Is there a Solid State amp that can satisfy a SET guy?

I have a Supratek Cabernet 300B preamp.I was using that with a pair of Bakoon 5515M 50 watt monoblock amplifiers which were unfortunately not mine and had to be returned to the owner.That was a wonderful sounding combination .

- Don’t go for single tube 211, 845 SETs, they sound slow and boring.
- Pani’s recommendations are dead-on and mimic my experiences exactly.
- I have been turned off by owning what should have been a really good sounding amp, the Viva Solista 845 based SET. Yes, it was boring compared to my 300B SET.
- I had the same experience with a De Havilland 845. It was a bore

@pani @eaglejo @mglik @roxy54

What do you attribute the above to? Would like to learn what might be going on with respect the amps you found behaving this way and (perhaps) speaker pairing, etc. synergy? Thanks.

@david_ten

I have no experience with 211 or 845 amps, but I would speculate that in **some** cases an explanation of why **some** of those amps may sound "slow and boring" compared to 300B amps derives from something Ralph ( @atmasphere ) has pointed out in the past.

What he has pointed out (and it makes perfect sense to me) is that since the distortion produced by a 300B (or other low powered SET amp) rises dramatically as output power becomes a significant fraction of its capability, while also becoming vanishingly small at low power levels, and since our hearing mechanisms use certain harmonic distortion components as loudness cues, from a subjective standpoint such amps will tend to have a greater perceived contrast between high volume peaks and softer notes.

In other words, dynamics will seem to be enhanced relative to the presentation of many other kinds of amps.

While if everything else is equal (including speaker efficiency and listening volume) that effect will occur to a much smaller degree, if at all, with a more powerful 211 or 845 SET amp, since the amp will be operating at a relatively small fraction of its power capability even on high volume peaks.

Best,
-- Al

@almarg Thanks!

Can I therefore surmise that the 211 / 845 amps are more accurate and more honestly representing the recording, than say a 300B?

Thank you.

@david_ten 

Yes, David, that is a correct interpretation.  Assuming, of course, that the effect Ralph has described is not overshadowed by other variables in the designs of the specific amps being compared.  For example, differences in the quality of the output transformers, since the high voltages at which 211s and 845s operate makes it harder (and more expensive) to produce transformers providing comparable performance to those used in 300B amps. 

Best,
-- Al