SET amp owners thread

[Exlibris]

Another look at them 2m into the room. I'm not sure this will be their final position. I'm going to try them by the front wall later today. I haven't even put them on their spikes and bases yet as I'm moving them around a lot. For those that have Odeons, is it easy to slide them around after they are mounted on the spikes and bases. I imagine that that would be asking for trouble.

 

[christoph]

Another look at them 2m into the room. I'm not sure this will be their final position. I'm going to try them by the front wall later today. I haven't even put them on their spikes and bases yet as I'm moving them around a lot. For those that have Odeons, is it easy to slide them around after they are mounted on the spikes and bases. I imagine that that would be asking for trouble.

The way you are using them now, you are more or less blocking the bass reflex channel that is exiting towards the back bottom of the enclosure
I think in your situation (hardwood floor) I would place the bottom plate on a big towel and spike the speakers to the bottom plate.
Then you can slide the whole constuction around rather easily to find the optimum position for the speakers.

I would definitely try them against the window front as well.

 

[christoph]

Yes, that's correct, the Allnic A-6000. I haven't tried anything lower but I'm interested in hearing a 300B SET amp with the speakers for sure.
You also use a 50w (or 60w) 300B PSET with your Odeons, is that correct?
My guess is that the woofers of the 33 and 38 would perform better with the 50w as opposed to the 8w(?)
I recall morricab and others recommending a minimum of 20w for the big Odeons.

I don't have the 38/2 anymore but I used them with KR Audio SET amps from 30 watts (KR Audio VA350 / Ayon Crossfire 3) to 50 watts (Kronzilla SX)
The new owner uses the 38/2 with 65 watts Aries Cerat Concero monos and that almost rips his house apart
A friend of mine uses his 33 also with 30 watts KR Audio VA350i integrated with excellent results.
Another friend of mine uses his 28/3 with the awesome 12 watt all-in-one Lampizator Amber3Amp

I almost forgot: the Odeon Midas you also know work wonderfully as well with the 12 watt Lampizator All-in-one Amber3Amp

 

[ketcham]

I owned the Allnic A-6000 for over 10 years with Emission Labs XLS 300B and never blew a tube. The new owner is still using more or all of them today (another 2 - 3 years). They are a parallel SET and I actually did find an advantage with a non-parallel circuit if you have speakers efficient enough to tolerate the lower wattage. There is just more detail across all frequencies. At 99 dB/6 Ohm my 7.5W m311 PX25 are by far my favorite and leave me never wanting for power. (Daedalus Zeus, with 2 x 10" drivers per speaker) For a true comparison KS was willing to build PX25 version of the M-2500 push-pull but with a U52 rectifier, not often done in this circuit design. They are a good balance of qualities between SET/PP with more power when speakers require them. This borne the PX25 model amplifier, which is my favorite of the three offered (PX25, 300B, KT150).

So by my assessment, again completely subjective, m311>M-2500>A-6000. A-6000 are fantastic amplifiers. Hard to find today but deals can be found on the used market. hifishark.com is an excellent resource. Allnic gear can not be re-tasked to different voltages - just too cost-prohibitive.

Regarding the A-6000 - each 300B is individually biased. No need for matched pairs. I biased them to the left (lower current) mark and tubes seem to last. Just because there are 8, I would not be hesitant to use any expensive tube. The Takasuki were also great. Those amps had 4-12 hours of daily use for over a decade. The tubes seem to last and the amplifier ended up being one of the cheapest to maintain. The quality build of Allnic last without issues.

 

[Atmasphere]

I am sitting nearfield. I'm 2.5m from each speaker and they are 2.5m apart.

Just to be clear, this is definitely not a nearfield listening situation! Nearfield is usually no more than about 4 feet.

 

[bonzo75]

I owned the Allnic A-6000 for over 10 years with Emission Labs XLS 300B and never blew a tube. The new owner is still using more or all of them today (another 2 - 3 years). They are a parallel SET and I actually did find an advantage with a non-parallel circuit if you have speakers efficient enough to tolerate the lower wattage. There is just more detail across all frequencies. At 99 dB/6 Ohm my 7.5W m311 PX25 are by far my favorite and leave me never wanting for power. (Daedalus Zeus, with 2 x 10" drivers per speaker) For a true comparison KS was willing to build PX25 version of the M-2500 push-pull but with a U52 rectifier, not often done in this circuit design. They are a good balance of qualities between SET/PP with more power when speakers require them. This borne the PX25 model amplifier, which is my favorite of the three offered (PX25, 300B, KT150).

So by my assessment, again completely subjective, m311>M-2500>A-6000. A-6000 are fantastic amplifiers. Hard to find today but deals can be found on the used market. hifishark.com is an excellent resource. Allnic gear can not be re-tasked to different voltages - just too cost-prohibitive.

Regarding the A-6000 - each 300B is individually biased. No need for matched pairs. I biased them to the left (lower current) mark and tubes seem to last. Just because there are 8, I would not be hesitant to use any expensive tube. The Takasuki were also great. Those amps had 4-12 hours of daily use for over a decade. The tubes seem to last and the amplifier ended up being one of the cheapest to maintain. The quality build of Allnic last without issues.

