I appreciate your candid and very helpful comments. I will rethink my decision, for once before the purchase! Thank you all, especially Al and Ralph.
Parallel SET with sufficient power
Hello all: I'm looking to move back into SET land after 15 years. I have a pair of KEF Reference 3's at 88 dB sensitivity which I'd like to keep, so I'm considering a parallel Single Ended design with at least 30 WPC. I do like the '300B sound' so friends have recommended the 6C33c tube in parallel to deliver 30-40 WPC. I've read some very positive posts on Audio Mirror and Wall Audio of Germany was briefly mentioned. Smaller boutique like companies give me some concern as most of these fine designers or engineers build amplifiers in their spare time, and quality control may be compromised. I'm not a huge fan of 211 or 845 sound but these amps are another option. Thanks for allowing me to think out loud and I do appreciate all opinions!
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Parallel SET with sufficient powerParallel GM40's monoblocks More power better sounding tube. And has 4ohm taps. The negative phase angle of the Kefs is not severe, so the amps should drive them well. http://www.tubeguru.eu/poweramplifiers-/gm-70-pse-triode-parallel/ Cheers george |
If you wanted to stay with SET, amps based on the 845 usually put out about 30 watts a side. And then there's the ever-classic Cary 805 at 50 watts each: https://www.audiogon.com/listings/tube-cary-audio-design-805c-single-ended-triode-monoblocks-50-watt... |
I have a pair of Lampizator 211 mono's that run a pair of 211 per side in parallel, and I can confirm that Al and Ralph are tipping you off correctly. My 211's boast 85 watts of a tube power, but when I tried them on a speaker that dipped down to 4 ohms in the lower mid - bass range, it resulted in an anemic balance. It isn't so much about watts - - it's about proper impedance matching to achieve proper frequency response and tonal balance. |
My 211's boast 85 watts of a tube power, but when I tried them on a speaker that dipped down to 4 ohms in the lower mid - bass range, it resulted in an anemic balance.This could very well have been the output transformer, being 8ohm. If it had a 4ohm tap it could have been a different story, also Lampi may use no or very little negative feedback this will also have a bearing if it can drive a lower impedance as well. (having feedback lowers the output impedance) The amp I linked to from reading on the web has user adjustable negative feedback (which lowers the output impedance) as well as 4ohm taps. Cheers George |
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