SETs vs. Push/Pull

ProAc 2.5 Response Speakers w/ REL Strata III subwoofer
Placette Passive "Pre-amp"
CEC Transport & Perp Tech w/WrightMod & Bel Canto DAC2
Kimber Kable Select interconnects & speaker wire
Room is 11 x 13.5 x 8high, plaster with solid H/W floor & thick carpet and pad.

I've had the ProAcs for 6.5 years and still love them. Had the Air Tight for 3 years and it's the best SET I've heard but my ProAcs are 86db (but with very easy and stable impedance and very benign phase angle). They work very well with Air Tight 300B (better than my Cary 300B monos) but I need more bass control and overall impact. In the past year and a half I've tried 4-5 different pre-amps, none of which worked very well.

I'm just wondering if anyone out there has found a P/P that's been able to retain the SET magic but with more drive and "guts". Maybe something like a Granite Audio or a Bruce Moore Design amp. Any suggestions or (as I seem to be getting told) should I stick with SETs and try to find something more powerful like maybe something from Art Audio.

By the way, I do love my Air Tight. Not a hiccup in three years although I did quite a bit a rolling the input and rectifier tubes (don't ya just love tube rectification?!?). The damn thing is built like the proverbial battleship.

Oh, by the way, Philefreak, I'd have to get $3,150.00 for the amp (list $6,300.00) but now ya'll got me thinking...

All great ideas and I think the jist is to get a 2nd amp and use each when the mood strikes. The ProAcs are an all around easy load and I think I can experiment with just about anything if having two "drive engines".

Damn...I love these speakers. Any suggestions for something that won't create headaches or screech (like horns and many single driver jobs) or sound diffuse and thin (like the Cain & Cain Abbey and some Coincident Techs I've heard)? Or maybe I've just not heard them under good conditions. Any help would be appreciated!!

I've been curious about Audio Note speakers for some time but never had the opportunity to audition. I'll keep an eye/ear out for them. In meantime, think I'll look for a relatively inexpensive P/P tube amp to roll with. Or, if i could find a 6-7 yr old 25wt Accuphase (don't remember the model number but it was current in their line at that time)for a real good price I'd probably go for it.

Thanks for the info, both LaK and Ecclectique. I, too, am a fond admirerer of the Response series and had the 2S for a short while before getting the 2.5s. My 300B amp is designed to standard Air Tight quality and has Tamura trannies and other goodies which give it more drive and extension than any other 300B I've listened to. High frequency extension is superb for any amp, however, I fully agree about the bass problem. I just don't think a single pair of 300bs can get deep, controled, and tight bass from my speakers although they will give it - have done it with a number of tube amps.

Uh oh...gotta go. Will come back later and praddle on some more.

Philefreak,

I am using an REL but running main speakers full range as the sub is designed for this. I may try conventional set-up and relieve the ProAcs of some burden. But what is a Deware HDT? I know what a Direct Heated Triode is and I know what Decware is (tried the Sig. mono amps about 3-4 years ago) but have no idea what Deware HDT may be.

I listened to some Classic Audio speakers ($10,000.00 pr) and only heard powerful Chinese percussion and they sounded, well, powerful. They are way too big a speaker to audition at home. Have you had any experience with Cain & Cain Abbeys? I heard them in an all Almarro tube set up and the music was quite soft and uninvolving.

Im getting the consensus that Air Tight makes a hell of a piece of hi-fi gear. I'm going to keep my 300B and maybe talk my wife into letting me get another amp. (That's one component she just can't understand the need for more than one. I have two DACs, two transports, and did have two and even three pairs of speakers at one time but this will have to get approval. However, she is one damn wonderful woman because she bought the Air Tight for my 50th birthday.)

Lots more to think about. One of the best sounding amps I've heard on my speakers was a 25wt S/S Accuphase. I may try to give the Classe a listen as I'm open to most things audio. However, about 3-4-5 years ago I did borrow a Classe from local dealer and found it rather uninvovling and found myself not looking forward to listenings sessions. This has never happened with any SET I've owned (actually any tube amp) as just the opposite occurs - I can't wait for music time. Unfortunately, I don't remember which Classe this was but was a lower wattage model, maybe 40-50 wts.

I'm willing to check those Classe models though and see if the local dealer has anything to try. I also have auditioned Dynaudio speakers another local dealer and found them quite musical. But I then came home and again found my 2.5s wonderfully musical, too, and very satisfying.

Paul...thanks so much for the kind offer but unfortunately I live in Michigan which is quite a ways from Mass.

A couple of things about speakers and "driveability". There is a three fold requirement for ease of drive: 1) Efficiency, 2) Impendance load, and 3) Phase angle. 2.5s easily meet 2) & 3) which actually makes them quite easy to drive. The first two SETs I ever heard about 7-8 years ago were on 2.5s and that was what swayed me to go that route. My ProAcs do not drop below (at least as explained to me by the importer) 6 ohms and do not rise above 11. They also have a very benign phase angle which is important and you can read just about any of John Atkinson's speaker measurement reviews for an explanation.

These are the same reasons some Spendors are good matches for SETs even though efficiencies are rather low. Art Dudley first used his SETs on Spendors which were less efficient than my ProAcs. I'm pretty sure most if not all electrostats have difficult impedance loads and phase angles - I know my Acoustats from 19 years ago did. I needed 200 real watts just to make them "get up and go".

Thanks again for the offer, Paul.