SET Shootout China VS The USA


2A3 SET from china arrives any day now.

The tech who loaned me his UX250 (aka 50 Tube) amp, with a  12AU7 in front + a  6BH7 (??) , has incredible pure Cobalt out trans. ($1k+ each back in 2000, now no longer in production). . he will help me set up the  2A3. 

Has a  AX+AU my 2 fav front tubes anda   quad of 2A3's. 

My speakers are pure neutrality, no coloration, no distortion,. 

So whatever amp/ source you plug in, will register the nuances inherent in the circuit.

Will be very interesting. 

USA has pure cobalt out trans which gives the edge in power, but the china 2A3 has a 2 tubes per channel.

Gonna be interesting and will post a  YT upload with comments,

AFTER TESTING IS COMPLETEED.

Hand on to your horses at the OK Corral. 

Grab a  beer at the saloon, 

sundown shootout at the edge of town. 

 

mozartfan

Showing 5 responses by jasonbourne52

  1. I have three single end tube amps. A 2A3, a 45 and a 6BG6. The 2A3 is a Sanei 260A made-in-Japan. It uses all Tango iron, including a Tango choke! Plus a front panel volume pot and a headphone jack! It was an eBay auction win for me one December! The Japanese seller gave me free shipping too! The 45 SET was a custom build by Will Vincent in Idaho. He built it on a Dynaco ST70 chassis using Emcron output transformers, two 6C6 pentode input tubes and a 5V4 rectifier. Beautiful white powder coat on the chassis. I paid $1600 + shipping. With only 1.75 wpc I don't have any speakers to use with it after selling my Heresy's.

2. The 6BG6 is another custom build from eBay. It uses a single 12AT7 as input to two 6BG6 tetrodes, along with a 5U4 rectifier. About 6 wpc, so a bit more useful than the 45 and 2A3 amps. Now I wish I had kept the vintage Heresy's! I think I paid about $200 for it. The circuit is built upon a square piece of chrome metal diamond pattern flooring, with all four sides encased in wood pieces. Power tranny on top rear center, 12AT7 front center and a 6BG6 in front of the power tranny on left and right sides. Underneath are the two output transformers. 5U4 in center in front of the power tranny. All the circuit wiring underneath.

I am thinking that this would be an easy build. Wonder if there would be enough interest in it for some sales? The 6BG6's are still available NOS. They take the plate lead out by a top cap. About 6 wpc of tetrode power! Again, best with higher sensitivity speakers!

Why bother with the Defy 7? Get a pair of nicely restored Heath W5's. Peerless iron. Add a quad set of Gold Lion KT66's and four vintage 12AU7's for the input/driver stages. 28 PP watts per mono amp. Sonically way better than any Chinese amp! I have a pair. Sell that Defy 7!

Regarding speakers: a pair or two of Quad 57's plus a pair of Heath W5's is audio nirvana! That's what I use!