300B,811,211 SE triodes

Hi Rec, the Cary 805B is a real gem! It's got 300B in the driver stage !!..www.caryaudio.com/review6.html features it. For my project, I'd need 2x300B's in parallel and still be on the borderline.I don't favor using parallel o/p tubes anyway, so 300B as output tube is definitely out. I'll consider the 211 and treading carefully in selecting the o/p trans. Hi Johnson.... I agree with you to a certain point. Its true, the Aerius can take up to 200W. My music resides in a small room and my present 21 watter class A ss amp has no problem driving the Aerius as much as i want. I still hope to build the single tube 211 SET which is about 23 watts in pure class A1 mode, depending on the o/p trans matching properly. Gee sure appreciate all your opinions and info. on this forum :-)

Hi Iceraven, To answer your question, I have a pair of Cary 805B mono blocks with NOS RCA 211 output tubes. My speakers are Von Schweikert VR5s rated at 91 dB and a nominal ompendence of 6 ohms. When I stated that the bass may be less I was comparing a tube amp over solid state. In my smaller room the bass is not a problem. As far as the top end extension, it is only with certain source material,some full classical recordings require more power to capture the sound on the vinyl or cd. With all equipment there will be trade offs, I feel that the overall sound from the SETs negate the shortcomings. In my second system I have tubes and electrostatic speakers, a complete different sound but I really prefer the SET sound.Hope this helps.

Message to "Rec".... Thanks to all who share your real and extremely valuable experiences which could have cost me dearly to attempt!! BTW Rec, please tell me more about your speaker specs. It's interesting because you mention some loss in LF&HF extension even with a 50watter which is huge by SE measure. Could it be your output tranny acting up? I'm very glad to be in this fabulous forum, please keep posting :-)

Tube amps and ML speakers do NOT match! I have had CLS IIz's, SL3 and Aerius i's. The CLS IIz's were impossible to drive with anything and I had to use a pr of SF Power 3 to drive the SL3s. Tried using the assemblage 300Bs and the SL3's did not give out any sound at all!!! The Aerius was easier but it sounds dull with anything other than my then ML333 pumping 300Ws of Ssssolid Ssssstate power to them.

I have used both 300B and 211 amps in my system. If you are going to use the Aerius at 89dB senstivity, I don't think the 300B will feel your needs. While I found the 300B best with vocals and small group jazz you probably need more power. I currently have 211 mono blocks with 91 dB senstivity speakers and it works quite well. The 211 puts out about 50 watts in my amps and should be enough for 89dB speakers. Of course there is always a loss in the bass and the top end sometimes may be a little rolled off but the midrange is what single-ended triodes are all about. Very musical. You can find new 211 tubes made in China and NOS available,but the NOS can be quite expensive.Good luck

Hi Iceraven, You might want to reconsider your choice of amps. SET amps may not be a good choice with this speaker. Someone more technical can explain.