300b lovers

I like the Viva Solista too.  I own a very odd ball Viva 300b component.  It is the Viva Fono phonostage that utilizes two 300b tubes as RECTIFIERS.  The power supply to this component is massive in size (about the size and shape of the Solista).   

The Nenuphar is an interesting speaker.  The Nenuphar Basis is a great speaker (full range driver plus powered woofer).  The Basis has more weight and midbass fulness than the Nenuphar that makes the speaker very good with large scale classical music.  The Nenuphar is, like many full-range speakers, is slightly rough and peaky sounding while the Basis is smoother sounding (full-range drivers used in multi-way system often sound smoother).

One of the best single driver system I’ve heard are the Charney Companion with the AER driver option.  I heard this speaker, which is about 100 db/watt efficient, driven by a 300b SET.  I also liked a Songer fullrange system that utilized a field coil driver. I believe it is quite high in efficiency.  These two single driver systems are rare in that they sound smooth while retaining the liveliness of such systems.

I too am a fan of the 45 tube type.  I also like the 2a3.  But, it is not only triode tubes that I like.  I am a big fan of the 349 pentode; I wish this were not so rare a tube.  Other pentodes I like include the 350B, and thankfully not as rare 6L6.  The 300b is not the only contender in the low-power weight class.

I heard, and liked very much the Songer fieldcoil speakers I heard at Capital Audiofest.  I believe the dipole driver speaker and the more conventional box speaker were the same price, even though it appears that you get much more with the dipole version (two-way instead of a single driver).  Both sounded quite good to me.  It would be interesting to hear them more or less contemporaneously with my other show favorite--Charney Audio full range systems (higher efficiency than the Songers so even more low-powered SET friendly).  

For someone looking for an entry point to 300b single-ended sound, the Elekit is a good way to go.  I liked what I heard at a show.  Equally important is how helpful and frank and honest Victor Kong (VK Music)  sounded when one talked to him.  He did not exaggerate what the gear can do and shared information on limitations, design compromises and the like.  I have more confidence in gear when I know that the person behind it is trustworthy.

I agree that the amp plays a very big role in the sound, and perhaps, too little attention is paid to the amp.  Far too many pick their speakers first, and then think finding the suitable amount of power will be the primary task in picking an amp.

A local store builds and sells their own high end tube gear and their own horn-based speakers.  For most of their demonstrations of the better horn systems they use their 350B amplifier.  One day when the boss was away, two of the younger employees spent the afternoon swapping in speakers acquired in trade-ins to see how they sound.  While all the speaker sounded quite different, they all sounded amazingly good to these two.  They could not believe how good even Polk speakers sounded.  It then dawned on them that the amplifier mattered a lot.  One did not get that kind of "transformation" of the speaker with the likes of Conrad Johnson amps, for example.  That is not to say that the CJ isn't good, it is just that the 350B amp had a particular character to its sound and that character played well with a wide range of speakers.

I tend to find that tubes related to the 350B do sound nice with a wide range of gear.  I tend to like 6L6 and KT 66 tubes (similar to 350B).  I run a somewhat similar, albeit much less powerful tube, the 349 (in pushpull) and I like it a lot.