Flea SET amp for Shindo Aurieges


I'm coming over from SS land and new to tubes so hope you guys can help me. I'm considering getting a flea powered SET amp to go with my Shindo Aurieges preamp. The Shindo SET are out of my reach at the moment so I'm looking for alternatives that will mate will with the Shindo's high output impedance (5,000 Ohms) and also do it justice. Is there anything out there for about $2K used that would fit the bill? I listen to a wide variety of music - from jazz to electronic and large orchestral pieces so I'm looking for something with a velvet hammer with good control over the bass if thats possible. I've been considering the Audio Note Quests, is this a good match and are there any other suggestions?
mikeyc8

Showing 3 responses by darkmoebius

Hi Mikey,

You haven't mentioned what your speakers are and their efficiency/load curve, that is the biggest determining factor of what SET amp(s) to get. Also, knowing your room size, listening distance, and volume levels would help, too.

Let us know and I'm sure we can give you several suggestions that perform well within your budget.
Mikey,

If you are a bass freak AND want to go SET, then be prepared to have very LARGE speakers and/or spend a lot of money unless your room is fairly small. Superior bass in single-driver speakers is even more difficult because a single driver has to reproduce (almost) the entire frequency spectrum. Not an easy task.

I have 5 foot tall(95dB) Cain & Cain IM-Ben double-horn speakers which have a Fostex 168 Sigma driver and a Fostex T-900A supertweeter above 12kHz. These speakers are amazing in many regards, but real, accurate and deep bass simply is not possible. I use a pair of C&C Bailey subwoofers for that.

I also have 97dB Hammer Dynamics Super-12 speakers which feature a 12" coaxial driver and a supertweeter above 10kHz. This kit speaker puts out pretty amazing bass for HE speaker, let alone a single driver. There is something about really large single drivers that is even more unique than their smaller brethren. And they rock like no other. This is a great balance between cost($650 kit), cabinet size, and performance.

I would think that some of the new large Hemp Acoustics CO15V 15" coax driver would be even better.
As Jaybo so succinctly stated, when making your first venture into SET-land, start with your speakers and they will dictate your amp choices.

BTW, "flea power" to most people means anything under 20wpc, but to SET fanatics, that usually means 2wpc or less - the lunatic fringe. (joke)

One thing you have working for you is a (relatively) moderate sized room. Getting tight deep bass will be much easier with decent-sized hi-eff speakers.

do you C&C subs work well with your speakers?
Yes, but my room was nearly twice the volume of yours and opened on one side down onto my dining room of equal size. The advantage of two subwoofers is that they tend to cancel out a lot of problems caused by a single sub, though setup can be a bear to get right.

When you say I need to spend a lot of money, how much are you talking about?
Shindo makes really high quality components, getting amps and speakers of equal performance/quality will cost you, or, take some serious homework and patience to achieve at a lower cost.

Also, "Slam" is something that SET systems don't do particularly well at any cost. Getting bass equal or similar to what you are used to with the Gerschwins will not be easy. SET is a system of tradeoffs, a little less bass production can get you a lot more of everything else, musically.

Audio Note, Omega, and Zu are great speakers, but there is no way you will ever get the same level of bass output as your Gerschwins with higher powered amps without far larger cabinets(excluding Zu's Definitions which have built-in bass amps/subwoofers). We are talking about smaller drivers and/or smaller cabinets with less power, simply no way.

So, I really, really, suggest that you look into hi-eff speakers before buying an amp. See what the benefits and limitations are first. Decide on a size appropriate for your room and musical tastes, then look for amps. Otherwise, you may end up unable to drive your speakers well enough to satisfy your musical needs.

Once you get that settled, there is quite a large selection of high quality SET amps we can help guide you through.