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What speakers for 300B S.E.T ??

Hi,

Recently i heard a 300B based Audio electronics SE-1 SET amp + AE-3 pre with Lowther Academy speakers & was quite impressed with the immediacy,dynamics,soundstaging
& basically the whole presentation.

Now i'm very keen to try this to see if this is the kind of sound i would enjoy for a long time.Only way to know this i guess is to try it at home for an extended period of time. My previous exrerience has been with high powered SS .
( For ref : Supratek Chardonnay tube pre + Mac MC352 + TDL Ref studio monitors ) This is my first venture into low powered SET. I love the sound of my present sys. but the SET is a different experience.

Un fotunately my present speakers( 87db ) would not support the 7 watts the AES is capable of. The Lowthers are too expensive to experiment with. My goal is to keep the costs
low as possible . I shall very much appreciate your recommendations for high-sensitive monitors or small floor-standers ( HORN ??? ) preferably under $1K . This could very well end up as a second sys or it could go further.....

So what does everyone use with less than 10 magic watts ????
dilly

Showing 4 responses by s23chang

s23chang
617 posts
 
odeon; Klipsch La Scala, cornwall; Reference 3A Loudspeakers; The Horn Shoppe Horn.. etc
s23chang
617 posts
 
The horn shoppe: Aside from bass cut off around 50 Hz, it should have a good tonal balance over all. However, placement and matching amps is tricky.
Loth-X: Have not heard their high end models but entry level ones were quite a disappointment.

Only recommend using 4 Ohm speakers if your SET output transformers are lower than 3K or else you might complain about lack of low frequency response. Keep in mind, most of the commercial version are 5K. The damping factor is very different from speakers to speakers. That's why matching amps is quite important. There is no BS like Beavis mentioned, it is all about science behind speaker and amp design.
s23chang
617 posts
 
87db usually requires at least 20~30 Watts. What about Impedance drop? That's very important. If it constantly drops down to 4 ohms then the amp definitely cannot handle the load. You need to look at the curve supplied by the speaker manufacture.

It will work but you'll not get as clear and dynamic sound since the power is mistached. If you crank it too hot then mostlikey that you might damage the amp.
s23chang
617 posts
 
AES SE-1 vs Audio Note Kit 1
While the AE SE-1 gives you a flexible of using either 2A3 or 300B, the Audio Note kit 1 has much better transformer and power supply.
If you plan to use 300B and Audio Note Kit One is the way to go. If you plan to go with 2A3 then you should consider Sun Audio SV2a3 or upgrade the stock AES SE-1.

Back to square one, the speaker has to match right with the amp. If you plan to get 94db+ speakers, then I would choose either type. Anything less then I would only choose 300B.

Choose the type of speakers first then buy the amp. It is easier to find the right match and it is also easier to swap amps then speakers.
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