Best EL34 amps

coverto

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Jun 18, 2020
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Curious whether anyone here has tried/compared the Audiomat EL34 integrateds? The Solfege Reference and Opera Reference? Excellent reviews when they came out but not a lot of discussion in recent years.
 
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Ron Resnick

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SET designs, while they can be magical musically, limit the selection of speakers too much for my tastes.

What about PSET designs that can match Jadis Class A, push-pull power levels?
 

Ron Resnick

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Mastersound EL34 amps sound better to me.

Forgive me if I asked you this before, which I very likely have: Have you heard the MastersounD PF100 (4 x 845 PSET)?

I have gotten a few reports of mediocre MastersounD build quality, but nobody seems to have any specific evidence for their view. (One critic decried the use of circuit boards rather than point-to-point wiring.)

What is your impression of MastersounD build quality in general? Inside the box (circuit boards, wiring, parts quality)?
 

morricab

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Apr 25, 2014
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Forgive me if I asked you this before, which I very likely have: Have you heard the MastersounD PF100 (4 x 845 PSET)?

I have gotten a few reports of mediocre MastersounD build quality, but nobody seems to have any specific evidence for their view. (One critic decried the use of circuit boards rather than point-to-point wiring.)

What is your impression of MastersounD build quality in general? Inside the box (circuit boards, wiring, parts quality)?
I never had any issues with my little Dueundici. It sounded quite nice too. Never heard this big one but heard 845 monos and found them like a lot of 845 monos…kind of warm and not overly resolved. For Italian SETs I would take New Audio Frontiers or Viva. But I would take you know what over all those.
 

Ron Resnick

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I never had any issues with my little Dueundici. It sounded quite nice too. Never heard this big one but heard 845 monos and found them like a lot of 845 monos…kind of warm and not overly resolved. For Italian SETs I would take New Audio Frontiers or Viva. But I would take you know what over all those.
Thank you very much!

At Capital Audio Fest I am going to see Amedeo of Viva, and beg him to upsize the Aurora to four 845s in parallel.
 

Ron Resnick

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Before they were "North Americanized" by Victor Goldstein by moving to the KT series of tubes, The EL34 based Jadis amplifiers circa 1985-1990 were the pick of the litter (for me) of available EL34 amps of the time.


See above. The EL34 Jadis amps were epic!! I would absolutely look into the EL34 JA Amps of the day. SWEET!!

I think the EL34 Jadis amps from "back in the day" can be replicated today simply by requesting that the factory build the new amplifiers calibrated for EL34s.
 

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