Sophia Electric 91-01 and 91-5 300B


Hi,
I have been using a Tannoy Turnberry SE speakers for the last 1 year, I was driving it with Naim amplification and was happy with it. However I would like to add a good tube amp to drive the Tannoys. I have been listening to various amps. It is quite evident that SET based on directly heated triodes have a special magic about their presentation. However most DHT SETs are low powered, within 10 watts. Recently I read some very good things about Sophia Electric 300B amps, especially driving Tannoys. Jeff Day has given glowing review to it even replacing is reliable Leben 660P. But before I pull the trigger I am looking for some first hand comments from the community here which is expectedly more devoid of the reviewer's bias. Has anyone heard it ?

Moreover I am also looking for some views on the various models that Sophia offers, 91-01, 91-05 etc. Is it really worth going for their more expensive models like the 91-05 when the 91-01 already seems to be doing so well ? Has anyone heard the higher models ?
pani

Showing 2 responses by islandmandan

I can offer my recent experience with my Tannoy custom built HPD 315 (12" Dual Concentric, ca 1975). Ever since I built these speakers, wanting to try an SET 300B amp was high on my audio bucket list.

A few weeks ago, I purchased such an amp, though it is a single 300B per channel, @9Wpc. The amp was originally sold in kit form (mine was factory built), and was designed by Sonic Frontiers.

I found out that only being 9Wpc is not a limitation. My system plays just as loud as with my other amp, a 35Wpc EL 34 based push-pull VAC.

Although the VAC is a great amp, and has had factory upgrades, the SET 300B has taken over listening sessions.

I went back to the VAC, only to change quickly to the SET again.

This is my first experience with an SET amp, but it is a great one. I wouldn't worry so much about the Watts per channel, but on the quality of the power supplies and transformers of whatever amp you are thinkng about.

It turns out, Tannoys can work very, very, well with an SET 300B amp.

I don't know if this helps or not, but I hope you find what you are looking for. Turnberry's are great speakers, I heard a pair being driven by Joule Electra SET mono-blocks recently, and that was great match, so if you get the right SET, I know you will be very pleased.

Best of luck, regards,
Dan
Charles, my experience with matching speakers/amps is actually quite limited, I tend to keep equipment for long periods of time, so not much turnover in amps.

I just read responses to Pani's thread on the same subject on Steve Hoffmann's forum, and I gather my HPD drivers are quite a different animal than the Turnberry.

I would tend to consider the information given there as much more credible than my mine, due to the differences in the nature of the drivers in question.

With the responses given here, and elsewhere, it seems a good choice can be made in an adequate SET.

Regards,
Dan