Do parallel SET amps (PSET) lose any sweetness from the added power of extra tubes?

joeinid

joeinid

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I'm curious where the sweetness of SET leaves at the expense of more power.

I am SET curious (ok, obsessed) these days and not sure where to focus my attention on amps/manufacturers.
 
On the Border Patrol 300B amps I listened to. Yes, there was a slight loss of sweetness with the parallel. But it was definitely worth having the extra 8 watts for some extra headroom. That was with the Volti Vitora's.
 
Thanks Jock.

Keith, I'm still up in the air speaker-wise. Thinking Omega Alnico to start the ball rolling at 98-99 db effficient. Maybe Avant-garde in the future.
 
it might be worthwhile having a look at a SET with a more powerful output tube -- such as a 6c33c, 845, etc.

for the 6c33c the two names that come to mind are Almarro and Ayon -- not sure of the current US distribution for the Almarro a318-b, but that is one sweet, sweet amp! it puts out 18 wpc. Thoress makes a nice 845 SET but that one is getting up there in price. there are many others out there i am sure.
 
joeinid said:
Thanks Jock.

Keith, I'm still up in the air speaker-wise. Thinking Omega Alnico to start the ball rolling at 98-99 db effficient. Maybe Avant-garde in the future.
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I've always wanted to hear some of those omegas.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
audiophil said:
I've always wanted to hear some of those omegas.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
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There's a lot of Omega love out there. I also like the fact that he's fairly close to me should any questions/problems arise.


Jack said:
Joe

This is a SE amp I have been curious about for a while.

http://www.coincidentspeaker.com/review-dynamo34se-mkii-mar2016.html

Supposed to be a new review on TAS of it too.

On the Omegas, Louis has a couple of new monitors coming using his new 8" driver. They will also be around 98db. He has already posted the floor standing versions.
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I'll check that out Jack. Mike mentioned Coincident to me as an option.
 
I have, but ruled them out. Friends with previous Cary experience turned me off to them plus I have Cary 300B SE amps which I'll hook back up.

What got me into all this was the new Grant Fidelity/Psvane Type 50 tubes that are getting a lot of attention now.


sheltie1 said:
Have you considered the Cary 805AE's? They have quite a bit of power for a SET amp.....

https://www.caryaudio.com/products/cad-805ae/
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Joe

Have you ever looked at Dennis' hand built Inspire line of amps and preamps? They have a large and loyal following on several forums. That Conicident amp can be run both ways. As an integrated with one source or as an amp. If the room they were in wasn't so large I would try one with the Spatials.
 
I have a custom made GM70 PSET, I like it a lot. Builder said you can remove one GM70 tube and it will deliver half the power.. I haven't tried removing one of the GM70's though
 
Jack said:
Joe

Have you ever looked at Dennis' hand built Inspire line of amps and preamps? They have a large and loyal following on several forums. That Conicident amp can be run both ways. As an integrated with one source or as an amp. If the room they were in wasn't so large I would try one with the Spatials.
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Yes, I was looking last night. There's one on ebay now. Looks nice.


dimfer said:
I have a custom made GM70 PSET, I like it a lot. Builder said you can remove one GM70 tube and it will deliver half the power.. I haven't tried removing one of the GM70's though
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Wow, interesting. I almost bought a Lampi GM70 a year or two ago.
 
You're right, great looking amp and sold today. He's even doing SE with KT-150's. Some of the amps do as much as 20-24 wpc so would easily push Omegas and even the JBL's. I probably need to break out the RM-10 and try it with the M3's just for fun. It did really well with the KO's and the STP-SE.
 
Even Audio Note UK is a totally different price bracket. You can call Bob Neil and talk to him as he carries the speakers and the electronics. Joe a speaker I always wanted to hear but haven't and that is supposed to be low power tube friendly is Reference 3A. Paul may have experience with them.
 
In the past I googled about PSET for a while regarding whether it's good or not from a design and user experience perspective. But as with any audio debate, there is no universally accepted answer :lol:, and the best conclusion that I could find was "depend on implementation".

I think the opinion of manufacturers that offer both PSET and SET is especially noteworthy. This company top-of-the-line SET is almost 3x the cost of its 300B PSET, and they rank the former to be two levels better than the latter:

http://www.ys-audio.com/real1605mbpower.htm

http://www.ys-audio.com/ysa300bpsem.htm

This is probably not the best comparison though, because the 300B PSET here still has less power than the flagship SET.
 
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