Brownsfan, how does the Elrog compare to your previous Psvane 300B ? |
You guys have made this thread much more interesting than I expected :-). Keep it coming.
Brownsfan, thank you for the reply. Now Elrog seems to be a worthy replacement for the more expensive 300B tubes out there. |
Hi Charles, yes I did put my wavac on sale but when it actually I came to selling it I developed cold feet! It is such a phenomenal amp that I could not gather where I will go next after the Wavac is gone. It remains my go to amp every time even though it really is not sufficient to power my Tannoys. If I get a really good offer I know I will have to let it go. Till that time I have been thinking to just put some nice 300B in and enjoy it to the fullest. |
Hi Charles, all said and done, once an SET man will probably always remain an SET man and that is why even the FM doesnt cut it for me.
Arthursmuck, I have a Tannoy Turnberry SE. |
Charles, it is not an easy one to describe. It is a bit like analog vs digital debate, as long one has only heard digital it is enjoyble but if one gets used to analog then the shortcomings of digital is too glaring. The more coherent and emotional sound of SET seems to get hard wired in the brain day by day. The part of the brain which used to work to join the dots becomes lazy and inactive with prolonged listening on SET. That is why I guess it becomes difficult to re-adjust to a non-SET amp unless it can do the dot-joining trick for you :-).
I guess digital and analog is also something like that, one is made up of dots while other is a continuous line. |
Charles, I was just giving an illustration. Even I can move between a good digital and analog rig. However I do not agree that the difference between good analog and good digital is small. The difference is still significant IMO but because they are different sounding one can prefer one over the other or enjoy both.
And yes, the difference between SET and non-SET though is too fundamental. Before the wavac I used to have Naim amplifiers and I loved them. It will be interesting now to bring in a Naim amp into the system and listen. If I do not end up liking it (highly unlikely) I will accept that I have been silently baptised :-) |
How about Audiopax Model 88 ? It is a single ended tube monoblocks that delivers 30 watts per channel. |
And Ayon Crossfire III, it is also an SET putting out close to 30 watts. Has anyone heard them ? |
Jack Roberts (Dagogo Magazine) recently replaced his Wavac EC-300B with a Pass
Labs xa30.8. He feels the Pass gives him everything that the Wavac gives and
some more. He had also reviewed the SIT earlier but he preferred the Wavac to
the SIT....interesting! |
Hi Charles, yes I do get your drift. What is interesting though is Jack Roberts uses a Lowther based Single driver speakers which has a sensitivity of 102db. That speaker probably one of the most ideal candidate for SET which Jack was already using yet it got replaced by a 30.8. Secondly Jack did not feel the SIT monoblocks were an upgrade over his SET but the 30.8 was. These are intriguing stuff. If I could get to audition a 30.8 I could really make a spot decision.
Thanks for the pointer over the 845 based Coincident amp. Interestingly I heard a similar amp made by Line Magnetic audio. It also uses 300B as the driver tubes. However, the 845 character was dominant in the LM amp. |
Question for all the single ended fans:
What do you think of solid state single ended amps, like the Pass Aleph J2 ?
I think it should be interesting considering that it removes the "signature" of any particular tube and its output transformer and also delivers healthy 30 watts. The important question though is, how engaging does it sound. Anyone ? |
Teruterubozo, thanks for a good post. I read somewhere that the Elrog 300b produces 20% less power. Did you hear that effect ? Did you hear any kind of dynamic compression when you go as loud with the Elrog as you would go with Takatsuki ? |
80 posts latter, we have the answer :-)
Thank you so very much Charles! |
