Speaker Suggestions for 300b SET Amp
I built an Elekit 8600 300b set amp recently. It's amazing. I maxed out upgrades (all Takman resistors, Mundorf top end caps, solder/wiring, etc.). It's a wonderful amp. It cost me $2k to build it and it's glorious.
My issue hasn't been the amp, but finding speakers that I want to use with it.
I started with Omega XRS 8 Juniors (~$2k). I broke them in for 300 hours and, while they did get better, they largely sounded like the top and bottom ends were just truncated off at both ends the sound spectrum. They sounded more akin to a transistor radio speaker. I feel terrible to say that and I hope others really love them and hear them differently, as the company is great and the owner is wonderful. They just weren't for me.
So, I just paired the 300b up with some inefficient speakers (both KEF LS50s and Wharfedale 80th anniversary Dentons). Both speakers were part of other systems I have. Both sets, and especially the cheaper Wharfedales, just sing with the 300b. They do not play particularly loud given their efficiency ratings, yet they sound wonderful for very close nearfield listening.
But what I'd like to do is go a bit more into the full range speaker category without buying a massive product. Or, I consider a smaller bookshelf/monitor if it were more efficient.
What speakers do folks like with their 300bs?
A SET on proper loudspeaker is wonderful and can yield incredible enjoyable sound but as others stated much care is needed when matching loudspeakers to such. Or one is just SETing themselves up for failure. I can run anything I have multiple systems I design audio. But for my own use I mostly run SET amplifiers and horns. The synergy of such for me can not be beat. These systems sound like real music in real space they are engaging non fatiguing when you listen to such you feel it in your soul. I have not heard this in even the most costly conventional audio systems. |
My 100db Charney Audio Maestro's are powered by my CR Developments 300b amp. Fantastic rear loaded horn that will draw you in and keep you there till... Contact Brian at Charney and see if he can arrange a demo for you in your area. http://charneyaudio.com/ |
The fatal weakness of so called circutron otl push pull power amp design is that the power grounding have to go through both legs‘ cathodes, thus power path mingle with the signal path, introducing distortion and noises. Furthermore, after some experiment, i found circutron push pull otl amps have very low damping factor, it produced worst sound when driving my quad 57 among all otl design amps. Atmosphere uses circutron design, so it has very high distortion and is terrible for driving difficult loads such as quad 57s. Transform coupled tube amplifiers on the other hand uses inductance to their advantages when driving difficult loads. |
