How to pick your first SET tube amp?

Get a pair of Decware SE-84C-S AMP run them as Mono and you will love them.Another choice if you like tubes is a Rogue 88 with those speakers.
That was my first tube Experience and I loved those Triumphs with the 88's.

If you listen in a small room and at low levels you should be able to get by with a 300b amp (8 to 10 watts/channel). Antique sound labs has a number of SET's at reasonable priced that are triode based or pentode based in the 8 to 10 watts/channel range. My preference for SET's runs towards higher power. An 845 based amp will deliver about 20 watts/channel and should light up your Coincident speakers. You will have to find a used 845 based amp to be in your price range. If you decide to go higher power, let me know, I have an Antique Sound Labs 845 based amp that I am willing to part with for a little more than you target price. By the way, EL34's can be run in single ended configuration.

How do I get to Carnegie Hall?? Practice, Practice, Practice

How do I buy my first set amp? carefully, carefully, carefully

Sorry.(but true)

"What is the difference between EL34 and 300b". There are many makes of both tubes each with it's own voice. In addition, each tube can be in a differently designed amp so the variations are almost endless. Way to much to say here.

A big difference, in addition to sound, is power. All respect to Rockbox and the Bottleheads I cannot recommend a 2A3 because it is not going to be a good marriage with your new speakers that come in at a sensitivity of 94. You might "get along" in a small room at modest levels but the 2A3's will not sing at 3W. Why bother?

I will suggest a couple sites to look at. Paul Joppa, a chief Bottlehead, put together a little info at audioasylum.com in the FAQ section. He talks about matching amps and speakers for power and provides a nice formula. Take a look if you haven't already. One of the biggest mistakes is to underpower your speakers. Paul Joppa is very smart and seems to be a very nice guy too.

At Enjoythemusic.com they recently had a very nice review of 9 different 300b's. Nicest quick summary I've seen for a while on available 300bs (of course there are different opinions). Finally try Thetubestore.com for lots of info about the tubes you ask about and then some.

Also the "Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity" site has the best simple overview, about a dozen pages if I remember, of what a tube does that I have seen. Cathodes, anodes, grids, voltage, bias, AC/DC ect, ect. The name of the article is "Amplifiers" (Revised June, 2000).

If you want more sites drop an e-mail to me I have quite a few.

Geez it's late at night.

Sincerely, I remain

I have a pair of Coincident Victory(s) (97db, 14ohm) and have tried many amps with it. I did not get good results with a 2A3 SET as it simply did not have enough power. The Rogue 88, as recommended in the above post, worked superbly in its triode mode. The Music Reference RM10 was very neutral and quiet, but is slightly lean sounding. I even tried the Berning OTL 270 which to my surprise also sounded a little lean, but was very lively sounding.

I also want to try Coincident's own 300B amps, but like yourself am hesistant because of price and the amp being untested (it should work well with their own speakers don't you think). I think Antique Sound Labs may have an amp similar in design to Coincidents that may be worth a try or at least worth investigating.

Clueless has suggested some good advise that I agree with. With your new speakers you need more wattage like a 300B can provide. Check out other sites for information.