SET amp owners thread
- Thread starter bonzo75
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The mighty Wyetech 211. It dwarfs the ESLs right next to it. It actually drives the ESLs in such a wonderful way as well.
CH Precision L1 with an X1 power supply will better the Mayer 10Y, but at a considerably higher price. The bare L1 is a fairer comparison, and as such is a case of different, rather than better / worse. The Mayer has a great flow to the music, with stunning tonality, whilst the L1 has a slightly wider soundstage, a bit more detail and bass precision. With the X1 it gives you the best of both.
...then Tang thinks his Ayon sounds a lot better than the CH. And ddk told Tang Lamm would make his sound go beyond the Ayon. Mike on the other hand trusts that his Dart dusts the Lamm at warp nine. Mr.T has both Dart and Kondo but thinks his Kondo oust the Dart. And Bonzo probably says the Thomas Mayer edges the Kondo.
Shall we do one more round?
Tang
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I think a lot of things better Kondo, though I did find the m1000 sounding better than Lamm at the late Detlof's. From hei hei's perspective, a clean SS amp like CH, Soulution, Dart, will sound better than active valvey stuff or a full bodied class A sound like vitus or FM pre with the Berning quadratures
Also Gian prefers CH to Kondo so we are back to where we started. This is like groundhog day
What's the feeling regarding SET designs implemented with only a single output tube, compared to so many SETs using multiple output tubes in parallel to provide more power? Seems intuitive that running multiple tubes in parallel eliminates some of the simplicity and purity that a single tube output would offer, but I'd be interested in hearing other opinions in this regard. TIA and happy new year to all!
Several years ago I was looking for a great “low power” tube amp. I had heard the Ayon amps at many international shows and in every case they performed superbly. So I asked Gerhardt Hirt, owner of Ayon, this question: “If power level is not a consideration, which amp has the best purity of their amplifiers?”. He recommended the Crossfire which has a single output tube (per channel). I have had many amplifiers in house and the Crossfire is still our favorite (with all the caveats. Within power limit and amplifier to speaker synergy).
And then some amplifiers with multiple output tubes can be run with some of the tubes unplugged. Check with the manufacturer on this.
Hang on, didn't you have an issue with not turning this into an SS v Tube thread, seems like you are doing just that LOL.
Seriously? They are doing specific pre compares not a general can SS do better than tubes or vice versa where Mike is voted out as the bad guy
Hi Caelin, as an aside, I am really looking forward to your views on the Quintet vis a vis the DeVore and the Volti.
Cheers
Simplicity yes, but why purity? Unless they are very mismatched the curves of a composite tube are as "pure" as those of a single tube. However, putting tubes in parallel will lower the output impedance of the device, increasing the damping factor considerably. This will surely affect the sound attributes of the amplifier.
Lamm and conrad johnson, among many others, use composite triodes using many triode sections in parallel - up to 10 in the ART preamplfier - in their top preamplfier model. I never heard that this affects the "purity" of their designs.
But unlike groundhog day, here is no correct solution, only personal preferences
Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
But unlike groundhog day, here is no correct solution, only personal preferences
Probably the wisest comment in this thread
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