I have used Cary V12, Cary 300B SEI, Primaluna Dialogue One, as well as Almarro 205 MK II, all with terrific success.
48 responses Add your response
I was a little shocked that the little Almarro is as dynamic as it is, warm, with great vocals, and is a real giant killer. You have to roll-in the right tubes though. I got rid of the stock EH 84 and 12ax7. I have rolled in Mullard, 7189s, Ei, and Gold Lion 84s. So far I like the 7189s the best. I have substituted Sylvania 5751 3 Mica Black Plates as well as GE for the stock tube. Soon, I will also try Amperex, JJs, and Shuguang Black Treasure, or their Psvane counterparts. The Cary 300Bs exhibit all the 300B attributes; it too, is warm, full, beautiful midrange, bass is good, but not last word in slam, has nice organic feel. Never fatigues. The Primaluna does not have the stock tubes, I am mostly running NOS Soviet Reflektor 6n3ce 6L6, NOS Amperex Bugle Boy12au7 with NOS Sylvania 5751 3 Mica Black plates. This unit is nicely balanced, excellent mids, bass slam, and a good treble, but certainly not the last word. In my room each of these amps throw a wide, layered sound stage. The Cary is the most lush. I'd like the Primaluna to have just a tad more weight and fullness. Same for the Almarro, yet neither is thin. All-in-all I like the Cary V-12 with these speakers the most; yet I like them all for different reasons. I should add that none of these units ever fatigue. |
I would like to keep this rolling for a little bit. I also just purchased a pair of the Lores. They should arrive in the next week or so. I currently have a Jolida jd502p, about 60 watts.I am curious if there are any satisfying SET amps out there that wouldn't break the bank.In particular my bank of under $1500.Also can the Lores really sound good on less 15 to 20 watts (i.e.2-3 watts)in a room 20x17x9. I listen to mostly rock,jazz and am starting to get into more small acoustic stuff. Thanks in advance. |
I've just purchased an Almarro 205 MK II with Teflon V Cap upgrade for my brother from a fellow A' gonner; he is going to use it with the Tekton M-Lore in a second system. Before my brother picks this up we are going to check it out in my system with the Lore. If I like the Teflon V-Cap I'll upgrade also with the V-Cap or something else after doing some research. |
I'm using a Trafomatic Aries with my lore's with vintage Mullards and find the combo perfect. I have similar tastes to you and the Aries constantly surprises me with how well it can punch out the rock/pop. On jazz and vocals it's just magic. It took for me to get my head around 6wpc being enough. To the point I purchased a used Cayin A50T to see if some more power would be better. It wasnt long before the Cayin was up for sale again. |
10-12-12: Wilson667I ran a 3-watt 2A3 SET amp with the Lores in a 12' x 13' room and it was enough for most of my listening. It would not be enough for me in your room except for low level small acoustic stuff. |
Mikirob, All-in-all I like the Cary V-12 with these speakers the most; So, begs the question - why? yet I like them all for different reasons. Different reasons -- in that each is better suited for a particular kind of musical genre? Or mood? WRT the Cary 300B, with the Tekton being a very dynamic speaker imparting a "live" presentation, does using the 300B detract too much from this kind of presentation, or does the 300B bring something more to the listening experience and is additive rather than subtractive? |
10-13-12: Wilson667I think the Jolida will sound very good with the Lores. I heard my Lores on my friends JD1000 which is the 100 watt EL34 version. It sounded great. We're all different and want different things, so take this for what it's worth - I wouldn't look for a lower power Push Pull pentode to replace my 502. If I were to get something different it would be a different topology, like the single ended pentode 318 Almarro or a push pull triode or something. I say that because the 502 is a pretty good amp IMO, and getting another similar with lower power might not gain (or lose) much. |
I like the Cary SET 50 watt triode push-pull the best because it has most of the attributes of the Cary 300B midrange with large amount of headroom, more solid bass, a little more extension on top, has a little more weight and dynamics. For me and my ears in my room, tops all the others mentioned in my post, yet each is good. My parents were musicians as are I and my brother. I know live music intimately. The Lore is live sounding. Dynamic. I have used EL 84 tubes in amplification often, among others. I like their sound. The Almarro acquits itself nicely, but a different presentation as one would suspect, very quick and lively, great for Jazz, Folk, Folk Rock, Pop music. It does not do as well on large scale Classical, especially when it all gets going and is complex; yet it is still good. The Cary V12 is a well-suited amp for the Lore, it adds a little more warmth, weight and fullness compared to my Primaluna, it is sweet and timbre is accurate, RRAT is slightly better on Primaluna, but really small difference. Bass is very tuneful. I hope this stuff is what you were asking Finsup. I believe, like Sebrof, the Jolida 502 would acquit itself well with the Lore. I wish I could inject some Wolf Garcia humor here. |
