PP or SET tube amp best resolution on horns?

I use a Sophia 300B MKII amp with Klipsch K-Horns, it is rated @9wpc probably more like 4-5 watts; but it sure is sweet.

M,
I would recommend placing a couple of phone calls to Kara @ Dehavilland and Ralph at Atma-Sphere. Both companies amps excel with high efficiency speakers, and both are friendly and knowledgeable enough to explain the pros/cons of 300Bs vs some other good options. IMHO, these are two of the highest credibility people in the business, and they've developed products that are likely to be a particularly good fit for your application.

Disclaimer: Happy owner of Dehavilland Aries 845G amps. Cheers,
Spencer

>>03-16-09: Hifisoundguy
Audiofeil, they are a lot of people that think they are the best too...!<<

And there are thousands more who disagree and know better.

Count me among them.

Audiofeil, they are a lot of people that think they are the best too...!

>>03-15-09: Hifisoundguy
Try the best class A amps.....Luxman L590a mk2 or L550a MK2<<

The BEST?

ROTFLMAO

Try the best class A amps.....Luxman L590a mk2 or L550a MK2

I am doing exactly what you are looking into. I built my 106 dB Edgarhorn system over the last two years. My mid-bass horn handles from 80 - 500Hz.

My push-pull amp is a Lectron JH-50, which I'm told Jean Hiraga developed using horns. This is 50 watts, probably a bit more since this amp is modified. The sound is very clean, detailed, and not at all tubey.

The SET I am currently running is a Bottlehead Paramount 300b. It does just get to 8 watts. I can easily chase you out of the room with this meager 8 watts. ;-) I'm not ready to say that SET is better sounding or produces more detail than PP with my horns.

However, my bass horns (20 - 80Hz, roughly), are powered by SS plate amps. Good luck getting 25 watts from 300b SET, though.

I would suggest checking out the High Efficiency asylum - there have been many discussions of these issues there.

I've used both (SET & PP) to voice my horns (95db) and both types of amplification excel at certain aspects of music reproduction.
It would be wise to have both kinds of amplification home for honest evaluation.

Low frequency reproduction of 60Hz-310Hz might be a better job for quality PP or SS Class A amplification tho.

Simpler the better is a good rule of thumbs. Also, watch out for transformer quality and pay attention to circuit design and low floor/noise of the unit - especially in vacuum tube amps.

;)