stereophile some years ago. Will did an excellent job for half the price of the Japanese amp!

I also have a Sanei 260A SET amp from Japan. In it I have a pair of gold-pin Electro Harmonix 2A3’s.

A good source of knowledge about offbeat tube circuits/amps is Sound Practices magazine. Joe Boyd was editor. He liked flea-power amps (45, 2A3, 300B) with horn speakers like the Altec VOTT.

The 45 is from 1928. Earlier than the 2A3. It was designed for home radio receivers/consoles. It has half the output power of the 2A3. Two pairs push-pull in a console will give 8 watts.

Check out the Bottlehead Stereomour 2A3 parafeed amp. There is quite a bit on diyAudio about this circuit topology.