How to pick your first SET tube amp?

Sc: If your room is not too large 300B based amps should work well. Lots of different flavors of these amps, though, and they do not have to be soft/slow and rolled off @ the frequency extremes if you pick wisely. A pair of mono block "kits" getting some praise as of late are the "Billies" available @ http://www.diyhifisupply.com/ (think that they are around $1K delivered). If you can solder the kit looks to be easy to build. There is more info on them in the SET Forum @ AA. I have always been happy with current production Svetlana 300B tubes which seem to be readily available for well under $250/pr and would not spend the money for new production WE's (based on the pair that I tried) - the Svet's smoked them. Depending on the circuit they can also last quite some time (very long indeed in the Audion 300B amp which I just sold). If you decide to make the leap try to stay with a "real" single ended "triode" amp (it's worth the extra $, IMO).

Sc53: Since you are going this route, you might want to look into the Audion Sterling. It lists for $1100-$1200, but the US distributor (OSS Services) may have a demo or two @ a reduced price (I know that he was just @ the Las Vegas show anyway). It is also EL34, etc., based, but uses a single 6922 type tube for the input and a single 5687 for the driver tube. Why I suggest this amp is that quality 6922 tubes are still plentiful and different driver tubes effect the sound quite a bit. You will also only require single signal tubes (matched per side) instead of matched pairs. Good 6SN7's/VT-231's (which I believe the Terra uses) are getting harder to come by. There is a review of the Sterling @ the TNT website. Just a thought as I almost purchased this amp myself @ one time. If you do happen to come up with a demo, email me and I will set you up with better (than stock) signal tubes which are usually Sovtek and National.