New Western Electric 91E 300B Tube Integrated Amp REVIEW !

Those four words say it all to me. I saw the interview with the current owner of Western electric and I was very impressed with his detailed explanation of everything that happened from the day he took over.

snaptube vidmate

The classic Dennis Had-designed Cary 300B SETs, from back in the day, were capable of 9, 10, 11 watts; the one I owned drove my ProAc Response 2.5s to volumes I would never listen at.  So the JA measurements of output of the WE did give me some pause.  OTOH, I don't remember the reviewer reporting any problems.

i learned more about the reviewer than i did about the eq unde review.  no mention whatsoever ofthe phono stage sound or anything!

It would be great if the only ones able to comment in this thread were those that have actually HEARD the WE91 amp...  I did- in fact auditioned it- for an hour- and yes, it was well warmed up beforehand.  The looks are controversial, but ease of use was very good, and I thought the amp to be reasonably attractive in a 'modern' sort of way. 

As for the sonics, positives first- I was quite surprised by how tight the bass was for a 300B amp- very impressive; detail retrieval also quite good.  *However, it just didn't bring the magic I was hoping for.  I can't 'fault' it per se, but it just didn't bowl me over in any way.  I have heard much larger billowing staging from other top notch 300B amps, along with better depth and note decay. 

In summary, I walked away thinking it was a nice 'lifestyle' piece.  Someone might have this amp in their living room for dinner parties and guests would compliment the looks of it.  But as a serious take no prisoners performance piece?  No- just not enough there for me- maybe a solid '7', but at the asking price, there are many others I would choose instead.  

@sutts

It is refreshing and very useful to get input from an actual listening experience of the Western Electric 300b amplifier. What speakers were paired with this amplifier? You are familiar with the Coincident Frankenstein 300b SET. With it as a reference point, how is the relative sound quality comparison between these two SETs? Comparison with a familiar component is useful to me for meaningful context.

Charles