A note...Dennis Had is back with SEP (he's lately been doing mostly lower powered SETs...my amp is a pentode model) amps on Ebay that seem to be orderable as he notes different color face plates are available. He's added a stereo volume pot but I imagine you can get him to eliminate it maybe...a world class hand made amp at a bargain price IMO...note I have no affiliation with Had except my daily astonishment at how good my Had amp sounds.
Efficient, affordable speakers for SETs?
Ever since I discovered the magic of SETs, I have been hooked and could never go back to “sand amps” or non SET tube amps. (Yes, I know they are dirty and colored but I love the soft clipping!) The seemingly endless problem has been finding speakers that not only function well with just a few watts of power but get the most out of the limited power and also sound real. Tried Lowthers in Medallion enclosures and some other enclosures but ultimately not very natural or satisfying. Realized that a two way speaker properly crossed over to a tweeter was best and found a speaker that was specifically designed to play with 8 300B watts. The Tetra 506s (worth checking out Tetraloudspeakers.com and the great musicians who use them!). Does anyone know other two way speakers designed to work well with SETs?
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I have a Dennis Had KT150 SEP and his LP-3a preamp, but I don't use them much any more. I built the P134B designed by Jack Elliano of Electra-Print with all top grade parts. Parts like Jupiter coupling caps, Audio Note Silver Tantalum resistors, AN Kaisei caps, VH Audio OCC wire, and more. The transformers that Jack wound are MASSIVE in comparison and you can tell the difference in sound. The sound is rich and vibrant with deep powerful bass. I don't want to step on any toes, but I can't go back to my Dennis Had. His are understandably built for an entry level single ended price and couldn't possibly put the parts I used in and make money without charging $3-4K. The DH amps are a good start and really got me into the magic of single ended, so I certainly wouldn't fault them. I might upgrade the caps in mine and see how they do, I do really like the flexible tube rolling they offer too. |
My speakers are the Decware HDT. Had them since 2004. To me, it is truly magical when using a properly built and engineered single full range driver. No subwoofer needed with these. Steve's bass loading scheme really works. Just an outstanding speaker. I've always used a Decware SE84 variety, or one of my custom built jobbies at 2 watts/channel. Plenty loud for me. As always, YMMV. Cheers, Crazy Bill |
@waterclocker Did you happen to consider these as well. Normally I would want to, like you, do a DIY project with a fullrange driver. But these are way beyond what I could do with a cabinet. Suspect these would pair up superbly with the OP's SE amp. Anybody heard these? Beautiful to look at to boot! https://www.decware.com/newsite/Liiaudio.html |
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