Sophia Electric 91-01 and 91-5 300B


Hi,
I have been using a Tannoy Turnberry SE speakers for the last 1 year, I was driving it with Naim amplification and was happy with it. However I would like to add a good tube amp to drive the Tannoys. I have been listening to various amps. It is quite evident that SET based on directly heated triodes have a special magic about their presentation. However most DHT SETs are low powered, within 10 watts. Recently I read some very good things about Sophia Electric 300B amps, especially driving Tannoys. Jeff Day has given glowing review to it even replacing is reliable Leben 660P. But before I pull the trigger I am looking for some first hand comments from the community here which is expectedly more devoid of the reviewer's bias. Has anyone heard it ?

Moreover I am also looking for some views on the various models that Sophia offers, 91-01, 91-05 etc. Is it really worth going for their more expensive models like the 91-05 when the 91-01 already seems to be doing so well ? Has anyone heard the higher models ?
pani
I can offer my recent experience with my Tannoy custom built HPD 315 (12" Dual Concentric, ca 1975). Ever since I built these speakers, wanting to try an SET 300B amp was high on my audio bucket list.

A few weeks ago, I purchased such an amp, though it is a single 300B per channel, @9Wpc. The amp was originally sold in kit form (mine was factory built), and was designed by Sonic Frontiers.

I found out that only being 9Wpc is not a limitation. My system plays just as loud as with my other amp, a 35Wpc EL 34 based push-pull VAC.

Although the VAC is a great amp, and has had factory upgrades, the SET 300B has taken over listening sessions.

I went back to the VAC, only to change quickly to the SET again.

This is my first experience with an SET amp, but it is a great one. I wouldn't worry so much about the Watts per channel, but on the quality of the power supplies and transformers of whatever amp you are thinkng about.

It turns out, Tannoys can work very, very, well with an SET 300B amp.

I don't know if this helps or not, but I hope you find what you are looking for. Turnberry's are great speakers, I heard a pair being driven by Joule Electra SET mono-blocks recently, and that was great match, so if you get the right SET, I know you will be very pleased.

Best of luck, regards,
Dan
Hi Dan,
You have much more experience with Tannoys that I do. Are some models of them easier to drive than others? You and Jeff Day have fine results with your particular models,is the Turnberry in this catagory also?
Charles,
Sophia electric amplifiers are Chinese junk. If you don't believe me, ask them for a photo of the insides of their amplifiers. They use cheap components, put together poorly. I auditioned several of their 300b models in their McLean, VA "factory", they were all thin sounding.
Pani,
There is also a very similar query recently posted on AA with more responses.
Isochronism, thats me on AA :-)

Martingren, thanks for that input. Could you please suggest a few 300B amps that you like ?