Push pull 300B amplifiers

I owned a 300B Sun Push& Pull 20 watt monos and it had the SET magic. It drove alot more speakers and sounded great. I sold it and now have a 70 watt tube amp that sounds very simular to the Sun but will the extra power.

I believe Kevin Kennedy's PP 300B design would be great. Pure class A PP. The Citation II transformer will do great here too. Most of people don't like PP 300B because of the cost. You can get similar performance with KT-88/KT-90 PP tube amps running in triode mode. I think it is a waste of tube at this price range for PP application.

A well executed push/pull 300 will sound very close to a good 300b SET amp but with real slam. If you listen to stuff like Beethooven's Ninth at moderately loud to loud levels this sort of amplifier is perfect with moderate efficiency to high eff speakers.

If you would care to discuss the merits of 300b push/pull amps please contact our engineer who designs our amplifiers. We have discussed building a push/pull and already have a design that has been tested and sounds very, very good.

Pricing not determined but around the 4000 to 5000 range for a new custom built monaural (pair, of course) 300b push/pull amp built with custom transformers to our specifications by Electraprint. Please give Alex a call at 925-408-1522. He will be happy to discuss the merits and how the push/pull amp compares to a quality single ended 300b amp.

Carl
3D Audio

I have a pair of Wright Mono 10's that are a push/pull 2A3 design. I also own a pair of 300B SET amps. The Mono 10's give that wonderful midrange magic of the SET while providing more authority in the low end and and overall dynamics and speed...this in direct comparison with both my 300B's as well as George Wrights wonderful 3.5 2A3 SET amps which I owned for a while. The only compromise, to my ears, is in the sense of airiness and delicacy that SET does oh so well. It is by no means a big compromise though. I've never heard the amp in question though, so cannot comment directly abotu that amp.

Marco

I've had no experience with Canary amps but a friend whose ears I trust has - he says they are very well made and quite musical. Also have had no experience with P/P 300B amps since I'm quite happy with my 300B SET at this point. However, at $200.00 - $850.00 a pair for output tubes (and you'll need two pairs) retubing gets quite expensive. I also don't know how long the power tubes will last being run this way, maybe longer.

By the way, Bobheinatz, what 70 watt amp are you using?

I'm sticking with the SET mode.

TWL, Berning describes the ZOTL amp as class A push-pull. Even though his design is truly unique, I don't see how you can call an OTL amp an SET in any traditional sense of the term.

In any case I would love to hear it.

Herman- if you are in the northeast, your welcome to come hear my Berning (in CT).

Thanks everyone for your responses. My current system includes Granite Audio 860.1 (KT88 monos), Consonance 2.2 CDP and Equation 25 speakers. Although tubed, it is very fast, detailed and transparent- perhaps too much so for my tastes. The higher power 300B amps caught my eye as adding a little richness to the midrange, while still keeping much of the positive aspects of the speakers and cdp. It sounds as though a well executed push pull 300B may cost a bit more than than the models I am currently considering. Have a Modwright platinum Sony on the way for my other system (Plinius 9200, Harbeth S HL5), perhaps a similar change of source might be a better option.

Tomryan,

I am using a Bruce Moore Dual seventy amp. This is one of the best sounding tube amps I have heard.

One of the more powerful Air Tight tube amps makes around 80 watts and has had good reviews. They sell for under 3000 used.

I am considering to buy the Canary CA301 MKII (PP300B amp)(22wpc). My speaker is the Focus Audio FS888, it is a big speaker with 90db efficiency. Do you think the 301 has sufficient power to drive it? I need some help. Thank.