@nightfall--would you please tell us the two amps in question? I am particularly interested in learning the name of the PP amp.
Would You Rather Own A Good SET Amp, Or A Great Push Pull Amp?
Throwing this out there because I would appreciate the viewpoints of the many knowledgeable, and experienced audio people here. I'm really torn about a decision I am considering in this regard. And no, sorry, I cannot name the amps involved. I could lose one or both options if I publicized them here. And honestly, only the tiniest fraction of forum members would ever have listened to even one of these options.
The speakers they would be used with can equally accommodate either of these choices per the designer/manufacturer, who I ran it by.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
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I don't know how anyone can answer this conclusively, or for you, every situation entirely unique, variables go on and on. To start with how do you define great vs good, why a great push pull vs only a good SET, why not great to great? If your criteria for great is price, this may not hold for SET. There are many boutique/small operation builders of SET amps, they can custom build you an extremely high quality amp for relatively low price.
Personally, I've had a number of push pull and SET amps (2a3, 300B, 845) over the decades, thus far SET for me. These days only mono blocks with quality transformers and power supplies, both critical for SET. EL34 my fav push pull tube, very nice mids, still don't compare with immediacy, illusion of performers in room SET is capable of. On the other hand just received Bendix 6094 mono blocks (EL84 iteration), these 12wpc push pulls, reportedly EL84 most closely resemble SET with more impact, we shall see. Bottom line, so many variations of tube amps, only you can determine what's best for your situation. |
@ghdprentice + 1 - For me, I care a lot more about how I enjoy the sound than how it got to sound that way. |
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