I am not surprised you had that preference, low power SETs will sound better than higher power SETs especially from the same manufacturer provided they can drive the speaker. Allnic A5000 (25 watts) and A6000 (50 watts) are clearly for those who require more power, and quite musical. I would prefer elrog and KR 300b to the EML though.

 

[Exlibris]

The way you are using them now, you are more or less blocking the bass reflex channel that is exiting towards the back bottom of the enclosure
I think in your situation (hardwood floor) I would place the bottom plate on a big towel and spike the speakers to the bottom plate.
Then you can slide the whole constuction around rather easily to find the optimum position for the speakers.

I would definitely try them against the window front as well.

I tried them all over the room today (with the bases and the spikes). I ended up with them right back where they started (and a bit of a sore back)

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Here is my latest voyage into the madness of rare SET:

 

[antelion]

so, rather late to the party but here you go:
As i somehow end up with more gear than necessary to get music in the room it is any permutation of

TapX/Bent - Kondo KSL M7 - Java Triple Shot- none
into
Berning Siegfried (either Elrog or Takatsuki bottled)- First Watt SIT-1 - S.A. Lab Hercules SE
into
Horning Hybrid Agathon - Quad 57 (not so often as the non SET amps work better here) - still woking on the WvL field coils

 

[Exlibris]

The way you are using them now, you are more or less blocking the bass reflex channel that is exiting towards the back bottom of the enclosure
I think in your situation (hardwood floor) I would place the bottom plate on a big towel and spike the speakers to the bottom plate.
Then you can slide the whole constuction around rather easily to find the optimum position for the speakers.

I would definitely try them against the window front as well.

Here they are with the bases and spikes in what I assume will be their permanent location.

 

[christoph]

I tried them all over the room today (with the bases and the spikes). I ended up with them right back where they started (and a bit of a sore back)

Good to hear you found a good sounding position
And despite your sore back, it is important that you tried all possible positions early on because later you might not find the motivation to do that again after being comfortable with the position

 

[kodomo]

Has anyone tried or own Whammerdyne 2a3 amps?

 

[Tango]

@christoph. You must have depleted your weekly "Like" quota in one day sir.

 

[christoph]

@christoph. You must have depleted your weekly "Like" quota in one day sir.

I didn't know there was a quota for likes
I thought I'm fine if I stay away from explicit equivocal stuff

 

[Tango]

I didn't know there was a quota for likes
I thought I'm fine if I stay away from explicit equivocal stuff

I was just teasing you.

 

[christoph]

I was just teasing you.

I know
But it was a good one, I have to admit

 

[Exlibris]

Yes, that's correct, the Allnic A-6000. I haven't tried anything lower but I'm interested in hearing a 300B SET amp with the speakers for sure.
You also use a 50w (or 60w) 300B PSET with your Odeons, is that correct?
My guess is that the woofers of the 33 and 38 would perform better with the 50w as opposed to the 8w(?)
I recall morricab and others recommending a minimum of 20w for the big Odeons.

I'd also like to try an amp that sounds even more powerful than the Allnic A-6000. Right now my system makes all of my previous systems sound like toys. I'm really loving the dynamics and hugeness of the presentation and find myself wanting even more of it. I suspect that a different amp would do much better replicating the sound of a drum kit and much better at driving the woofers of the Odeons.

 

[christoph]

I'd also like to try an amp that sounds even more powerful than the Allnic A-6000. Right now my system makes all of my previous systems sound like toys. I'm really loving the dynamics and hugeness of the presentation and find myself wanting even more of it. I suspect that a different amp would do much better replicating the sound of a drum kit and much better at driving the woofers of the Odeons.

You could always bi-amp
Your Allnic A-6000 on the horn section and something beefy for the woofer

 

[morricab]

I'd also like to try an amp that sounds even more powerful than the Allnic A-6000. Right now my system makes all of my previous systems sound like toys. I'm really loving the dynamics and hugeness of the presentation and find myself wanting even more of it. I suspect that a different amp would do much better replicating the sound of a drum kit and much better at driving the woofers of the Odeons.

Glad to hear that choice is working out so well! They are powerful speakers indeed. I would try to stick to SET if I were you but a good hybrid might also be a reasonable compromise. I don't think PP tubes for the most part will sound the best...just my feeling on this. Big bottle SETs will have more grunt than parallel type 300B...at least that has been my firm experience so far. 300B push pull in Class A (if you wanted PP with all tube) could be a reasonable option like from Canary Audio (but the bigger ones). Of course Aries Cerat works like a charm .

 

[Exlibris]

You could always bi-amp
Your Allnic A-6000 on the horn section and something beefy for the woofer

I was thinking about that. I imagine it would be hard to match the amps such that the music sounds natural and whole? If I were to use SS on the woofers, for instance, I'd imagine the presentation would be disjointed.