Dennis Had Inspire PSE 300B WOW!!!

Yep, I'll be listing the Coincident monoblocks this weekend.  They have been in my system for years and have never missed a beat and are spotless.  Regarding the horns I have done the entire tour a couple times from SET+horns to Wilson Audio and extreme power amps and back.  Actually, I also have another set of horns as well the BD-Design Oris-150s with Voxative Ac2.6 drivers.  However, using the smaller BD-Design Orphean horns with the new Celestion AXi-2050 has made the Oris-150 no longer needed.  Any takers?  And finally Yes class-D amplification to control the low frequencies is critical to success.

@woodsage  Actually these are the BD-Design Orphean-220 horns utilizing the new Celestion AXi-2050 driver.  The amplifier for the BD-Design compact reference base enclosures is a Crown XLS-1500.  Both amplifiers utilize minidsp as the xover.

I do have in addition a pair of Oris-150 horns utilizing the Voxativ AC-2.6 8" full range driver.  I have used Lowther and AER in the past and found that the Voxativ to be superior in my listening room.  I am happy to sell the Oris system if anyone is interested as well as the Coincident Frankenstein 300B monoblocks that are the perfect match for these speakers.

So, after 3 days with my new Inspire PSE 300B, I could not be any happier with the amp.  I'm stunned in the improvement over my trusty Coincident Frankenstein monoblocks that have defeated all challengers for the last 5 years.  

Specifically, the areas that PSE bested the Frankensteins were the lower midrange, the power and clarity of the highs, and the simply huge amounts of air and space around the instruments & performers.  The soundstage also expanded about 20% in width BUT at least +50% in depth.  Downsides?  The only one I can come up with is the amp does run hot but that is the logical outcome of having 4 300Bs and a total compliment of 10 tubes. 

Hi John... The Coincidents are the MK-II version upgraded with Jupiter Premium Copper Foil caps.  I did an A/B with the Mk-III version a year ago and frankly liked the MK-II w/ Jupiters better.  As for 300B tubes I have Western Electric, PSvane, etc. but the WEs are easily the best.  As for the other tubes I have a bunch of NOS 5U4 ect.  I'm actually on vacation this week and next but if you have interest in the amps let me know as I'm going to list as soon as I get back.

Som for Dennis's PSE 300B it does run hot.  Personally I think the chassis could be made a bit larger to enable better cooling.  But with four 300Bs and a number of large resisters needed for tube not transformer coupling I guess hot is the logical outcome.

Best regards,

Mark

@jonnycopy

i can check in a couple weeks when I return from the Caribbean.  What I can tell you is no matter the heat the PSE 300B is staying in the system.  It’s that good.   

@c_cocobean Yes, I continue to use the 300B-PSE.  It really is quite good.  The power supply & driver circuit is very different to the Inspire-300B and of course has twice the power not that I needed the power with my very sensitive horn speakers.  My only small complaint would be I would have put it in a larger chassis as the current one is very tightly packed and does get hot.  From a sound perspective I love it.  By far the best 300B or frankly any amp I have ever owned noting that I have had some heavy hitters at significantly higher prices.