I am currently using Almarro 205 II with Tekton, I found that the sound is overall good but not great. Specifically, the midrange is not warm enough and the high is a bit harsh. Maybe just because of the stock tubes as Mikirob point out. I am thinking of directly heated triode (Almarro 205 is single ended pentode EL84 output) tube such as 300B, 2A3 or 45, if these are better choice than Almarro 205. |
I owned the Pendragons and ran them with a pair of Wyred 4 Sound mono amps (SX-1000s and SX-500s). They sounded terrific -- smooth, extended but never harsh, excellent imaging with dynamics galore. I had several people over to listen to the speakers and all were very impressed with the sound. I moved to the Wyred amps out of necessity (really hot here in AZ for 6 months of the year) but have really been pleased with them. |
Nguyen787, seriously, you must replace stock tubes. Read the comments by Jeff Day in 6Moons review, he is right on the money. When I first received my Almarro 205 MKII it was a little bright and harsh on top, not warm with the Tektons at all. Try the GE WA 3 Mica black plates or Sylvania 5751 3 Mica black plates or grey plates, or what Jeff Day recommends. Same for EL 84 or equivalent. The Tubestore has a nice NOS 7189. I am also using Ei EL84, that get rid of the nasties, yet keeps the detail while adding the right amount of warmth with the Tekton Lore. Mine are nicely detailed with soundstage well outside speaker edge, good timbre, terrific PRAT. |
Pace, Rhythm and Timing, musical flow. I hooked up the Almarro to the Tekton Lore early this morning, took out the Ei EL84s and installed Amperex EL 84 Bugle Boy recommended in the Jeff Day 6 Moons review. It was quite nice: No edge, glare or brightness, yet outstanding detail. Large well-defined soundstage with nice layering. Musicality, timbre was excellent, musical flow was fast and tuneful, there was a richness to the sound, as well as just the right amount of warmth; NOT fatiguing at all. My wife and I listened to the RCA Living Stereo Box Set Sample disk, Ella Fitzgerald's "Best of the Song Books", Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck. Had a blast. It was fun |
Nguyen, what speaker and interconnects are you using? I have used Kimber 8TC speaker, PS Audio Statement, Goertz Alpha Core AG1, for Interconnect, Cardas, Silnote Morpheus II, Alpha Core Sapphire silver. I should also mention that I also have the Eastern Electric Mini Max DAC currently connected. I haven't tried the Metrum Octave yet as it is currently doing duty in my main system. I've been using the stock power cord. |
Didn't Eric like the small Red Wine Audio battery amp? We did not talk about Red Wine although I mentioned to him I preferred tubes. You might be thinking of comments made by the Part-Time Audiophile in his reviews of both the Tekton Lore S and the Red Wine Audio Signature 15. |
I've auditioned the Signature 15 in my system and a fellow audiophiles system and was very dissapointed. I almost emailed Srajan Ebaen to ask him what he was thinking. It has no attack or liveliness at all. Very boring to listen to. It had nice tone, but that was it. I sent it back and asked Redwine to make sure something wasn't wrong with it. They told me there was nothing wrong with it. It was flat lined for sure. Exactly opposite of why you would buy the Lore for. |
Zmanastronomy, That's too bad but, of course, it is just another example of how important the entire chain is, including the room. At the end of the day, what works for one might not work for another. Is your system current? I should read back through the other threads; I thought you also owned some Tekton speakers. I would like to hear the Triangles sometime. |
10-19-12: Nguyen787What some manufacturers do is run the main driver full range, and simply a capacitor (or other simple network to balance levels) before the tweeter to keep low frequency singal from blowing it up. My Tekton Katz Meow are like this I believe, from visually looking at the XO. I also owned Tekton Lores for a while (great speakers, only sold because I started building my speakers). They have a pretty standard crossover (3 caps, 2 coils, 2 resistors). |
Finsup, The Red Wine was so lifeless in my friends system that he had to bring it to mine to make sure of what he was hearing was correct. Once put in my system, it just confirmed that the amp has no liveliness. No dynamics, no attack. His other amps had all of the things listed and mine also had it all. But the Red Wine Signature 15 is lifeless. Very boring to listen to. |
Sophia Electric 91-01 300B monos have amazing dynamics, great high and low frequency extension and bass impact. These amps can rock - or "Pop" in your case. Listening to electronica as I write, actually. Plus they don't cost oodles. I purchased them as a step towards a low wattage tube system. until I can afford more efficient speakers, they surprisingly drive my Rega R5's (89dB/6ohm) nicely with only 8 watts. Using a Shindo Aurieges pre-amp by the way. |
Nicodemix, Not too many Heed owners around; glad you chimed in. I like the review that Johnny Darko did on them awhile back. I also hope to hear from CJ SS and Pass Labs owners. I spoke to Eric today, and dang if I forgot to ask him about SS amps. I got side-tracked on something he mentioned and didn't remember until coming back to this thread. |