Which 300B SET for SF Guarneri Homage?


Driving my Guarneri with a Pass Aleph 3 amp(with audio aero capitole mkIISE cdp+pre), which goes quite well, but thinking of upgrading amp to a couple of 300B monoblocks...
The thing is this is a tricky change because, among other things, the Pass is built like a tank and is an excellent amp. So I want to make the decision carefully with no hurries...
Considering as an option the Coincident Frankenstein's but i'm not too informed about tube amps.
I listen to all sorts of music though fav is Opera, so my expectations with the change would go on the line of getting a more real life experience.
I wonder if anyone had any experience of driving these 87db sensitivity, 6-8ohm speakers with a SET and would appreciate opinions or suggestions
dongiovanni

Showing 1 response by larryi

I don't have much experience with the GH (I have friends with other speakers from that manufacturer -- Anniversarios, Stardivari, Elipsa) and none of these were SET friendly. I heard the Anniversarios on a top quality pushpull 300B amp and even in pushpull configuration, the lack of bass control was very evident. I am a fan of lowpowered SET (I own an Audionote Kageki), but, these are extremely specialized items that should be used only on appropriate speakers.

The only kind of SET I would consider would be an amp using 845s or 211s because these put out significantly more power than a 300b. I have heard, and liked, the Viva Solista, though I have not heard them with Sonus Faber speakers. Another higher-powered SET that I like is the THE Wyetech amp that uses 211s (I believe it is called the Topaz).

I am also very partial to output transformerless amplifiers. These tend to be very fast and sound very lively and "present." I really like the immediacy of the OTL sound, something one can also get with certain SET amps (but only with very high efficiency speakers), but OTLs make that kind of sound available to a broader array of applications. Atmasphere makes OTLs at the 30 and 60 watt power levels that should be fine for your application. Joule makes OTLs that sound warmer than the Atmasphere models, if a warmer sound is what you want (the 300b sound is on the warmer side).

Good luck on your search.